Graham Turns Two

This sweet child. Our third. Our last. The punctuation mark at the end of our family sentence.

He is strong. He is stubborn. He is unbelievably cute. He melts hearts one minute and makes you want to pull out your hair the next. I've been told every family has one - and this unpredictable, precious and opinionated baby boy is our "one".

He has started speaking more, he is most definitely one of the big kids. He loves Bubble Guppies and Ernie (specifically, the Sesame Street episode #3137 which he had dubbed "Ernie Moon") he loves his owl and elephant lovies, his tickers (when he's not biting through them) and his older brother and sister (Aquis: Alex and Guys: Gretchen).

His other true love is "Ms. Ka", who's real name is Erika and is one of the most loving teachers at his preschool. He adores her and I am so very thankful for that.

As every third child knows, they do not get the one-on-one, tailored treatment that the first and second children tend to receive. In addition, our family had the rare and fantastic privilege of having Candy Miranda help us out in our Buenos Aires apartment during Gretchen and Alex's birth. Graham has taken things into his own hands, since birth, and demanded his attention in the way that only a third-born can. 

Ms. Ka!

Graham has also had the experience of being a baby while his mother was diagnosed and treated for brain cancer. So, without understanding why, he was cared for by a village of family and friends when I physically or mentally could not do it myself. He did so very well with this revolving door of family and friends who helped feed him, play with him and put him down for naps and bedtime each night. Daddy is the master, but many other helpers were available when Mom just could not be. I struggle with that as a parent - lucky for me, he seemingly does not. 

He walks confidently into preschool each day. He demands the things that he wants. He takes your hand, walks you to the refrigerator to show you which yogurt is acceptable for lunch - then refuses the first 3 spoons you try to give him to eat it. But he loves to laugh, and he loves to make everyone else laugh too. He always has a scrape, and pats his own shoulder when he's sad to show that he wants to be held. He will read the same 2 books before bed every night, (it's a rotating two, currently The Jungle Book: an Animal Primer and Big Red Barn) and insist that he sit in the chair and you sit on the ottoman and read the book to him while he holds it. He knows what he wants - and what he doesn't, and I love him fiercely.

So when October rolled around and our new neighbors were planning a precious, dinosaur-themed birthday party for their son (who is a week older than Graham), we joked about how we just didn't have life together enough to throw a party. We got him a few presents and had a chocolate pie out of the freezer for his birthday - I'm still undergoing chemo and I'm exhausted, have no taste for food and have pretty much stopped cooking altogether. But our neighbors are incredible - they not only included Graham in their party, but bought a "2" candle just for him AND had a custom Two-Rex shirt made for him and their son to match. Thank goodness for this village.

Our baby man is two. Hallelujah and God help us.

Happy Birthday Big Guy!