A letter to our little boy

Today you turned 2 and further became a big boy. We have said how big you are getting for some time now, but now we can no longer tell people you are a “months” baby (16 months, 18 months, 23 months, etc.). We are so proud of you for how smart you are and how polite you are and how affectionate you are to all members of our family, not to mention most women at Target and the grocery store. You love to read anything and everything and you love everything that flies, especially “helpacas” (helicopters).

Your second birthday pictures show a little scar on your chin from a fall at daycare. You probably didn’t cry, and won’t remember it. But for Mom and Dad, it was a realization that things will happen to you during your life that we can’t prevent. We can only help to soothe you and tell you it will all be OK. We hope you will always come to us for that comfort and reassurance, like you do when you fall and bump your head or scratch your finger. You know we are good for a hug, and you are back in the battle in no time.

Speaking of daycare, like you were at your first daycare center, KidZone, you are a big hit at Annie’s. We always get great reports, and your teachers always tell us that you are so easy-going and well-behaved. You do have occasional mornings when it is tough to say goodbye to Mommy and Daddy, but you are so excited to see us at the end of day. When Daddy picks you up on Tuesdays, you immediately call for two things – helpacas and Mama. So, we pick Mommy up and swing by the hospital to see the twin Survival Flight helicopters. A month or so ago, you hit the jackpot, as one helpaca took off and another landed. These are just a few things that get you excited, right up there with semi trucks, buses (city and Michigan blue), cement mixers, tractors and pretty much anything bigger than an average 4X4. You have a cute, big boy haircut. Mom and Dad were so nervous to get your haircut for the first time. We didn’t want your hair to be too short, but now we get it cut every 5-6 weeks and you have a little burr head. The last few times your Nana has taken you for your haircut and, from what we are told, you were an angel. You were like that the first time we took you; after that, not so much.

We know that all babies are respectful to their grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles and cousins, but you are always so good to them, and they love you unconditionally. You call Grandma and Grandpa Saling, Nana and Papa, and Grandma and Grandpa Bergquist, Eema and Eepa. Eepa helped Mommy and Daddy finish their basement. Now, you can’t get enough of it down there. After shimmying down the stairs on your belly, you love to play with your new table and train set and birthday presents. But not far from your mind is your savior right now, Mickey Mouse. Some days you don’t go more than 10 minutes without asking to watch Mickey Moush or Blue book (Blues Clues).

We will wrap this up with a little story that sums up your first two years. While you were shopping today in Kroger with Daddy, you sang your medley of songs, “Ba Ba Black Sheep,” “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” and, finally, “The Victors.” You are so creative and happy and love to sing any chance you get. And, you love to call Mama real loud, even when she is five feet away. You are a dream come true, Harmon. Thank for showing Mommy and Daddy how fantastic being parents can be. We are truly blessed.

Love, Mommy and Daddy

One of those days

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s a long-ass day for me and a fun day for Harmon because he’s with his Nana.

I called her earlier and they were making cookies. I wanted to cry.

Every once in a while, I have one of those days when I so wish I was a stay-at-home Mom. I envision a cold winter day and me and Harmon all warm inside making Christmas cookies. We have dinner ready for when Kevin comes home and Harmon is so excited to see him and …

And, back to the real world. I’m sure work isn’t helping today either as I have so much crap work to do. Things like mailings and gathering/setting up materials for an event this weekend – things that TRULY require my MBA skills (ha, ha).

Speaking of skills, maybe I revisit the textbook from my MBA statistics class and figure out my chances at winning the lottery to make my vision a reality. Dare to dream.

Toddler Speak

Each day, Harmon (who I'm sure was in the middle of saying something dramatic in this photo at left) adds so much to his language skills and, in doing so, he’s really funny.

