My dearest John David,
Mommy cannot believe that you are TWO WHOLE YEARS OLD! Time is moving so quickly, and you are growing more and more everyday. You make mommy and daddy happier than you could ever possibly know. We never knew true joy until we experienced your smile. (It actually made daddy cry the first time you smiled at him.) With every single one of your smiles, mommy's heart grows bigger! I'm pretty sure it's much larger than the average person's. :)
Right before you turned two, we moved to Florida for daddy to do his residency. We were a little worried about moving you away from all you know, but you've taken quite well to FL. (Check out the pictures below of your blonde hair!) Mommy and Daddy also decided that it might be good for our family for mommy to spend more time at home with you and a little less time at work. Now that you're two, we spend everyday together and mommy has never been more in love with you or more exhausted in her whole life!
You are a busy, busy boy! You pretty much never stop moving unless you're asleep. Daddy and I joke all the time that you've got a bad case of restless leg syndrome (which just happened to begin in mommy's tummy!). You are busy, but you are SO smart. You like to pretend that you don't know things, and then I'll catch you playing alone and naming all of your shapes or colors or plenty of other things that you pretend you don't know when someone asks you. It is a very silly thing to do my love. You know your colors (well...red, blue, green, black, white, yellow, orange, purple, and pink), a few of your shapes (triangles, squares, circles, diamonds, and stars), can count to 15, and can sing your abc's in different accents and all! You love to paint and read books. You prefer reading books and watching movies while "snuggling." Mommy cannot deny you a good snuggle even on my tiredest days. You have a serious love for animals, trash trucks, and Disney World! Your first loves were farm animals, and it remains to be one of your favorite things today. You also love zoo animals and cannot get enough of the Safari ride at Animal Kingdom. Most Mondays and Thursdays we go outside to watch the trash truck. If mommy or daddy ask you what you dreamed about you always answer trash trucks or if I ask you if you want me to tell you a story you always answer that you want one about the trash truck king. You have a toy trash truck at home that you are not very happy to share it with any of your friends. You are eating very well, but you change favorite foods weekly so it's so hard to keep up with you! Your staple is chicken though. You will always eat chicken. And my darling, you sleep very well! Most nights you go to sleep at 7 pm and you usually wake up a little after 7 am. At this time, you usually take a 2+ hour nap midday, and mommy usually takes that time to relax before round two with you in the afternoon!
You are such a kind soul. You get so upset if you think someone is sad and have started asking about "hurting feelings" recently. Mommy is so proud to say that most of your pain or your toys' pain can be cured by a hug or a kiss from mommy. It makes me feel like I have a super power! You, like all two year olds, can have a hard time sharing sometimes and have even been known to spend a little time in time out! I hate for you to be in trouble, and you do a good job of staying out of it most of the time!
You love your family very much and we spend quite some time at night making sure that we've blessed everyone in the entire family before you go to sleep! You are quite the prayerful little fella and love reading your "bible book." Mommy and daddy are so proud when you recite mass parts at mass or help us bless our food at dinner. I reiterate that you have the sweetest spirit.
Mommy thinks you are getting more and more like daddy as you get older. You LOVE to dress up silly which mommy thinks you've picked up from daddy. You never let a day go by without inventing some new hat to wear around. You also LOVE music and are so musically inclined! At two years old, you can sing the melody and are always right in tune. We have even caught you singing harmony to songs without realizing it! It is so sweet to hear you sing and watch you play all of your instruments (guitar, drums, harmonica, maraca, etc)! One of your favorite things to do is sing with daddy. You love all of the kids songs, but you've also (with some help from dad) decided that you're a big fan of The Beatles and The Beach Boys. And most of all, you are SO funny. I have no idea how a two year old can think of the jokes that you think of! You totally get the joke, and mommy and daddy never stop laughing. We spend so many of our nights after you've gone to bed telling John stories and laughing hysterically at your recent antics!
My sweet boy, I could go on and on and on forever. There are no words that can accurately describe what you mean to me and daddy. I can remember when you were in mommy's tummy, and daddy and I would talk for hours about what you would look like and be like. We never could have guessed that you'd be this perfect. You are our everything my sweet, sweet boy.
I love you "so, so much" (as you would say),
Mama
