Dear Sava,

You are so cute I could simply eat you and be done with it!

Just a quick recap. I've been really busy with work, bills, editing my dissertation, and taking care of you that I completely forgot to write. I picked you up from the babysitter tonight (you were there for 2 hours) and you were wild. It was you, another 2 year old, and a 4 year old named Lucian. You and the other 2 year old were laughing hysterically when I arrived. You were playing keep away with a big dog, and loving every minute of it. You were wild, had a crazy look in your eyes, you had a full diaper of peepee, and your face was completely dirty.

We drove away and you kept telling me, "Lucian is soo funny. Daddy silly. Sava silly. Doggy Silly. Lucian is so funny."

At one point there were three college girls crossing the road talking on cell phones and I asked, "What are they doing?" You said, "Those girls going to the store buy food dinner."

I was so excited. "Sava, did you just say 'those girls are going to the store to buy food for dinner?"
"Yes," you said.
"That's the most complex sentence I've ever heard you say."
"Yes," you said again. Then you casually looked out the window. I pulled the car to the side of the road and turned to look at you. You knew instantly that I was going to tickle you...and I did!

It was obvious you were overtired, but it was only 5:45 and I needed to buy you some dinner. We went to a Japanese takeout place and you suddenly began laughing and falling on the floor. I told the people in the restaurant you were overtired and about to explode. Everyone laughed. Then we walked next door to the video store and you instantly ran, and I mean RAN, to the video player you love to play with, but you tripped before you got there and as you fell you hit your head on the video machine.

It was bad. Your head looked instantly bruised, and you were crying intensely. Outside I held ice on your forehead while you cried. Then it was home to eat sushi, your first sushi, and then I put you in the bath, changed you into your jammies you call your "monkey suit" and then I put you into bed by 6:30. You were so tired that you didn't even finish your milk or stand up--typically you stay away playing with your babies (teddy bears, dolls, octopus, etc), but tonight there was none of that--you just closed your eyes and you were out.

I came in later and just watched you sleep and blew kisses to you for a few minutes, turned off your lights the way we do every night, turned on the heater and humidifier, and silently departed.

This week we've been working on new words and new concepts. This is what you know very well this week:

12345678910...11

ABCDE23HY4562PWXYZ

Heel, ball of foot, ankle, leg, knee, thigh, hip, tummy, belly button, ribs, chest, boobies (your mother), neck, throat, chin, ears, earlobes, face, head, cheeks, lips, teeth, tongue, inside mouth, nostrils, bridge of the nose, eye, eyelash, eyeball, eyebrow, forehead, hair, toes, baby toe, baby finger, back, butt, arms, elbow, wrists, palm of the hand, hand, fingers, thumbs, fingernails, toenails.

I don't know why, but I've felt compelled to teach you the names of your body parts. You sometimes love it, and sometimes you hate me quizzing you. It's all in fun, and it's helped out a lot when you have injuries. For instance, tonight you told me, "Hurt my forehead daddy, need two band-aids." You didn't need band aids, but you insisted.

Now you're sleeping, I'm watching The Last Days of Disco and writing a little something about you. Basically, you're incredible and amazing and we try to spend all of our waking hours with you. But you are also a whiny little thing. You cry, fall down on the floor screaming because, I don't know, you didn't want to wear white socks, and you throw things, break things, and run around causing problems, but we love you and do everything we can to make you happy and to stimulate you to use your language.

In the end, you're one talkative little 2 year old. It surprises everyone! "Get Sava a beer?" you ask at the market' "Tell big doggy sit down," you insist as we round a corner and there is a dog waiting to walk out into traffic; "Daddy give ice cream Sava bowl?" you say as I open the freezer door. It goes on and on and on.

You're incredible and lovely. And because of this I've taught you a little trick. At the hardware store the other day a woman heard you talking and came around the aisle to say hello.

"Hi," you said.
"How old are you?" she asked.
"I two," you said, holding up two fingers.
"Two!" she said. "We'll, you're very smart for a two year old," she said.
"Yeah," you said (and this is my 'trick'). "I'm smart and cute," you said.

She stood there floored.

"Did she just say smart and cute?" she asked me. "Indeed she did." "Whoa," said the woman. She then followed us around the store for a few minutes trying to investigate why someone so young would know so much.

You are a funny monkey baby and we love you like nothing else.

Love,
Dad