On the way back from his birthday dinner at Pizza House, I was telling my sister, Erin, about the Pumpkin Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. I told her it was like pumpkin pie on steroids and Harmon piped in with the following:

Pumpkin pie, pumpkin patch, pumpkin pancakes

Because he said it all in one breath, he was totally out of breath by the time he got to pancakes and it was hilarious.

We’ve still never been able to figure out who “Dee Dee” is and now it’s even worse. He’ll say “Let’s go, Dee Dee,” which will prompt us to ask who “Dee Dee” is. He then goes on with “Let’s Go Doh Doh,” “Let’s Go, Day Day,” and, finally, “Let’s Go, Cheese.”

WTF!

He sings all the songs from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and loves Choo-Choo Soul. He also can’t get enough of the Frog Dance (which they just pulled from YouTube – oh the devastation), not to mention he sings much clearer versions of "Hail to the Victors" - complete with the hand motions - and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

He’s also doing very well with the sentences. After opening presents in our new basement on Sunday night, he wanted to go down there again last night. He grabbed my hand and said, “Mama downstairs presents.”

Kevin noted that for the first time he feels like he really can have a conversation with him. Harmon and I called Kevin at work last Friday and they had a big chat about what he was doing, what he wanted to watch on the computer, what he had for lunch, etc.

Although I really, really miss my little baby Harmon, it’s so fun to see him growing up and expressing himself. Fun except for when we say something we shouldn’t and he repeats it – YIKES!

HALLOWEEN NIGHT!

As Harmon has been saying for the last few hours, it’s HALLOWEEN NIGHT! Harmon had his second run at the whole trick or treat thing and he did a fantastic job. He said “trick or treat” or “chocolate” at every house and then followed with a “thank you” and, instead of “Happy Halloween,” he chose to yell “Halloween Night” to each person dishing out the goods. He collected quite the loot and even got to enjoy some mini M&Ms, which I think might explain why he’s still not asleep.

He was a koala this year. It wasn’t my first choice (I wanted a frog costume but it was sold out by mid-September – what the hell) but it was very, very cute. He had a little koala in his pouch that he just had to share his chocolate with – so very polite!

He actually debuted his costume at the Halloween in Greenfield Village event we attended on Oct. 21. The three of us went, along with my parents and my sisters, and we all had a great time so I think we’ll go back again next year.

All in all, it’s been a great Halloween season!

A taste of his own medicine … kind of

Harmon woke up this morning IN LOVE with his snow leopard. He snuggled him in his crib, brought him along when it was time to get ready for the day and even took him to his high chair for breakfast. And, when Kevin got ready to head out for the usual Monday errands (today, we got new tires for the Liberty), Harmon wanted to bring along his snow leopard. As they were waiting for the tire job to finish up, they went for a walk and Kevin noticed Harmon fretting a bit. Evidently, he was trying to feed his snow leopard some of his raisins and was sad that he wouldn’t eat them. Kevin asked him what was wrong and asked if his snow leopard was eating and Harmon said “NO!” I guess maybe he now knows he we feel when he won’t eat his damn food!

A few other quick things. On the same trip, Kevin and Harmon were in Walgreen’s and Harmon heard a Michael McDonald song playing over the sound system and yelled ROCK. Um, no! To redeem himself, however, when Harmon sees my new Springsteen CD sitting around, he yells “The Boss!” Unfortunately, Kevin also taught him to say “mullet” when seeing that same CD. I guess Bruce could use a bit of a trim – his hair looks like a rat’s nest!

OK, more updates later on things like Halloween at Greenfield Village, Halloween (in general), toddler speak and my first real stint as a single parent (which was much better than I thought it would be).

