Sachs Press

Dear Great-Grandma,

In this letter I would like to tell you about some of the things I like to play with right now. My most favorite thing to do is to read books and listen to Mommy or Daddy (or anybody else) read to me. I am not sure if I would let them read to me all day, but maybe most of it.

My second most favorite thing is to listen to music. There are a couple of music tapes that I especially like but any music will do, especially if it is Mommy or Daddy singing to me. We almost always sing at mealtimes to thank God for our food (sometimes we just say a prayer instead, but I like the singing better) and if we forget I remind Mommy or Daddy that we need to pray, and I say “Amen” at the end.

There are some other toys I like to play with, too. I like puzzles. I am good at the kind of puzzle where each piece has its own place and they don’t get all muddled and mixed up in the middle. I like playing with magnets on the refrigerator. I also have a chalkboard downstairs that I can write on with chalk, but I don’t have any alphabet letters for it. Mommy says that would be fun. I can recognize the letter “B” sometimes, and I always know the letter “O” although sometimes I call it an oval.

I like to cuddle with my stuffed animals, especially Lamby, but also my big white dog and my hedgehog puppet and Mommy’s puppy from when she was little and Daddy’s bear from when he was little.

I like to play with Duplo blocks that fit together and make towers. I am pretty good at fitting them together although I still can’t make my towers go very high without some help.

I love to ride my cars. I have a car downstairs and a car outside. They both have horns that beep and steering wheels and the wheels go “round and round!” There is also a remote control car that Mommy and Daddy let me play with sometimes. I am not very good at making it go where I want it to go, but at least I press the buttons and have a good time.

I like to hammer on things, and I like to help Mommy and Daddy with what they are doing. For instance, sometimes I carry things for them, or pick things up and put them where they are supposed to go. Or if Mommy is vacuuming I love to try to vacuum too. Sometimes she even lets me use the real vacuum, with it on, but not very often. But it always makes me very happy when she does let me. More often she lets me sweep with a broom.

I also like to run around in circles. It is fun just to run and run sometimes. I really like it when we go to the playground and I can run around there, and swing, slide, and climb. I never want to leave the playground!

I know so many things now, Great-Grandma! I know lots and lots of animal sounds–sheep, cow, horse, pig, chicken, rooster, mouse, duck, elephant, lion, bear, goat, monkey, owl, and probably some more that I can’t think of just now. I can name some shapes, like star and circle and oval. I know a bunch of color names but I don’t usually get the colors right. I can name most of the things in my Big Book of Words. 

I can talk in sentences. If I drop my book on the floor, I say, “I dropped it, book!” I can tell Mommy when Daddy comes home: “Daddy home!” or when he goes to work: “Daddy work!” I can tell you where things are: “Pumpkin floor,” or “pumpkin table!” and I can also ask where they are: “Pumpkin, wheya you?” (Pumpkin, where are you?) Another think I can talk about is things that are off and on: “Light off, light on.” I know that stoves can be hot. “Hot stove! Dane-jous!” (dangerous). Another important thing I can do is ask for things. “Mommy read it, book!” A lot of times she says, “Say please,” so then I say, “Peese!” and she reads my book to me.  I also know my name. If you ask me what my name is, I can say, “Name Idaac.” So you see, Great-Grandma, that I am really learning to communicate. It is nice to be able to tell people what I am thinking, although sometimes when I get upset I forget about being able to talk and I just cry or whine. Then Mommy has to remind me to “use words” and most of the time I can stop crying and tell her what I’m upset about.

Well, Mommy says it is time for me to take a nap now. Sometimes I like naps and sometimes I don’t. Twice now I have skipped my nap. Mommy says she is not ready for me to give up naps yet so I guess I won’t, but they waste an awful lot of time, don’t you think? Do you take naps, Great-Grandma? What are they good for?

I will write to you again next week. I love you!

Love,

Isaac

Dear Great-Grandma,

I am playing with stickers right now. Oma gave them to me. I am sticking them all over my arm and my shirt and I figure I can dictate a letter to Mommy while I am busy with my stickers.

How are you doing? I am doing well. I have had a good week. I got to visit Oma and Opa for two days! Mommy and I went to their house on Monday and stayed till Tuesday and then we went home. We missed Daddy but we had a lot of fun.

We helped Oma outside in her garden. She had a lot of plants that needed to be trimmed or pulled out. She gave me a little wheelbarrow and I wheeled it around with plants inside. Mommy worked hard and I worked some, too. I liked visiting the doggies that live next door. One of them gave me a kiss on the nose!

