i lu lu

dear monkey,

it's been a long time...

you have become very confident on your feet, and you are taking on new challenges such as climbing the stairs and climbing onto and off of chairs. you have happy to go up and down the front porch steps over and over again. working on mastery. now you are interested in the big staircase, and you also want to open and close and lock the safety gate at the bottom of the stairs all by yourself.

we are having some struggles with these wants of yours. your fascination with the safety gate is dangerous, but when i try to divert your attention and scoop you up the stairs you squirm and howl over the injustice of it. i know how you see it. you are growing up and you can do lots of the same things that we can. you have been watching us and you know how things work. now you want to try it for yourself. you are ready to get going. but you don't have the balance yet, the coordination, the judgment to know when you are headed for trouble. so now we are sometimes adversaries. very often, actually, and although it is typical and expected, it still makes me sad.

that said, have you ever loved me more? you want me all the time. you do not go as easily to your daycare teachers anymore. instead you keep coming back to me, knowing that any minute i will say goodbye and disappear out the door. when daddy holds you, you often reach out for me to take you instead.

you are a talker. i mean, a serious talker. here are some of the words you can say:

mama
dada
kitty cat
banana
apple
ball
yellow
flower
book
bird
shoes
jacket
blanket
stairs
star
moon
blue
poo poo
purple
yum
cracker
cheese
pizza
water
bottle
bubble
popper
bear
tiger
elephant
outside
backyard
hi
moo
baa
neigh
baby
quack
gobble
night night
bye
name
rock
light
yogurt
eye
elmo
door
turtle

you can also say the cats' names and the names of some of your classmates at school. and i'm pretty sure you also say "i love you," but it comes out more like "i lu lu" and sometimes the context makes it hard to tell.

last month i had a parent conference at your school. the director told me that you are doing well across the board, but that you are exceptional in your social skills--good at staying out of struggles and disagreements with your peers, and very willing to share with others. she said that your teachers just smile when they hear your name, because you are so good natured. she also said that you are very compassionate in the way you relate to the other children. she said she has never seen anyone your age act so compassionately in all her years of working with children, and that it brings tears to her eyes.

you bring a smile to my face too, monkey moo. i lu lu.