Dear Connor,

You are such a sweet kid. You have the softest heart. You are always doing things for others, especially your sister. You are constantly worried about doing the right thing and pleasing others. I imagine that one day we may find out you have a bit of your mother's anxiety issues, but for now we're just treating some of your anxious behavior the best way we know. The latest fear you have is choking to death. Daddy was explaining to you that when you chew your food you need to do it really well so that it can fit down your throat and go to your belly. Somewhere along the way you got it into your head that food can go into your throat or into your belly and if it goes into your throat- you die. This has made for the last few meals to be pretty tearful. You will be eating and then all of a sudden you start crying and screaming that food is in your throat and you don't want to die. Then you follow that up with repeated questions about heaven. We've assured you that you are not going to die. That all food goes into your throat before it goes to your belly, but you are just not convinced. So, whenever you start crying during a meal I just hold you and reassure you as best I can and then when  you've calmed down we try again to explain it to you.

You were so fun this Christmas season. You fell in love with Buddy the Elf. You had so many questions about his magic, and how his mouth worked. Could he talk? Could he eat? How does he fly? You got so excited to find him every day. On the last night when we got to hug Buddy good bye you were practically beside yourself with excitement that you got to touch him!

You are really into batman lately. You love super heroes and you love playing good guy vs. bad guy games. You love to be chased and will run and scream no matter who is chasing you, but you do not like to be the chaser (unless you're chasing Daddy!).  Whenever it's your turn to chase and the other kids run away you get sad and come tell me that nobody is playing with you and that they keep running away.

You are so smart! You love to read and you love to practice new skills. You still love to use your scissors and you get a kick out of learning how to write the letters in your name. You say "C for Connor" several times a day when you see a random C around the house.

It was fun taking you to look at Christmas lights this year. You were super excited to give away your prize. The house you chose was really sweet and thanked you a bunch. You puffed up-all excited and proud.

You made the holiday so special and fun this year! Thank you for being such a sweet boy.
I love you,
Mommy

December

Dear Hunter,
You have been so fun this month! The Christmas season has bee so exciting for you and I have really enjoyed watching you. This year we started a few new things that we hope become traditions in our family. We adopted an Elf on the Shelf. You were interested in him at first while we read you the story of how the elf is Santa's helper who sits in our house and watches you during the day and fly's to the North Pole at night to tell Santa if you were naughty or nice. Every morning when he returns he lands in a different spot of the house. Your interest has grown to an absolute adoration of our little elf. You insisted that we name him Buddy because that's what Santa calls him. You got that from last years favorite movie Elf. It amazes me the things you can remember. The first morning you came running out of the bedroom and asked where Buddy was. You laughed and laughed when you found him and every morning has been the same since. You just love to find where Buddy has gone.

Every day Buddy leaves us a reeses peanut butter cup and a note. His note tells us something fun he wants us to do together as a family. We've made cookies together, ornaments, watched holiday movies, visited grandmas...the works!

Our favorite activity that Buddy has left for us to do was to drive around the town and look at Christmas lights. When we saw a house that we liked the best we were suppose to give that house a prize. On the first night we made the prizes which you were excited about because you got to use scissors and cut and there was candy involved. Then when we went to look at the houses you were so excited we only made it down the road before you found your "favorite" house. You were so excited to give away your prize. It was really fun walking you up to the house so you could knock on the door. You were all jittery with excitement. Then when they answered the door you thrust your prize into their hands! You walked back to the car so proud of yourself and happy. It was absolutely adorable. Daddy and I both wished we had made more prizes so that we could keep going because you were having so much fun!

You're growing up and getting braver every day, but you still don't want to get to close to danger. I can remember when you were a baby and we use to tease you saying that you only liked "safe fun." It's funny how as a baby your personality so strongly presented itself. You're definitely braver though. This year you didn't scream at Connor that the reindeer were going to eat him. You even stood up on the hay and looked at them. However, one reindeer thought that you had food for him and came running over to you. Just as quickly as he was coming you were getting off the hay and running away. It gave me a good chuckle.

When we saw Santa you did the exact same thing that you did last year. First, you just stopped walking. We were all the way to Santa when we looked back and saw you 20 feet behind us and not budging an inch. We finally convinced you to come stand next to us. You made it within 5 feet of Santa and hollered out, "PAT THE PIG ON MY LIST!"

Santa had a very confused look on his face and said, "uh-ok". I think he had no idea what you were talking about. Josie was with us this year and she sat on Santa's bench while Santa stood behind the bench. You sat next to her for  a quick minute but your face revealed just how scared you were! I was proud of you for facing your fears.

