Happy 2nd Birthday, Max!

Dear Max,
It's hard for me to believe that you are 2 years old. How you've grown, changed, developed, and become such a beautiful little boy right before our eyes. The day you were born is so vivid in my memory. It was absolutely the most miraculous day of my life (of course the day Josie was born was amazing, too).

The day you were born was unseasonably warm (around the mid 50's), which for December is amazing. The skies were clear and the sun was bright. I started having painful contractions around 3AM December 9th and was due to see Dr. Levitt in the Northbrook office at 9AM. Your grandma (who you now affectionately call Glamma) drove me to the office and eagerly anticipated the arrival of her first grandchild. Finally, after 6 days past my due date, Dr. Levitt said I should check into the hospital, for you were on your way. The rest of the day was surreal. I called daddy (who was at work) and told him I was in labor; I called nanny and pappy; I called Auntie Ali and everyone rushed downtown. I proceeded to clean the apartment before I left for Prentice. We stopped at Ashkenazi deli on the way to the hospital because we were all hungry and didn't know how long it would be before your arrival. However, to my dismay, when I got to the hospital, they wouldn't let me eat anything. I was starving but didn't care because you were finally going to make your entrance. At the hospital, I got a little pitocin to speed up labor, but they took me off of it after about 1 hour because your heart rate dropped. They broke my water and gave me an epidural, which worked perfectly and made labor not so laborious. The whole family hung out with us in our laboring room until Dr. Levitt came in, clapped her hands and said, "okay, let's have a baby...everybody out!" Daddy couldn't believe the moment to push was finally here and I was so relieved. It was 6 o'clock and I pushed for exactly 11 minutes and out you came. You were pink, smushy, screaming, and looked just like your daddy. I couldn't believe you had come out of me. The nurse put you on my tummy and you immediately wanted to eat. I started to nurse you in my own clueless way and you couldn't get enough! You loved to suck from the minute you were born. Your daddy would put his finger in your little mouth to comfort you, which is funny because Josie hates when anybody does that. Daddy and I wanted to enjoy you by ourselves for awhile and we forgot to go tell everybody that you were born for a couple of hours. Your grandparents were all nervous wrecks and couldn't believe we didn't tell them immediately! Obviously, we told them they had a grandson a few hours later and we were all just so deliriously thrilled...and that brings us to today.

The past year you have become this little, precious boy. You are incredibly verbal and brilliant. You know all of your letter sand numbers and count to twenty in English and 12 in Spanish. You are warm and sweet and love people. You have such a vivacious personality. The other day, while driving to your cousin's house, you looked at the full moon in the car and said, "Look, Mommy, there's a flying cookie!" How brilliant I thought! The moon does look like a flying cookie. You have taken to having a baby sister so well. I was so nervous my whole pregnancy that you would feel slighted, but you love your baby sister. You kiss her and hug her and protect her. How proud your dad and I are of you. You love to sing and dance, especially to Laurie Berkner. You are also a little tv zombie. If we put on the noggin channel, Barney, or Sesame Street you are undisturbable. It's kind of funny. You love Elmo, Zoe, and Big Bird. You think Barney is your homeboy and the telletubbies are your own pals.

Your little phrases are hilarious. Today, in class, you said, "Oh, my g-d" when our teacher Erin took her stuffed lamb out of the box. All of the moms thought you were hilarious. Instead of saying "take me" you always say "take you."You speak in the third person, for example, you say, "Max wants to play in the pillows." Your hair is long and curly and a bit unruly so I'm thinking it's time for your first haircut; you seem excited about this because Baby Bear also got a haircut.

Anyways, my Max, I can't even begin to explain how complete you make our lives. You are our sunshine and I love you more than I could ever explain in words. May you have at least 100 more birthdays.

With all of my heart,
Mommy