Tuesday talk

On Tuesdays, Kevin and Harmon drop me off at work first. As we near the medical campus, Harmon starts yelling “HELPACAS” from the back seat. He knows we’re near the U-M Survival Flight helipad and he also knows that we’ll go see those helicopters on our way home. The second we turn onto Wall Street, where my building is located, he starts his goodbyes, telling me things like “bye, bye, Mama” and “Mama working.” Of course, after they drop me off, he continues to be a jabber box in the car and, depending on his mood, it’s either “friends, friends” or “no, no, no friends” on his way to day care! My FAVORITE part of Tuesday, though, is at the end of my work day. Kevin picks up Harmon and then comes to get me. As I leave my building, Kevin rolls down all the car windows so I can hear Harmon just yelling “MAMA” across the entire parking lot. After his yells of “Mama,” there usually is a round of belly laughter that I just can’t get enough of. It’s such a great way to let work melt away and dive back into being a Mommy!

Go play intramurals, brother!

This is my favorite coaching rant OF ALL TIME! Colorado coach Dan Hawkins just loses it!



It's even better because when we say it around the house, Harmon finishes it for us.

We'll say, "It's Division 1" and he'll say "football!"

We'll say, "It's the Big" and he'll say "12!"

We'll say "It ain't" and he'll say "intramurals!"

Finally, we'll finish up with "Go play intramurals" and he'll say "brother!"

What a great freakin' kid we have!

Ohhhhh, pumpkins!

By the time we got around to searching for a pumpkin last year, there were about two left in the pumpkin patch. So, this year, we vowed to go earlier and did so Sunday.

Even though Harmon was a bit under the weather, we made our way to Three Cedars Farm in Northville and had a great time. The first thing we did was get cider and donuts and both were excellent. Harmon didn’t like either so that left more for me and Kevin (luckily we had starved ourselves all day in anticipation). After our snack, we took a tractor/hay ride (or, as Harmon says, bumpy tractor ride) out to the pumpkin patch. As an aside, there was a HUGE corn maze there too but we decided not to push it with Harmon (we might go back later this fall). We wandered the field for a while looking for a nice pumpkin and finally found one. This search ended so much better than last year! We then took the tractor/hay ride back to the main farm area where we took some pictures of Harmon on an older tractor. He just loves those things (he is all boy)!

I think Harmon might have had a little more fun if he felt better but maybe we’ll go back. If we don’t get back there during the fall, we learned they also are open during the Christmas season!

23 months

This is pretty much the last time I can say Harmon is (fill in the blank) months old. Once he hits two next month, he’ll just be two … until he is three. It seems like just yesterday he wasn’t even one month old – time truly does fly when you’re having fun.

The last few months have been so amazing; mostly because of how Harmon's communications skills have continued to grow. He tells us what he wants (or doesn’t want) and, for the most part, we can understand him. Lately, if you ask him where something is, he will yell out “RIGHT THERE!” Ahh, yes, the yelling. It doesn’t go over so well in church so we’re trying to work through the whole inside-outside voice thing.

We decorated our house for fall a few weeks ago and, since then, he’s been obsessed with our pumpkin lights. We have lawn stake pumpkin lights in the front yard and he loves them. He needs to go count them every time we get home and he loves to tell everyone in the neighborhood all about them (yelling PUNKIN LIGHTS) when we’re out walking at night.

In addition to the pumpkin lights, he’s also obsessed with cars lately. We bought him a set of four small cars a few weeks ago and he can’t get enough. He runs them all over the house and then lines them up perfectly when he’s done. He also pulled some of his older cars from his toy box so now there are cars everywhere!

He still loves his stuffed animals, especially his sea otter (above), and his love of reading is as strong as ever. Instead of getting a lot of toys, we usually get him books. I don’t think we can enter a bookstore without exiting with a book. And, because of this, he can practically read his books to us. His language is amazing – he knows so many words and numbers and can put so much together. I hope this continues!

Although he’s never been much for TV, he has a couple of favorite shows that he’s really into lately. He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Blue’s Clues and those are shows we actually can stomach. I guess we don’t mind them because they DO have some educational value. He goes crazy for all the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse music (especially the hot dog dance) and he can’t see a paw print without saying “a clue, a clue!” The other two shoes he used to like – Wonder Pets and the Backyardigans – have sort of fallen off his radar and that’s just fine. As Kevin says, we don’t want him turning into a “vidiot!”