The month is already half way over and I'm sad at how fast this season is going. It has been the funnest of the year. I love watching how excited you are about everything. I can't wait to see what the rest of this season will bring. Thank You for making everything so magical.
I love you,
Mommy

Dear Kaylee,
Every time I turn around another month is gone. You've changed so much this month though. Every day you say about a dozen new words. What you can't say, you fake. You absolutely adore Winnie the Pooh. I thought I was going to have to lead you to loving it but you did it all on your own. You insist on watching him at least once a day. Yesterday you watched him when you woke up, and then when Mommy was in the shower you convinced Daddy to let you watch him again. When I got out of the shower I told you to turn it off because you'd already watched it. Daddy looked at you and said, " You've already watched this today?!" You just looked at him and giggled, knowing exactly what you had done.
You are learning so much from your brothers. One of the most adorable things you do lately you got from your brother Connor. Whenever you see a funny part of a movie you come running up to me laughing and you act out the part you just saw. When you're done showing me what happened you say, "THAT!"

It stands for "he just did that!" which is something Connor says all the time! You laugh at the same parts of the movies your brothers laugh at, except you laugh twice as hard. Sometimes I wonder if you really think that part is funny or if you think it's funny because they think it's funny.

You absolutely love to have one on one time with Mommy. The other day we had a few hours to ourselves so I took you to get a hair cut. You sat so still. You were such a big girl, and you knew it! Your hair looked so cute when you were done, and you literally strutted up to the counter to get your sucker!

You still love food although you're starting to prefer to drink rather than to eat. I've had to start limiting your liquids so that you'll actually eat! Your favorite food is pizza, which you pronounce Pizzpa. Whenever we say we're having pizza for dinner you scream with excitement and start jumping up and down.
You also tattle a lot these days. I'm pretty sure that comes with your age and the fact that you spend most of your days with 4 other tattling toddlers. One day you were so mad at Ethan because he kept making a noise. You told him to stop several times and he continued so you came running to me and exclaimed, "Effie, (insert noise here) STOP!" It's so hard to teach you not to tattle when the others can't seem to learn it either. I imagine it's something I'll just have to deal with for awhile, but it sure is a lot cuter when you tattle than when the boys do. Also an age thing...and a higher pitch voice thing.

We went to see Santa last night. You weren't too scared. Just a little stand offish.  You sat next to me and I sat next to Santa so you had some distance between the two of you. It was pretty funny how brave you were considering your brothers insisted on sitting on my lap.

Your personality has really been shining through lately. You still like Dora. You love the Baxon from Winnie the Pooh and you absolutely love playing Baxon games with Daddy. You LOVE penguins, particularly your penguin pajamas. You love to be in charge. You made Josie so mad the other day that Josie came storming into the kitchen and said," Kaylee is being the boss of me!" I think that comes from having brothers who do everything for you and love on you all day!

Your attitude has been diminishing although we still have some outbursts. The other morning you wanted juice but I told you no and as a result you threw your sippy cup across the room. A reasonable reaction. You got a time out and you were told no more juice all day, but I ended up caving and gave you juice after lunch.

Connor and Hunter are really into the Elf on the Shelf this year. You don't really care and you keep touching him, which means the Elf gets sick and we have to let him rest. The boys have been pretty annoyed by it so we try to make sure that Buddy the Elf lands somewhere high out of your reach. Last night I bought the Elf on the Shelf movie and the boys watched it twice. Then they woke up this morning and watched it twice again. When it was over the second time they asked me to restart it and at the top of your lungs you screamed, "NOOOOOO!"

You love to help Mommy cook in the kitchen. Often you push your own chair into the kitchen to stand up tall next to me and help, even when it's not an opportune time for you to be in the kitchen. I try to let you help as much as possible but you still lick and stick your fingers all over everything so I have to keep you out of the kitchen when I'm preparing chicken or food for somebody else.

We made prizes together as a family to give to houses with the coolest Christmas lights the other night. Then we all got into the car and drove around looking at houses with cool lights. Your brothers picked houses right away and I let them get out of the car and go knock on the door to give the homeowner their prize. You immediately got excited for your turn and started pointing at houses. You were way cute delivering your prize. The man who owned the house was so excited and kept telling you how cute you were and how you made his whole Christmas, to which you soaked right up!

Your words are adorable right now. Juice box is "Buice Box." You say "Uh-HuH!" in the cutest voice ever. Your newest word is "BELLY!" You yell this word while pulling up your shirt and trying to give someone a belly bump.

I can't believe all the new things you do and say. You're truly a toddler now. I'm super excited to watch you open presents this year at Christmas. It should be perfect practice for your birthday!

I love you kiddo! Thanks for making this holiday season so exciting!
Mommy

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