Dear Lawton,
Just starting this letter I found myself grinning and letting out a big sigh. In part because I can not believe my baby boy is TWO, but also because those are two very common reactions you elicit from me on a daily basis. While you certainly love to test boundaries and push buttons and tempt fate, you are also sweet and affectionate and bright and funny as can be.
Of course as the second, soon to be MIDDLE, child, it is hard not to compare you to your sister. Did you meet your milestones when she did? Do you talk as much or as well as she did? Do you react to things the way she did? But you are so clearly your own person already. You are smart and precocious and curious like your sister was and is, but you are also loud and confident and daring and stubborn and sometimes a little bit wild. You love to meet new people and are quick to offer hugs and affection. Even as a baby you won people over just in passing, and you still do. People fall in love with you right away and you eat it up, always amused and excited by attention and praise.
So much joy for me lately comes from watching you with your sister. You are by far her biggest fan and you want to do EVERYTHING she does. Laine takes gymnastics? Well then sign you up. Laine has fairy wings on? You'll wear some and be a superhero. Laine wants something to drink? What do you know, you're thirsty too! You are both attending the same three day preschool now in classes across the hall from each other and, even though you are only apart for three hours, if I pick you up inside (rather than in the carpool line) you run to each other and embrace like it has been weeks. It is so much fun for me to see you grow to love each other so much and learn how to play with one another. I'm sure eventually you will want to set your own rules but for now you are content to tag along with your big sister and do whatever she tells you to, namely being Tinkerbell's sidekick Periwinkle or Ariel's fish friend Flounder.
While you love playing with Laine and happily identify any and all Disney princesses, you are also so very much a little BOY. You are newly obsessed with Lightning McQueen from the Cars movie (you have McQueen and Mater little wheelie cars that we must know the whereabouts of at all times OR ELSE). We were lucky enough to get a handed down train table, which fueled your loves for trains (especially Thomas and friends). You love trucks and buses and construction vehicles and basically anything with wheels. Your birthday presents were all tremendous hits, but your current favorite is definitely the Batmobile from your aunts Chelsea and Tricia, combining your loves of riding on things, superheros, and cars. You have already mastered zooming around corners, pressing the button that proclaims "back to the batcave!" and grinning like a fool. I love it.
In a lot of ways it's been harder to acknowledge that you are no longer my baby than it was with Laine. When she was your age you were already here, so her title as "baby" was usurped pretty early. But now that you are officially two years old, in preschool three days a week, talking in full sentences and asking me "aw... WHY" every other minute, I can't really argue that you are becoming a little boy. I'm so proud of you and the little person you are and are growing into. You make a lot of people smile all the time, and I have no doubt you will continue to do so. I am so lucky and thrilled and proud to be your mommy.
I love you, little stinker.
Mommy