Now that the Tigers’ season is over, we’re not watching much baseball so I hope he remembers it come spring. In place of baseball, he’s taken a liking to “Dancing with the Stars.” He’ll yell “dance, dance” and go to a spot in front of Isabel’s cage – a spot that isn’t carpeted – and dance up a storm on the hardwood floor. Although it will embarrass him a ton when he’s older, I must note how he also loves to dance to “I Feel for You” by Chaka Khan!

Other than all this, things are going very well. He’s doing awesome in his new class at day care and is back to using the potty (after taking a break for a week - I have no idea why). I honestly don't have a clue when he'll be fully potty trained but we’re going to spend a lot of time on it over the Christmas break. We don’t have much planned for his second birthday – just a family party – but it will be fun and I'm sure he'll continue to get spoiled. And, here’s hoping his twos won’t be so terrible!

What's wrong with this picture?

Seriously, what's wrong? Look closely.

Magic

This past Tuesday, Bruce Springsteen’s newest CD, Magic, was released. After reading a ton of awesome reviews, I was so excited to get it and it definitely was worth the wait. Since getting it Tuesday night (Kevin spent his lunch at Borders getting it for me), I have been listening to it on a loop. Whether I am at work, at home, in the car or listening to my iPod, it is playing and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! It’s awesome because it is such a great mixture of his sound over the years and, quite simply, it ROCKS. At this very moment, my favorite tracks are I’ll Work for Your Love and Livin’ in the Future. Since I can’t make it to his concert on Nov. 4, I’m hoping the tour will go well and he will come back to Detroit. It’s happened before so maybe it will happen again. At 58, you never know when it might be the end for the Boss!

First school photos

Two weeks ago, Harmon had his first school photos taken. His day care hires a photographer to come out twice a year to get photos of the kids. While I'm sure it's not easy to corral 70 kids under the age of five AND get them to sit still for a photo (getting them to smile is a bonus), I have a sneaky suspicion they get paid pretty well. Maybe I suspect that because I had to pay $60 for four sheets of photos! These people have a good gig going, they know parents can't resist photos of their kids so they just fork over the cash without even thinking about it.

Anyway, here are the photos (they are scanned so the quality sucks). I think they turned out OK, although I will dress Harmon in something different next year. I wasn't sure how this whole thing worked (rookie) so I just sent him in a polo shirt and shorts (nice denim shorts, dude). I didn't want to let him wear (and subsequently ruin) anything really nice and I didn't want to saddle the teachers with having to change his clothes so we just went with the casual look. Plus, Aunt Stacey is taking his two-year photos in a few weeks so we'll rock the more formal look then.

Out of the mouths of babes

Harmon took the next step to becoming a little boy when we bought him a set of four trucks. They are a little bigger than Matchbox cars, so he can't eat them, but small enough to race around on every surface. This includes the box from our new TV, which, despite being in the same room with at least 50 others toys, is his favorite. Harmon is really good at identifying all of his toys, stuffed animals, family members, etc. When we asked him about his four new trucks, he calls the fire truck, appropriately, "fire fruck." The train is "choo-coo frain." There is another truck which hauls two small, white cannisters. This is his "milk fruck." To us, the real mystery was, what would he call the fourth truck? It is pretty nondescript. It is not a dump truck, nor does it haul anything. But it does have a yellow hood. So, we asked Harmon what this truck was, and he amazed us with ... "yellow fruck." Don't babies just make it simple sometimes?

Harmon Spencer-san

You're alright, Aunt Stacey!

