Dear Rowen,
you are 100 weeks old! That's almost two years, I can't believe you've been a part of our lives that long, and yet I can't remember life without you. To celebrate your 100th week, I want to write out 100 of your quirks, sayings, or other Rowenisms to remember this sweet time in your life. Here goes!
1. "BOOOOM!" (any time he or anything else falls. even if it falls softly)
2. i LOVE when you are looking for something and say "i no no where!" while making your eyes super big and shaking your palm-up hands
3. "keet" (carrot)
4. every morning when you wake up, I make you "haw kaw-ket mulKh" (hot chocolate milk - ovaltine in hemp milk warmed up) and you have your drink and I have mine. (coffee, of course)
5. how definite the "k" is on the end of "milk"
6. when we spike your hair, the front always lays flat. No matter how much product we put in there.
7. "debbies!" (berries)
8. "heh-lo" (phone- you know, hello)
9. "kaw-see" (coffee) - anything in a cup. What does that say about me?
10. you replace the "f" sound with an "s" every time.
11. when we mention church, you say "jee da!" (Jada) last wednesday you even said something along the lines of "hold hands and walk with Jada at church"
12. when we talk about going anywhere, you say "mama car" or "dada car" soon to be followed by "mama die see car" and "dada die see car!" (drives the) and then often followed by "muusick" (music) which is played in the car... naturally
13. "Oh Kay!!!" (insert excited eyes)
14. oh how you LOVE beets. Your favorite meal is beets and noodles. When you learn to eat a little more neatly, I'll miss your sweet magenta cheeks...
15. you also love "signing time" videos. We check them out from the library, a new one each week. You practically scream "new sigh tie!" or it's becoming "sigh timeee" or "sigh time-a al lee lah!" (since it's "signing time with alex and leah")
16. when we go to fred meyer, you "drive" the blue car shopping cart and love it.
17. "ah poh" (apple)
18. "baby sissy lu lu"
19. every night we give you liquid vitamins with iron before bed. They are awful. Even so, routine is powerful and after bath you run to the kitchen, grab a towel to wipe your face, and say "by messies!" (vitamins) "yuck"
20. "tau woo" (towel)
21. you've started calling him "muh kee" but for a long time it was just "ah ah" (you know, a monkey sound!)
22. you carry your tattered caterpillar around with you everywhere. You hold the crusty red fabric and rub it under your nose while you suck your thumb.
23. you sleep with your eyes barely open
24. "show show" (stroller)
25. "mah kit" (farmers market)
26. "lie beh wee" (library) or sometimes "lo lie beh wee" because we read a book called "Lola at the Library"
27. "papananas!" (often repeated again and again, loudly) when we're going to go visit Pop Pop and Nana
28. "a gigis!" when we're going to go visit Mima and Pappy.
29. you like to hold the receipt after we check out at costco for the guy at the door to check with the highlighter. It's your little job
30. you get your cars out almost daily and line them up at the pantry door.
31. playing cars with daddy is an important part of your bed time routiene
32. any time we're outside and there's a curb, you say "big step" and want to walk on it
33. I can't figure it out, but almost every phrase starts with "hey" these days.
34. you love when you hear the train go by, or an airplane
35. "gooosh" (squirrel)
36. when I give you markers to color with, you instead stack them end to end and say "yooke dat!" (look at that!)
27. you can build a block tower as tall as yourself
28. you go down for a nap so well, I only have to lay you down and usually that's that.
29. "ree book" (read book)
30. "ree dat" (read that, or what is it?)
31. "pee" or "kah pee" (caterpillar- your favorite toy)
32. you love to take my heels out of the closet and wear them around the house (daddy's shoes too, but mine are much easier)
33. you love hats right now! Too bad you don't have any that fit- haha
34. you also like your own shoes. You'd wear your little orange crocks every day if I let you.
35. "sip cops" (flip flops)
36. "noonles" (noodles)
37. you are always sucking your thumb. It's permanently "pruned" I think
38. "owtee buh bum" (ouchie bottom)
39. "koh brr!" (cold, brr!) dont' forget to include the sign for cold: shaking your fists like you're cold!
40. you prefer that doors be shut. You will go to great lengths to make sure they are so.
41. "coos me" (excuse me)
42. "bes you!" (bless you)
43. "hey gohs ineair" (it goes in there) - you like everything to be in it's place!
44. "big mess"
45. "lau shees" (flowers)
46. "boo boo" (pirate's booty- a snack)
47. "awssh" (off)
48. "lee dow" (lay down) it used to be "nigh nigh" (night, night) but you've learned that the correct words are "lay down"
49. "whadi dooey?" (what are you doing?)