Opa played with me a little bit, even though he was very busy. He sang songs to me and played ball with me, and we also played Where’s the Mouse? That’s a game where you have a little toy mouse and you hide it and then you have to find it. We made it up ourselves. Once we really lost the mouse and Mommy had to come find it for us. She is good at finding things.

Oma played with me a lot because she wasn’t as busy as Opa. She read books to me and we played with trains together. I am good at putting train track together. It is fun to make it connect and build long tracks. Someday when I am older I will learn more about making big train tracks but in the meantime I will practice putting them together.

Mommy made applesauce for Oma while we were there. Oma hurt her finger a little and that makes it hard for her to do some things, so Mommy did some of them for her. We ate some of the applesauce for lunch and it was YUMMY! I really like applesauce.

Oma gave some of the herbs in her garden to Mommy to take home, and Mommy made mint tea, and she also dried some thyme and some rosemary. They smelled very interesting!

Another very interesting thing that happened this week is that we got a new car. It is a car just for me. Mommy and Daddy don’t fit in it. We went to someone’s house with lots of things out in the yard and this was one of the things, so we got to take it home with us. I really, really like it! It doesn’t have a floor, so I sit on the seat and put my feet down through to the ground and make it go that way. It does have a steering wheel, and it also has a horn that squeaks and a window crank that turns and a couple other knobs that turn. And it has a sunroof too! I like to drive my car around on the back patio, though sometimes I get frustrated when it won’t go the direction I would like it to.

Let’s see, what else? A lot of people came to our house one night this week. That was fun. Mommy says it was a “neighborhood potluck” and a lot of our neighbors came. She planned it herself with another neighbor and it was nice to have all those people there talking. It wasn’t all adults. Some girls came too. They were a lot older than me but they liked playing with me. A lot of older girls like to play with me, and I don’t mind. They are fun to play with.

I also like playing with my friend Eleanor. She is older than me too but not by quite so much. We go to her house sometimes to play. She has a baby brother named Lewis. I like to rock Lewis in his rocking seat when he cries. He has eyes and a nose and toes! I don’t have a baby brother or sister.

Mommy and I have to go shopping this morning. We need to get batteries and food for me. We go to a different store than we usually do to find things for me that don’t have wheat in them. We get rice bread so I can eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I like peanut butter and jelly, especially if it is good grape jelly that Mommy made!

I hope you are doing okay. Are the leaves changing colors at your place? They are starting to change colors here. They are very pretty. Mommy planted pansies and they are pretty too. Sometimes I help her water them! Maybe sometime Aunt Lucy can help you write to me again. I would like to know what music you like. I am very interested in music right now. Maybe you could tell me about plants that you like, too.

Love,

Isaac

Dear Great-Grandma,

How are you doing this week? I am doing well. I have been practicing my vocabulary. Just this evening I was showing Mommy and Daddy how many words I know. We were all eating dinner together and I started naming everything I could see. “Door. Pumpkin. Table. Refrigerator. Stove. Light.” Then Mommy and Daddy started asking me the names of some other things and I did pretty well. I got “spoon” and “fork” but not “knife,” and I got the plate and bowl mixed up but I know napkin.

Speakiing of napkins, right now I am putting a napkin on my head and playing peekaboo with Mommy. She thinks it is pretty funny and so do I. Ooh, now she is tickling me! Hold on, I have to try to tickle her back.

Okay, I am done. I want to tell you about my pumpkins! I have two pumpkins. I got the first one when Mommy and I were selling corn a week or two ago. The man who grows the corn also grows pumpkins and eggplants and other stuff, and he gave me a little tiny pumpkin just for me. It is probably a little bigger than your hand. It is a lot bigger than my hand because my hands are small, but it’s just the right size for me. So that is one of my pumpkins, and I really like it. But this past weekend we went to something called a “Relief Sale,” and Daddy bought me a BIG pumpkin there! It is only half as tall as me, but it weighs a lot more than I do. I can’t move it! So now I have a little pumpkin and a big pumpkin, and I like them both a lot. I can say “little pumpkin” and “big pumpkin.” Mommy made up a pumpkin song for me. You can sing it to the tune of “Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.” Here’s how it goes:

One little pumpkin sitting on the floor;

Isaac went out to get some more.

He found one and brought it in–

Now little Isaac has two pumpkins!

And then the next verse is about two pumpkins, and then three, and then four, and you can keep counting as long as you like. I ask Mommy to sing it for my by saying, “Pumpkin, floor!”