Let’s Dance

It’s a dreary Monday, all wet and fall-like outside. As I’ve said a million times, Mondays are hard for me as I have to leave cuddly little Harmon and work in the afternoon. Usually, I perk up on my drive in because I get to listen to the Jim Rome Show but, since the NFL season has started, WDFN cuts away to the weekly Lions’ press conference where the cornbread is dished out while it’s nice and hot. Since I am not a Lions’ fan (or shall I say sheep), I usually seek alternate programming during this time but it’s a struggle. I struggled again today and as I fumbled through my presets, I accidentally hit CD. Let’s back up a bit. We drive my ’98 Wrangler on Mondays (the newer car stays with the kid) and I can’t remember the last time I even HAD a CD in that vehicle. So, imagine my surprise when a CD (I have NO idea whose CD) actually starts playing AND starts playing “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie. God, I totally love that song! What a pick me up to my rainy Monday!

No October

As I type this, it’s Sunday, Sept. 30 and, unlike last year, I am facing an October without my beloved Detroit Tigers. As I watched Jason Grilli (of all people) strike out Chicago’s Toby Hall to end today’s game (and season), I cried. It’s been a long time since baseball meant anything to anyone around here – an entire generation of kids had no clue what Tigers’ baseball was – so to see another good season end was sad for me.

Now, I could be a pissed off Tigers’ fan because they failed to accomplish what they should have accomplished but I’ve thought a lot about it over the last month and I’m not going to be. If the 2007 season would have happened last year, the entire state would have been going bananas. For a team that was terrible for years to be playing meaningful baseball into mid-September would have been amazing. But, we all were surprised by the march to the World Series in 2006 so, naturally, 2007 was a letdown. Although injuries played a part, there are many other reasons the 2007 team isn’t in the playoffs. They couldn’t get the big hit when they needed it, they got outscored in late innings, they couldn’t get good hitting and good starting pitching at the same time and, when they did, the bullpen came in and lit the entire infield on fire. I could go on and on but I want to focus on the good because, for so many years, there simply wasn’t ANYTHING good to focus on.

Congrats to Magglio Ordonez for winning the AL batting title; to Carlos Guillen for his 102 RBI season; and to Curtis Granderson for his .302 average and his amazing accomplishment of being the first player since Willie Mays to hit 20 home runs, doubles and triples and steal 20 bases. Congrats to Placido Polanco for smacking 200 hits (with a third-place .341 average) and for finishing the entire season without an error at second base.

There are other accomplishments and so many wonderful memories from this season and I don’t think it will sink in that it’s all over until I come home from work tomorrow. Almost every night (and day) since April, I’ve had Rod Allen and Mario Impemba on the tube or Dan Dickerson and Jim Price on the airwaves bringing me Tigers’ baseball. It will be weird not to have that this week and for the next five months.

Thanks so much for a great season, Detroit Tigers! You brought baseball back to the Motor City and I, for one, cannot wait until 2008. Only 152 days to go – Spring Training starts Feb. 27.

To close, I love this quote from Rogers Hornsby:

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”

Chocolate

My parents and sister, Erin, were here recently to watch Harmon while Kevin and I went to a U-M football game. While we were gone, Harmon saw Erin eating M&Ms and asked to try one. Usually, when you give Harmon chocolate (or sweets of any kind) he ends up spitting it out. But, this time, he kept it in his mouth … and liked it.

Not that we want him to eat chocolate all the time but we’ve tried several different things (chocolate basically is a food group in the Bergquist house) and he never has taken to any of them. Not cookies, muffins, brownies, candy, cake or anything else. He DID eat a piece of fudge when we were in Traverse City in July, which was a shocker! Just ONE, TINY piece, though!

So, when he ate the M&M, we thought it would be a one-time thing. Not so much. Now, he says “chocolate” a ton and anytime we say “Erin,” he responds with “chocolate.” Erin came over tonight and the first thing he said when she came through the door was “chocolate!” The best thing about this is the WAY he says chocolate. He says it with a French accent, perfectly annunciating every syllable, which is hilarious!

