Our lovely walks...

Dear Isaiah,

We went for a walk today, and I was reminded of just how wonderful my life is and how blessed I am as a mother. I love our walks, just you and me. We hold hands for a little bit until you can't stand it anymore and you have to be free!

We collect rocks, as if they are diamonds. You pick them out like it's treasure, so delighted when you find the perfect ones!

You've become quite the collector and you make me hold your rocks now, so my pockets are always so heavy and full! When we see someone else in our path, you say HI, and sometimes you say MORNING (meaning- Good Morning) even if it's the afternoon. We give air kisses to butterflies, bees and ants. We say UP when we step onto a curb, and DOWN when we come off of one. We bend down to smell the flowers- even though none of them really smell in our neighborhood, we still smell them.

We watch humming birds flying from flower to flower. You say BIRDS! CHEEP CHEEP, even though hummingbirds don't really make sounds. You love to point out the utility covers in the road. We name their shapes and colors, yellow circle (SURCO), blue (BOO) rectangle. You run from cover to cover asking me "Whassat?"

Sometimes you fall down because you are so excited and your feet get ahead of you. I think you will always have skinned knees. But you don't mind- you almost never cry. You just say FALL DOWN and you get back up again! We come back to our street and you sit on the curb. You say MA-IE SIT, and I sit next to you on the warm curb. You look down and say ANTS! We stare at the ants, and I look at the mail. You are so happy and I am too.

We go to the door to put your rocks away and you toss them in the pot where all your other rocks are. But you can't resist picking them up again and looking at them, saying WOW and YAY! Then when you are ready to go in you say BUN? BUN? Meaning, button, button? You want to ring the door bell. You push it once, twice and then I say, okay, let's go in and wash your hands, but you want to ring it again, so you say AGAIN, AGAIN, PEES? So I give in. I love our walks.

Never have I appreciated, birds, bugs, dirt, curbs and rocks so much. It's really true. The best things in life are free.

I can't believe you are 18 mos old. This is the best age ever. I know I say that at every stage. I feel it at every stage too. This is the most precious time with you. You know so many things, but you are still so little. You are such a big boy, but in so many ways, you are still a baby. You still smell like a baby, and you still have soft light baby hair. But now, you are feeding yourself with a fork and spoon, you are following directions and you are almost talking in sentences! You have the best sense of humor. You laugh so easily and it is so infectious! You LOVE to dance with us. Sometimes you and Daddy are dancing like silly loons in the family room and you come up to me, pull at my hands and say, MAMA, DANCE! And even though I am exhausted, I MUST dance with you goofy guys! There is so much love and laughter in our lives. Thank heaven for you! Happy 18 mos. to our little Boo Boo Chicken! We love you!

Mama & Da-ie

Daddy showing you a bug. You love bugs! Just like a boy!