Dear Great-Grandma,
Well, I am afraid it has been quite a while since I have written to you! We have been very busy for the last two weeks. I have done so many things! But now I can write you a nice long letter and try to remember everything that has happened.
First of all, Aunt Martha was here. I think I told you that already. I had a good time with her. She played a lot with me. Then Grandma and Grandpa Sachs, along with Aunt Roberta, came. That was two Saturdays ago. It seems like a very long time ago already. They came after I was already in bed, so I didn’t see them till the next morning. We all went to church together, and then we came home and had lunch. Mommy made lasagna and other things that sounded pretty yummy, although I didn’t eat any. There were a couple of other people at the lunch too but I am not sure who they were. Friends of the family, I think.
Anyway, that was just the beginning of the week. They were here all week long and we had so much fun! They held me a lot and I played cowboy on their laps (that is a game I made up–I hold on to their hands and then I rock forwards and back as hard as I can, like a cowboy). They also tickled me and smiled at me and told funny jokes, and I laughed a lot. I also rode my rocking horse for them, and I showed them how well I could sit up, and I practiced crawling.
Oh, yes, I am making progress in the crawling department! I still can’t really get where I am going. If I could figure out how to aim when I was going backwards, I might be able to do what I wanted, but I always just seem to go away from whatever I am trying to get. I am very good at going in circles, so if something is in my circle I can get it. But I still only go forward once in a great while, and it is kind of accidental–I mean I can’t really figure out how to do it again. But! But! Guess what! I can get up on my hands and knees now, and I can rock forwards and back. Most of the time I just fall back down on the floor (don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt) but sometimes I flop forwards, and then I am a little bit closer to where I want to be. So, I am getting there. It is just taking a while.
So I practiced crawling a lot while my family was here, except not maybe quite as much as if they had not been here, because they held me a lot. Grandma Sachs held me the most, I think. She did not really want to put me down because she hadn’t seen me since I was born, which is a very long time, if you ask me. So I don’t blame her for wanting to hold me a lot, and I sure didn’t mind. She helped a lot to feed me and put me down for naps and even change some of my diapers. It was nice.
Grandpa Sachs tried to teach me how to say “Grandpa.” He was mostly just joking because of course I can’t say anything except “Ooooo” and “Mmmmm” and “Aaaoouu” and other variations right now, but it was funny to hear him try and get me to say it. He also played with me a lot and made me laugh.
Aunt Roberta wasn’t always quite sure what to do with me because she doesn’t know a lot about babies but she liked me a lot and she played with me too, and she was very nice. I wouldn’t mind getting to know her better.
Let me see if I can remember some of the specific things we did while my family was here. Oh, yes, we went bowling! That was very fun! I liked watching everybody throwing balls down that long place and knocking over those white sticky-up things. It was a little loud but it didn’t scare me. Mommy brought my stroller along for me to sit in but I think I only sat in it for about ten minutes. Everybody just wanted to hold me.
Grandma Sachs and Mommy and I went for a walk one day to the bank and the grocery store. That was nice. Most of the time when Mommy and I walk, she puts me in this thing that holds me against her chest, and I face forward and look out at the world. I like it because I am almost Mommy’s height, and I can see everything quite well. If we are at the grocery store I help her push the cart. It is just the right height for me to do that. Aren’t I helpful? It is the least I can do for my nice Mommy. I also try to hold the plastic bags for her but she won’t let me. I don’t know why not.
Anyway, we went for a walk, but we didn’t use the thing that attaches me to Mommy, because it was a little too hot. We used my stroller instead. I have a nice stroller with a canopy that comes over the top and shades me from the sun. It’s good not to get sunburned. I don’t think that would feel good. Grandma Sachs pushed my stroller on the way home.
Another day, Grandma and Grandpa Sachs and Mommy and I went shopping. We went to a fabric shop and bought some things, and we went to a big, big, big store and bought some other things. I sometimes help push the cart there, but it is a much bigger cart than at the grocery store. I am not sure what that store is. I think they sell everything, including groceries, but also these big black flat shiny things with pictures flashing on them, and there is clothing there, and soap, and medicine, and all kinds of things that I don’t know about. We don’t go there very often.