Although I LOVE chocolate, I surprisingly didn’t like it at all while I was pregnant so maybe that explains it. And, like I said, it’s not like we’re begging him to eat chocolate and then allowing him to get his own M&Ms or Fritos out of the pantry. He’s an excellent eater (a healthy one too) and we’re hoping to keep it that way, with maybe an M&M or two every once in a while!

Sacrifices

We know that both sets of parents made sacrifices for us from the day we were born. And while this is a very small and seemingly insignificant one for us, it does show how your thinking changes when you become a parent.

As I type this, tickets are on sale for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Palace in November. Besides it being on a Monday night, and good tickets being $89 before Ticketmaster comes blasting in with surcharges and delivery fees, the timing is just not right this time around. Normally this is a no-brainer for Aimee, right up there with Tigers Opening Day (except for this year; cut it out 2007), Michigan football and the first night of any Will Ferrell or Vince Vaughn movie. We are finishing our basement right now, and that has been expensive, especially the past three weeks, but this is also about Harmon (in a good way).

Any time we plan something or go to buy something, we always think of our little buddy. For example, the day after the concert is a daycare day for him. Plus, the fact that we would have to drive home in the wee hours of the morning is not fair to his sleep. It is amazing as a parent to feel so strongly about your children and make sure they have all that they need and are not hungry, cold or sad.

Aimee is such a great Mom at this. Aside from my behavior in buying our new TV, I can be impulsive at times. My gut would be to buy the tickets and then figure out later who is going and how it is going to work out. Aimee is always thinking about what is best for Harmon. When she goes to the mall with him, who gets something? Very rarely her. It is usually Harmon, who also scores when Nana goes shopping and Grandma and Grandpa come to visit.

As I said in the beginning, I know this is a small thing, but Aimee has such natural instincts as a good Mom and Harmon is turning out to be a great son because of it. Maybe next time, Bruce.

Unexpected nap

OK, enough ogling of Russell Crowe! Let’s get back to it. As many of you know, Kevin and I split our Mondays – he works the early shift (7 a.m. – noon) and I work the late shift (12:30-5:30 p.m.). So, Mondays are always a little hard for me as I have to leave Harmon after spending a few fun hours with him in the morning. And, yesterday, he made it even harder.

It’s been a while since he’s taken a nap with us (at LEAST six months). We try every couple of weeks to get him to take a family nap but he wants none of it. Yesterday, though, after we had breakfast and played for hours, I got him all changed and dressed and asked him if he wanted to take a nap with me. He said yes but he’s said yes before so I was skeptical! We got all snuggled up together under the covers and he got comfortable on his Daddy’s pillow and then was snoring within minutes. Initially, I was afraid to open my eyes and look at him as he sometimes has this open-eyed, staring-off-into-space-but-still-awake look but he was dead asleep.

Of course, I wasn’t able to nap with him long as I had to get ready for damn work. So, I moved him into his bed and he took a nice, long nap. I was so sad that I couldn’t enjoy it more. Why a Monday and not a Friday or the weekend? Who knows when he’ll take a break from his busy toddler life to take another nap with us? Everything just goes by way too fast!

A sight to see

After two straight crushing, embarrassing defeats at Michigan Stadium, finally something good happened on the Michigan sideline on Saturday:


Ahh, yes, that would be THE Russell Crowe. He and Coach Carr became fast friends in the off-season and he graced Michigan Stadium with his presence on Saturday. I can't believe Russell freakin' Crowe was in my town! I love him (not to mention he's a tremendous actor and SO should have TWO Academy Awards - damn Denzel and that stupid Training Day movie). And, he's in my five. GOD!

Oh yeah, the game. Anyway, we crushed Notre Dame AGAIN, 38-0. I could get used to these yearly beatings. Granted they are a god-awful football team so Saturday's game was in no means a measuring stick for where we are at this point. No matter what, though, it's always fun to beat up on the Irish and their a-hole QBs (Quinn and Clausen). Guess it will be at least ANOTHER year before we hear from our ND friends.