A birthday letter from Mommy

Dear Oliver,
Happy birthday my sweet boy! What a blessing you are in your Daddy & Mommy's lives. There is nothing in the world I would rather do than stay home with you and watch you learn and develop into your own person. Your language has blossomed over the last few months; you are constantly trying out new words you hear Mommy & Daddy use and you will repeat almost anything that we ask. You are beginning to learn grammar, just the other day while driving down the alley to our driveway, you exclaimed, "Mommy, car coming" and you were right, there was a car coming. You are learning manners, you now say please when you ask for something and you have said thank you for a long time; we are working on bless you, as well as covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze and common courtesies like asking someone how they are feeling.

Counting is something we like to do all day long; I have heard you count to 8 by yourself, and you can count to 10 with help. You love to sing songs and you often finish the last word in most sentences of almost all the books we read.

You are so happy and love to play. You will entertain yourself, but often you request that Mommy or Daddy "come play"; I think it is just because you enjoy our company. You still enjoy cooking, but lately you have really been loving cars, trucks, and tractors. And let's not forget your current fascination with Winnie the Pooh character stuffed animals, movies and anything else. You still love stuffed animals and often we have conversations with your animals.

You still have tantrums, but I think Mommy & Daddy are learning how to deal with your independent side a little better and perhaps that is reducing the number of tantrums. You love to do things by yourself, and choices seem to be the best route in getting you to do what we want you or need you to do. You can't stand tags on your shirts and you will protest and pull at them until the shirt is removed.

You have developed an allergy to something in the pizza we love to eat and the last two times you have eaten it, your mouth has turned red around your lips, but then responds to Benadryl. We have known that you have been sensitive to the acid in tomatoes for a long time, but interestingly enough; the pizza never affected you that way until now. Perhaps Dijorno changed their list of ingredients. This further reduces already small list of things you will eat. Your favorites are still pasta, green beans, corn, V8, corn bread, recently you have started to like all sorts of rice, you still love fruit and of course almost any sweet you have tried (I'm certain there is more, but this was what came to me).

I love that you still want to sit on my lap when we play together or read stories. I love that you rub my back when I am holding you. I love that you still let me hold you in the cradle position as I am telling you your final bedtime story. I love that you tangle your hands up in my necklace while I am holding you. I love how excited you get at the simple things. I love your giggle, how much fun you are, your passion for your own interests, and how a little piece of chocolate can sometimes make everything better when you are having a hard time. I am pretty sure I love everything about you and I wouldn't change my time spent with you for anything.

Happy Birthday Oliver! Mommy & Daddy love you very much!

Love you always and forever,
Mommy