Dear Victor

Dear Victor,

You delight us.  What a fun stage this is, 20-months... full of comedy and lumps on the head and snuggles and songs.

I couldn't begin to list out all the words you know.  Being a chatty kind of fellow, you just talk about whatever you see or whatever you happen to think about or whatever you like, all day long.

Commonly, when we sit to pray before naptime, you want us to pray for Hudson.  And Dell.  And Brian (an enthusiastic favorite).  Sometimes Betsy makes it in there. (Sorry, Bets.  I think it's just a hard name...)  You think with fondness of Toby.  And Pop-pop.  And Lucy.  You love Grammy and especially Grandad.  It's always a highlight to skype, especially if Grandad happens to be home from work.  (You talk about them so much, and I usually say, "Oh, how we love Grammy and Grandad!" So you started saying, "Oh... Grandad!")  Since we saw the Lasers last in Iowa, you often ask for Janessa or Silas when we're going to skype with Grammy.  When Momma gets off the phone with Auntie Lori, you talk about her the rest of the day.

You love, love, love going to the park.  Particularly, the slides.  When Daddy gets home from work, you may give him 30 seconds or so before you're grabbing his leg, looking up with big blue eyes and a curly-top, saying, "Down the sli-ide!  Down the sli-ide!"

Your duckie, donkey, and puppy have taken on all your favorite pastimes.  Now when you wake up, Daddy will tuck them under your blanket for a snooze.  Later, you'll prop them each up on the couch, and you give them each a book to read.  When duckie got dropped behind the toilet today (we won't ask how that happened), we decided he needed a bath in the washer.   As one who loves your bath, you were content to go a naptime without precious duckie for that nice bathtime for him.

You've begun breaking into song at various times during the day.  Your first little number was "Hep-py bir-tay to you, hep-py bir-tay to you, hep-py bir-tay to you..."  (You only know one line of most songs, so you just enthusiastically repeat until Mom or Dad jumps in with the rest.)  A couple days ago we were singing "Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah, praise ye the Lord!"  And a few minutes later, I heard you making your own little song combo with, "Hal-le-lu-jah to you, hal-le-lu-jah to you, hal-le-lu-jah to you..."

Other favorites: "So big, so mighty, so big, so mighty..." (from "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty...").  And "Jesus Loves Me," from which you know several different parts, so sometimes we hear "Yes, Je-s loves me..." or "lit-tle ones ..." and sometimes "For the Bi-ble!" 

You had a cold a few weeks ago, after which you would say "Bless you!" whenever you or someone else sneezed, blew his nose, or coughed.  Also, each time you sneezed, you would tell Mommy, "Clean up..." (I think that's what you thought we were saying when we talked about "kleenex.")

You are growing in some little courtesies, like saying "please" when you want something and "thank you" when you get something and "excuse me" when you burp.

You have good eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills--you're building some pretty big towers these days, you can dig with your little shovel and put the sand into a bucket, and you like chunky puzzles or putting shapes in the shape sorter.

You have a curious fascination with sirens and flashing lights (you call them beep-beep lights), and daily, we find the beep-beep trucks in your Richard Scarry books.  Whenever an emergency vehicle goes by, you come and grab my hand and say, "Pray!" so we can pray for God to help them and give them grace wherever they are going.  (This all began one day when the weather sirens were being tested while you were outside.  It was a little creepy, hearing those sirens so loud, like they were right on top of you.  And ever since, we've been slightly scared but very, very fascinated by sirens and flashing lights of all types.)  When we were at Miss Sarah and David's house last week, David had a little toy fire truck that made a siren when you pushed a button, and you came right over and grabbed my hand so we could pray...

You are a good eater, still pretty happy to eat whatever's put in front of youj.  But if you could pick what you eat everyday, it would be grapes and cheese.  (With a treat to finish it off.)

You're starting to count.  Normally, it goes "2, 4, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8..."  Every now and then you'll get 9 and 10 in there too.  

You've begun waving hi and bye to various things.  When we go out for a walk, it's "Bye, books!  Bye, duckie!  Be good!"  The funniest was when I was cleaning the bathroom, and you saw a little splatter of water on the toilet.  You said, "Wet."  And I said, "Yep, there's a little water there.  Come on, now we need to go to the store."  So you gave your little wrist wave, and said, "Bye-bye, water!"

You love going to church.  When we start talking about it (Saturday night), you get so excited to see Grandpa David and Emmett and the babies (i.e. anyone under 18) and sing and pray.  We bring you in with us to worship for the singing, and then you are very happy to go to your class for the rest of the service and Sunday school hour.

And one of our favorite things, when we're saying good-night or Daddy is leaving for work, is that we say, "I love you," and you say, "Ah love you too-o!"

We love who God is making you to be, little buddy.  We pray that your little awareness of things bigger than yourself will grow and blossom into full-fledged love for Jesus and trust in all He's done for you.  

You melt our hearts.  You are our favorite small boy.

Love,
Momma and Daddy