You're 2!

Dear Parker,

You're 2! Well, ok, you've been 2 for a couple of weeks now, but Mommy's motto these days is better late than never! I can't believe how big you have gotten in the past year! And how much you look more like a toddler than my baby. This has been a very busy and eventful year for you- new house, a surgery, and a new baby sister. But you are one resilient little man, I think you handled each event better than any of the rest of us did!

You have two personalities- super serious or super silly! When you are super serious you walk around with what we affectionately call the "stank eye" and only you do it best! You are also crazy silly and love to giggle, laugh, make silly faces and funny sounds! You are very shy and do not like strangers or the spotlight on you. On the morning of your birthday, Daddy, Braden, Emersyn and I walked into your room to sing "Happy Birthday" and you got so embarrassed by all of the attention that half way through the song you sat down and buried your sweet little face in your blanket, but you were smiling the whole time. You are also the most stubborn child I have EVER met! Once you make your mind up, you do not stop! But you are also the most compassionate child. You love giving hugs and kisses and you can't stand for anyone to be sad. If you think I am sad, you crawl into my lap and give me kisses to make me feel better. You also can't stand for Emersyn to cry and you always run to her and give her a kiss when she is upset.You love your brother and sister so much! You want to do everything that Braden does- color, climb, run, kick and throw balls, build train sets. The two of you are so funny when you are together. You love to chase each other in circles and then run into each other! It makes both of you giggle like crazy! I really worried about how Emersyn's arrival was going to affect you. I thought you would be jealous or too rough with her. I wondered if you would ignore her, but you LOVE her like I didn't think was possible. Whenever you wake up, you go through the house searching for her until you find her and then you plop a big juicy kiss right on top of her head. Since you can't say Emersyn yet you call her Agm (Ah-Gum). It is so sweet and we have all started calling her Agm!
In October of this year, it was determined that you have minimal hearing loss and after evaluations by a SLP and Developmental Specialist they found that you have a 2 month speech delay. They said your cognitive abilities were off the charts which I already knew because you are such a smarty, but they were concerned about your expressive language. This has been very hard for me, because more than anything I don't want you to have to struggle. I want everything to be easy for you and it breaks my heart that you only say 6 words and have not made much progress in talking this year. I want to know your thoughts and I want to hear your wants and needs. But I have absolutely no doubt that you will be talking just as much your big brother in no time. Parker, I love you so very much and I can't wait to see all that this next year holds for you. You are my precious, sweet baby boy and we are so lucky and blessed to have you. I love you.

Love,
Mommy