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Tuesday, February 12, 2008 Dear Koen, You turned 24 months old last Sunday, February 3rd. The big 2 YEARS OLD! Unlike most of America, we celebrated your Birthday at the Train Museum rather than have our eyeballs glued to the TV watching the Super Bowl; rather, watching the commercials during the Super Bowl. We were accompanied by your Grandma, Grandpa, Lola, Lolo and Tito Greg. Your Birthday this year was all about Family. Your Mom and I decided to keep it small, unlike last year when we went to Gymboree with all of your little friends.
After the Train Museum, we came back to our house for cake and ice cream. Your Mom spent hours formulating and creating a "Gordon Cake" you had been asking for two weeks prior to your big day. In the world of Thomas and Friends, Gordon claims to be the "Fastest and the Best" Engine in all of Sodor. To this day, the Gordon Train and Express Coaches I bought you over a month ago are still your favorite toys. Because your Mom would do anything for you, she took on the task of making your special Gordon cake with a valiant effort. Though it doesn't look exactly like Gordon, I give her total props for her accomplishments. I know I couldn't do half of what she did. I suggested buying a cake big enough to put an actual motorized Gordon Train circling, while you blew out the candles.
Your obsession with Thomas the Tank Engine has completely taken over our physical space known as our HOUSE. I'm not sure how many toy trains you now have. I lost count after 20. Let me rephrase that. I lost count of your Thomas & Friends Wooden Train System. You are also collecting the Thomas & Friends TrackMaster Series. But seriously, it's time to slow down. You not only have the toy trains, you are now sporting the Thomas & Friends clothing line. So much for Janie and Jack, Tea, Icky Baby, Pumpkin Patch and other designer clothing your Mom has been dressing you in. You are all about the Thomas & Friends clothes you got for Christmas and your Birthday. A couple weeks ago, we went to a Train Show at the Downtown Convention Center. I didn't know what to expect. Right smack in the middle of the showroom was a vendor that sold nothing but Thomas the Tank Engine merchandise. Toothbrushes, Books, Potty Chairs, Zipper pulls...you name it, they had it. Every kid in that booth acted like they were on crack. Screaming, laughing, whining, begging..."I want, I want." My only thought? "Holy Crap."
After walking around and seeing some pretty cool train exhibits, we found a spot where parents could sit and watch their kids and other kids battle over battery operated Thomas toys and play tents. (You're first exposure to the TrackMaster series.) You were guilty of being the kid who wanted to control how everyone played. You would pick up trains that other kids were playing with and take them off their tracks, turn them the other direction, or just take them off the tracks because they weren't playing how you wanted them to play.
Aside from Thomas & Friends, you are still practicing Tai Chi. We haven't practiced much Wing Chun or Bak Mei because of your lack of interest. Plus, you really flow when practicing your Tai Chi form.
An amazing thing occurred within the last couple of weeks. You have started to form sentences using the vocabulary you know. You've moved away from just mimicking what we say and are now communicating what you want or what you need with original phrases. "I pooped, please change, me's dirty" is a good example. However, my favorite is "I need that, too." This is what you told your Grandpa one afternoon while browsing a Thomas catalog. It's nice to see you developing your communication skills at a nice pace. Now if I can only teach you how to do our Taxes, we'll be set. Oh, and did I mention you figured out how to turn on your Mom's iPhone and find the Thomas & Friends Video's. You are becoming quite the tech geek we had always hoped for. I took the liberty of sending in your resumé and an application to the Geek Squad. I'm looking forward to some cool discounts on stuff I don't need. I do apologize for the lack of photos and content for this letter. There are 2 reasons for my lack of time. First, you got sick the day after your Birthday. You caught a virus that has been sweeping across Northern California and infecting children and adults of all ages. This nasty virus doesn't have a name, but it did cause you to cough for 2 hours straight and have liquid shoot out from both ends of your body. The worst and scariest part was your high fever that reached 105. You were a Human Heater for 5 days. Cold compresses and Pedialyte popsicle's helped bring your fever down and brought the House of Pilapil back to DEFCON 5. Finally, last month has been super crazy with work. Things have come to a point in my business that Aaron and I are leasing an office space not too far from home. This means Daddy will be doing the 9-5 gig at another location. It doesn't mean I won't be working at home from time to time. It just means I will be away for several hours during the day while you are at gymnastics or play group. Watching you grow and develop first hand for the last 2 years has been absolutely amazing. Though my business is growing and heading in the right direction, a part of me is extremely sad to be moving my studio. The thought of not being able to hear you in the next room laughing and playing is disheartening. I'll just have to buy some web cams and set them up around the house so I won't miss out on your daytime trials and tribulations. Hope you get the job with the Geek Squad :-)
Love,
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