50. you love to drop the tithe check into the offering basket each week
51. during worship you often lift up your little hands
52. "big tuck!" (big truck)
53. "coos-ey me" or "coos-ey me RoRo (excuse me)
54. "MO MO CYCLE!" (motorcycle. with enthusiasm)
55. how you squeal with delight when you get excited
56. when Daddy comes home from work, you shout "luh beh!" (lunch bag) meaning, you want to empty the dishes from his lunch bag into the sink. We didn't teach you this chore, you thought it up all on your own!
57. you totally prefer daddy's car over momma's car.
58. when Daddy gets out his guitar, you drag out your drum to play along with him
59. you know nana's car
60. You remind us to pray at mealtimes and sleeptimes if we forget
61. you get our shoes (huck them at us, typically) when it's time to leave the house (or just if you would like to leave the house.)
62. you are so sweet and lovey to your baby sister. You're always petting her head and kissing her "mmmmmAh!" and giving her your toys
63. "Back-coom!" (vacuum)
64. When I'm sweeping, you usually get out your little broom as well
65. "sissy loud" (you can figure that one out.)
66. "wee by bull" (read bible)
67. you also know Momma's bible and Daddy's bible
68. "powee" (baby powder- his favorite diaper application)
69. "bow-die" (blow dryer) you love to have your bum blow-dried during a diaper change. ha!
70. On Saturday mornings, you walk into our room and say "hello!"
71. "uppa!" (up) with gusto, like a bad italian accent. "Uppa Momma!"
72. when the mail comes (right into our door, we have a mail slot) you pick it up and bring it to me. Sometimes one piece at a time
73. you really love cell phones. You have two old phones that you play with, and if you can get your hands on mine or Daddy's you're in heaven. You'll have conversations with yourself, sometimes with a phone on each ear.
74. you like to find my "hay tie" (hair tie- actually, a bobby pin) and try to put it in your hair.
75. you sit on the kitchen counter and watch me do dishes or cook
76. you can sing along to ABC's almost all the way through, skipping a few letters here and there.
77. "hey lock-ey uppa keys" (lock up keys- you say this when you see a door with a lock)
78. "hey poppa tunck (nah a reh one)" (holding the car keys, saying he'd like to pop the trunk, but not to push the red one! which is the alarm, I always tell him not to push the red one. haha)
79. "niiice" or "oh, dat niiiiiiice"
80. you say "take ou" when you do something nice, (since I'd say "thank you" to you.) for example, today you handed me my bracelet and said "oh, take ou Momma!"
81. "ice koob e wawa pese Momma" (ice cube in water please, Momma)
82. i love when you crack up. Yesterday you started cracking up when Daddy and I "danced" in the car to some fun music
83. "i crap ou up" (I crack you up! meaning, I'm being super funny right now!)
84. sometimes you wont give a hug, but you'll "knuckle bump"
85. "doos" (stool)
86. "lo-shee" (lotion- aka, anything in a bottle)
87. "see-woh" (cereal, oatmeal)
88. when you're REALLY upset, you throw your hands up (like touch down) and shake them at me. We call this move "attitude"
89. "soak" (fork)
90. whenever we're in the car, you ask me or Daddy to turn the music on if it isn't already
91. "hahm" (ham. Please read Green Eggs and Ham!)
92. "tee cow" (tickle)
93. "hey put butt-ey" (I'd like to push the button)
94. "dah see RoRo" (that's silly Rowen!)
95. you have a temporary tatoo on your arm. You're sort of obsessed with it. "tAtoo!"
96. "beh bee Kack" (baby crack. Known to the rest of the world as Hyland's Teething Tablets.)
97. last night you were counting your peas at dinner. You took them off your plate and set them on your placemat one at a time saying "wah, too, wah, too, wah, too" (one, two, one, two)
98. you carry your own little back pack. It's just your size and so stinkin' cute.
99. "hehsee" (heavy)
100. "I lud ew" (i love you) seriously. does it get any sweeter? God is good.
I've been working on this list all week. (Daddy helped a lot too.) It took a long time to come up with 100 things, yet every time I thought of something it was like "oh, how could I forget THAT?" So, I know there are so many sweet things you do that I didn't record. Over all, you are such a sweet blessing to our family and I love you more than words could ever describe. I hope we can look back on this funny little list in years to come and remember just how you were at this age. I love every bit of you. Every single bit.
