Two and a Half

Dear Canaan,

You are two and a half years old of pure joy, spunk, and mischief.  You truly melt my heart, Canaan Dale Stinson.  I absolutely love this stage of life that you are in right now.  You still cuddle up to me in the mornings, evenings, and whenever you are sad or upset.  You don't talk particularly clearly yet, but you are talking so much more now than you were just a few short months ago.  You are the messiest eater on the face of the planet.  You much prefer to use your hands to eat than your fork.  It just gets the job done faster.  Speaking of food, you are pretty picky.  You are more of a grazer.  You really don't want to sit down long enough to eat very much, but just prefer a snack on the go.  You are so ready to go to sleep every night at 8:00.  You will even ask us to put you to bed.  We just go lay you down and hand you your "lassie" and then you ask to rub noses with Daddy or myself.  We just rub noses and make little happy noises.  You then blow me kisses until I pull your door to and walk out of your room.  You sleep wonderfully, all night long, but are an early riser!  By 6:00 you are up and going most every morning and you always want yours truly to hold you first thing in the morning.  I love my cuddle time with you, though.

You so love and look up to your sister, or "sissy" as you call her.  You want to do whatever she is doing.  The two of you play really well together.  To make things easier on Mama, you and Hadley have taken baths and now showers together since you were a little baby.  You love taking showers, though, and feel like such a big boy.  I sit outside the shower, fully clothed, and am totally soaked by the time you and sissy are done.  You love to watch Mickey Mouse and Dora Rocks, which you call Dora Focks.  Yes, you put an "f" on the front of lots of words right now.  Chips are fips, the swimming pool is fimming pool, and trucks are, well, you guessed it.  We cringe when you say that word.  You love to "mow grass" with Daddy.  You have a little push mower that you push alongside Daddy.  You are an excellent problem solver and are so smart, even at your young age.  You can count to ten and will attempt your ABC's with our help.  

You still cry every single Sunday when we drop you off at church.  And not just a little bit, but a whole lot.  Fortunately, you do stop crying quickly.  After we pick you up from Sunday School each Sunday, we ask you what you learned about in class.  You always say, "God and Jesus."  Canaan, if that's ALL you ever learn about, that will be enough.  God is always enough, sweet boy.  I cannot wait to see you grow and change and am so proud to be your mama.  Happy half birthday.  I love you to the moon and back.

Love,

Mama