Oliver

To my sweet Oliver,

You are now 2 1/2 years old; this I cannot believe! Time has flown by. It seems as though just yesterday we found out that we were pregnant with you. Now, here you are, all-boy; and the love of our lives. You have changed our lives in so many ways. We (mommy and daddy) constantly ask ourselves what on earth did we do before you were here? It is so hard to look back right now and think of all of the things you have already accomplished. I can tell you this, your mommy and daddy are very very proud of you. You are a very smart little boy. For being only 2 1/2 years old, you blow us away. You have a very (VERY) energetic personality. You are very independent; and have been since the day you were born. You've always down things whenever you were ready, and only when you were ready.

Being two brings its challenges. It seems as though one day you decided you were tired of being a baby, so you decided to go ahead and grow into a full-blown boy. Right at 18/19 months you started speaking in complete sentences. Of course, mommy and daddy were the best translators, but for the most part you enunciated your words very well. Since that time you have developed into a fabulous speaker. Your thoughts are so complete, and very considerate. You have been blessed with a sweet, tender heart. One that is hurt very easily by how certain words are said, or how certain things are done. This is something that I pray about for you. You are a very out-going little boy, but you are very sensitive and tend to have your feelings hurt very easily right now. I love this about you. It shows me that you are sensitive. You are sensitive to others, and this is a blessing. God commands us to love others, and this my sweet boy is something you do very well. You love so many people! You want to pray for so many people (already!) every night during our prayers. Tonight's list of course involved Uncle Cody - he took you to your very first MLB game, and you had a blast!! Grammie and Poppie and MorMor and FarFar always make the list as well; and Uncle Eric.

You LOVE to talk to Grammie/Poppie on the telephone. You will take the phone from me and go into your bedroom - or the garage (?) and talk to them "without mommy interrupting." You love your family! This is another prayer for you little boy. That you will always grow to love your family and always put them before other worldly things. You have been blessed to be given a family who loves each other and enjoys spending time with one another.

You have grown up over night, it seems. We used to have to fight to get you to go to sleep; now, you go into your bed, we read 3-4 stories, say our prayers, then daddy tells you a Wall-y story; and you always ask mommy to "stay with me" (you) for a few minutes. I then give you kisses and tell you to come get me in the morning. You go to sleep; and come wake me up in the morning, lately by running in and saying, "get out of bed sleepy head!" I love you! Nap time is no longer a struggle either!! We read 1-2 stories and you go to bed. You have started to like mommy to tuck you in "like a bug." You have been in your "big boy bed" since you were 18 months; when you decided that you were done with your crib and would not stay in it. We put a mattress on the floor for about 5 months, then right around age two we moved you into your big-boy room, equipped with train bedding - and you've never looked back. I remember being very nervous for you, and of course sad that you were out of the nursery. But, you of course handled it like you handle all other things; like a champ.

You LOVE LOVE trains! You can hear a train from miles away. You got a Thomas train table for your 2nd birthday, and have since accumulated many train engines and cars. You will spend all day/night in your room playing with them if we would let you. You even let baby Brian play with your trains!! You will make anything into a train right now; food, cars, books, rocks, sticks, etc.

Your laugh is so infectious. Your smile lights up the room. You are the best big brother! You give baby Eli kisses, ALL the time. If he cries, you will bring him one of his toys and say, "it's okay, Eli." You will always tell mommy and daddy that you love us and walk up and give us hugs/kisses; or "licks!" One of my favorite things right now is when you get up in the morning and you want to come crawl into our bed and cuddle (for a very short time), but you'll curl up next to me and just lay there for a couple minutes - it reminds me of all of our late nights where you wouldn't sleep for anyone but mommy. I would spend hours rocking you to sleep, only to have you wake up 45 minutes later and have me rock you back to sleep. To be honest, I never resented those moments. I knew that someday those moments would be gone; and I would spend most of those minutes praising God for the amazing gift of holding you. Of being your mommy, and getting to spend those sweet tender moments with you. Now, I have those memories to look back on and be so thankful they're in my memory.

You still love Buddy. We had to replace him, as we lost him sometime last summer, and I think it bothered me more than you, but since we got a new one, you have not let him out of your side. You will no longer take him into stores or church with you, "so he won't get lost." And, at bed time you will hug him "real tight so he doesn't get cold." You are saying some of the funniest things! I've started a "quote book" so I can hopefully catch all of these great Oliver quotes, to go back and read to you someday. I'm sure you'll give me that "are you serious" look and just laugh. Until then, I'm the one who gets to laugh.

Lately you've been asking me if Jesus is with you everywhere. We were driving in the car tonight and you asked me, "Mommy, is Jesus in the car with us." I answered that yes, Jesus is always with us, no matter where we are. I love that you know Jesus and you know that He loves you. You know that He is God's son, that Mary was His mother, and that Christmas day is His birthday. You love Legacy, our church, and everytime we drive by it you get so excited!

You love to play with friends. You are so happy to be around your friends and be playing. The ones we routinely see are Emersyn and Brian, and Anna and Kenneth - you adore Anna! (She's 2 years older than you... so of course you adore her!) We have lots of fun with all of our friends; and I can't wait to see these relationships grow, and to see how many other friends you will have someday. I do know this, you will be a very loyal friend!

I better close this letter with a few of my favorite quotes thus far.

"Eli doesn't talk, he chirps."
O: "I'm just thinking, mommy" M: Thinking about what? O: "Thinking about Jesus." M: "What about Jesus?" O: "Jesus is the King, He is the King of Kings."

I love you little man!!
Hugs and Kisses,
Mommy