November 2018

Dear Cedar 2 years 5 months

by elizabeth

Hi Sweet Boy! I can’t believe you are almost two and a half. I have cherished this time with you. Being able to stay at home and raise you and your sister has been my greatest privilege. I throw my whole-self into being the best parent possible and I am grateful to have found this calling. Even in the hard moments I am aware of how beautiful my life is and how lucky I am.

You my dear, are someone we all treasure. For your two year old birthday I posted that you are the water to our fire and the sugar to our spice. This couldn’t be more true. You are quiet, pensive, and gentle. The only time you get even the littlest bit wild is when you are encouraged by your sister. You love trying to match her enthusiasm by running races with her around the house, yelling, and being silly. But when she’s not around, you are very quiet and peaceful. You can sit and look at books or draw for up to 30 mins! You You have started the two year old tantrums but they really are few and far between and seem to come when we have pushed you too long in too much stimulation. Most recently it was a sad meltdown in The Monterey Bay Aquarium. We were coming off a very busy 10 days and I think you had reached your max.

Your language is developing rapidly and we still miss some of what you try to say. Sage speaks your language and is our trusty translator. You have developed a few new favorite words and phrases in our home like, “oh hay” instead of “ok” and “some too, some too.” You also like to correct me when I call you a silly name like, “are you my goober?” and you say, “No, I Cedar” you say your name like “see duh.” You have also introduced the concept of “poopy dot” sometimes “poopy dot” is a person, sometimes it’s a food… you use it at your convenience knowing it will make us all laugh.

You have the sweetest little singing voice and I love hearing you sing. You sing “Baby Mine” with me before you go to sleep and have just started singing, “Twinke, Twinkle” When we listen to music in the car you often repeat the singing you hear through the speakers. I think you will enjoy learning a musical instrument when you get older. You enjoy watching for the trash truck, and you like your truck books and your toy cars but in the next moment you will enjoy the doll house and coloring. It is amazing to me how much you like to color. You can sit for long periods of time drawing circles and lines all over the page. You can also sit for long stories. You have a calm body and the sweetest disposition.

You are a finicky eater. If foods are too hot you don’t like them, same with combinations. Rice and beans or lasagna- no way. You aren’t very interested in vegetables. You will eat some broccoli but besides that you get your veggies from smoothies. You are picky and you don’t eat very much which isn’t the easiest combination. Your Occupational Therapist Julie (who you love) is giving us lots of good strategies to help you eat more. You love perfect bars, flavored whole milk greek yogurt, apple-sauce and simple foods like pasta and peanut butter/jelly sandwiches. We are working on stimulating your appetite through sensory stimulating activities before eating. Julie describes you as low-affect and I would agree with her when it comes to public environments or when there are new people around. You can appear very serious. You also have a tendency to shut down and get very quiet in over stimulating environments which makes it hard for me to remember to check in on you. You are also very compliant and cautious. Pretty much making you the easiest two year old in town. Occupational Therapy has been wonderful for you. Since going regularly you are eating more and catching up on your gross motor skills. You are getting bolder and braver- all signs of feeling safer in your environment.

A few things about you

You love picking your nose
You like to say “I do it!” or “Cedar do it!”
You demand to get in and out of the car by yourself. Your favorite way to get in the car is through the hatch-back so you can climb over the back seat.
You LOVE your balance bike and are getting really fast. It’s so cute to see you lift your feet up!
You would prefer to be barefoot.
You love to ride on the front of Daddy’s bike all over town. You ride the bike to take Sage to ballet, to school, sometimes head to the grocery store or the park.
You are an early riser. Generally I can count on you waking up about 6:45am
You aren’t the longest napper. Mostly between an hour and an hour and a half.
I tell you about 1,000 times a day how much I love you and you respond with, “Daddy luh you, mama luh you. Sagey luh you. Everybody luh you” or you say, “I luh you too mama”
When we were at a friend’s house in San Diego and the kids were dancing to punk rock in the bedroom, you came out and said, “too crazy.” You just wanted to play quietly and weren’t interested in the dance party.
You chose to be a unicorn for Halloween (last year’s costume) which was spot on for your personality. I showed you a tiger costume and you were not interested. You prefer the soft colors and sweetness of a unicorn.

Cedar you amaze me. I think the most amazing thing is just how different you are from your sister. I love you both immensely and it blows my mind to witness how two such different people can come from the same parents. It’s also been much easier enjoying a two year old for my second time around. I am not spending so much time trying to figure it all out and can just enjoy you. That’s pretty much my day- enjoying you! Thank you for coming to our family. I didn’t know how much better life could get!

You have a new sibling coming in March which is bittersweet. You are my baby and the sweetest member of the family so it’s hard to imagine a new baby in our daily routine. I hope you will enjoy being a big brother and having someone look up to you the way you look up to Sage. You already are an excellent role model. It doesn’t get much sweeter than you.

I promise to continue to read and educate myself on how to be the best mama I can be. You and your sister comprise my most valuable work and I take my mothering practice very seriously. I promise to listen, grow, and stretch as you both push me to new and unfamiliar places. You are my teachers and I am eager to keep learning. Love you!