The reason we went to the fabric shop was that Mommy and Grandma Sachs were making some curtains for Mommy’s room. They are finished now and they look very nice. They are gold with little pretty leaves that climb up to the top, and when you pull a string on the side, the curtains either pull apart or pull together. It is very fascinating to watch them move. I especially like when they pull apart, because then I can see outside.
Well, so we had a good time with the Sachses, but on Saturday morning they left to go visit other people in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Saturday and Sunday were pretty normal days, except that I went shopping with Mommy on Saturday and we bought ink for our printer. So now I can print pictures for you again, only not this time because I will have to go to bed when I am done writing this letter, because it is such a long one. But I promise that next time I will send you several pictures to make up for all the weeks I have missed. I have a lot of things I could send you and I will have to decide which ones would be best.
On Monday my friend Ethan came over during the afternoon. His mommy had to go somewhere for a while, so my Mommy took care of him. We couldn’t play together because he had a cold and I didn’t want to get it, but we watched each other. Actually, I watched him and he tried to come play with my toys. He is very active and he can get where he wants to go, so Mommy had to make sure he didn’t get into trouble. Everything went pretty well, and we took a walk in the afternoon. I rode on Mommy’s chest and Ethan rode in my stroller. I helped to push the stroller! After the walk we played some more, and then we both got tired at once, and Mommy couldn’t really put us both down for naps at the same time because there is only one of her and there were two of us, so that was a little sad, but not too much. I finally decided that I didn’t want a nap and after that I was okay till Daddy came home, and Ethan finally decided that a nap would be a good idea so he fell asleep right before his mommy came to pick him up, and he even stayed asleep when she put him in his carseat, so that was all right. Anyway, it was a very interesting afternoon.
On Tuesday we had a normal day except that when it was time to go to bed, we got in the car and drove all the way to Grandma and Grandpa Gonzol’s house! I slept for part of it, but it was just so exciting that I had to wake up and see what was going on. When we got there, I played with Grandma and Grandpa for a while, and then some other people showed up. I didn’t recognize any of them. I think maybe they were friends of Mommy’s and maybe of Grandma and Grandpa’s, too. But they were very nice and so I let them hold me. After a while I had to go to bed, but even though it was a lot past my bedtime, I wasn’t very sleepy. I was too excited to go to bed. Plus, there were all these loud noises going on outside. There would be a loud “bang,” and then something would shoot up in the air and make bright flashes and more bangs. That happened so many times that I couldn’t have counted them even if I could count. But eventually, even with all the banging and the excitiment, I fell asleep because I was so tired.
The next day we spent at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Some other different people showed up. Two of them were Great-Aunt Lucy and Great-Uncle Harold! It was very good to see them again. Great-Aunt Lucy held me a lot and Great-Uncle Harold said “Ride-A-Ride-A-Giley” for me. The other two people who were there were very nice but I didn’t recognize them. Mommy says their names were Charles and Ruth Lehman. Anyway, we had a picnic outside, and I got to go swimming. It was pretty hot, so the swimming was nice. Great-Aunt Lucy has some good pictures of me swimming and I am sure she will show them to you if you ask her.
Yesterday, which was Thursday, we got up and packed up our car and then drove for a long time till we got to somebody else’s house. Guess who was there? My Grandma and Grandpa Sachs, and Aunt Roberta, and Aunt Sarah too! Also my other Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa! They were the ones living in the house. It was fun to see them! I took a nap or two at their house, and played on their floor, and tried to eat their toys, and generally enjoyed myself. Then it was time to go home, so we got in the car again and drove another very long time. By the time we got home I was so tired and ready to go to bed. I wasn’t very happy about so much riding in the car, although I do enjoy shorter trips. It was just so much! I am very glad to be home again.
Well, anyway, I suppose I have talked enough for one letter, don’t you think? I could tell you a couple more things, like how I have started trying to eat that rice cereal stuff again, and how I am practicing with a cup, and about the mirror game that I invented, but I think I have to go to bed now, so I will try and remember to tell you about all that the next time I write.
Oh, one more thing–thank you for your nice letter again! It is always good to hear from you, but I wish that you felt better. I am sorry that some days you just want to go to bed. I think I can understand that feeling. I think it might be like the days when I just want Mommy to hold me. I hope you don’t have too many days like that, but when you do, maybe you can get Great-Grandpa Al to hold you. Give him a hug for me!
Love,
Isaac