Another song I like that Mommy sings is “Me Oh My,” and she made that one up too. It is a lullaby, so sometimes when I climb into bed with Lamby I say “Me oh my” and she sings it for me. I think she likes it when I ask for that one because she made it up just for me.

I saw Oma this weekend, too. She came down to visit us and go to the Relief Sale. The Relief Sale is where everybody gets together and thinks of a bunch of ways to give money to people who need it. Mommy made a lot of bread to sell at the sale, and other people gave toys to sell, and quilts, and other pretty things. But the things I liked best were the horses, the tractors, and the bounce house. There were big horses pulling a wagon, and big tractors pulling other wagons. I got to ride on a wagon behind a tractor and Daddy got to drive a tractor. That was fun! But even more fun was the bounce house. It is like a big balloon that you can go inside and bounce in. I was a very good bouncer! Even though I am so young and little, and everybody was older than me, I only fell down a couple times and I got right back up again. I jumped and jumped and didn’t want to get out. Even when Oma showed me the balloon she got for me, I still didn’t want to get out! Daddy had to come in and get me.

Let me see, what else have I been doing lately? I am learning to help Mommy. Lately I have started trying to do whatever she is doing, and while I am doing it I say, “Helping!” I try to be helpful whenever I can, unless I am doing something more important. Like reading, for instance. Oma brought me a new book this weekend that I really like. It is called “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?” I can’t quite say all that but I can say, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, see!” and that means I want Mommy to read me the book again. We have read it many times so far. I don’t know how many. Maybe, one, two, three, four, one, two, three… times. (That is the way I count now, by the way. I count to four and then I start over. One, two, three, four, one, two ducks!)

Well, tonight I am going to a barn party with Mommy and Daddy and some girls and boys from our church. I won’t be able to stay the whole time because it is past my bedtime but I get to come for part of it, which is nice. I don’t know what a barn party is like, though. Have you ever been to a barn party? Anyway, I suppose I should go and get ready for that. I have to put my socks and shoes and coat on. Good night!

Love,

Isaac

Dear Great-Grandma,

I heard you got sick last night and that you are feeling a little better this morning, so I am writing to you quick because I am sorry that you were feeling bad and I want to help you feel better. I am going to go to the library this morning and listen to stories and pick out some new library books, but first I will take the time to write to you.

Let me see, I think the last time I wrote to you I had had a very interesting week with Oma coming to visit and Mommy making jam and freezing corn. This week was not quite as interesting but I guess I did some fun things. One thing I did that was not so fun was catch a cold. I didn’t like that very much, especially when Mommy tried to wipe my nose. I am a good nose-blower but when you do it too much my nose gets sore and that’s no fun. Daddy caught my cold too but Mommy was fine.

We went to a baby shower for a friend of Mommy and Daddy’s and I played with everybody there and ate lots of fruit. I didn’t get any cake, though, because that has wheat in it and wheat makes my tummy hurt. That’s okay, because Mommy has cookies that I can eat and they are very yummy. She has some in the cupboard and also some in the freezer that she can take out and bake for me. We made the ones in the freezer together a while ago. I helped stir!

I went to my friend Ethan’s house again while Mommy had her tooth fixed. She said it wasn’t too bad getting it fixed and I had lots of fun with Ethan again. He has a cool slide that I can go down very fast and he has some fun toys inside, too. I also got to visit with my friend Eleanor this week. Mommy was gone this weekend (she says she was helping some junior high kids have a retreat) and Daddy was busy singing on Saturday so I got to spend some time at Eleanor’s house. I like Eleanor because she is smart and she can do a lot of things. She is eight months older than me and she talks to me a lot and I talk to her. It is fun to play with her.

We made ice cream on Sunday! That was really fun. We took our ice cream maker, and some ice, and salt, and ice cream mix, and fresh raspberries from our raspberry bushes. We put all the stuff in the ice cream maker (I think you have to put it in different places, but I am not sure) and we mixed it all up for a long time. Daddy mostly did it but the rest of us helped. Eleanor and her mommy and baby brother were there too. Eleanor’s baby brother didn’t help because he is too little to turn the crank but Eleanor and I could do it with some help from our mommys. When the crank was very hard to turn, then the ice cream was done and we ate it. Mmmm, was it ever yummy! I especially liked the raspberries because I really like eating raspberries.

Speaking of fresh fruit, some day we are going to have fresh apples and cherries growing in our yard. We went away in Daddy’s big truck this week and got some trees from a place with lots of plants, and we planted them (well, there is still one left to plant) and they are going to grow and grow and give us apples and cherries. I am excited about our apple trees. I don’t know what cherries are because I’ve never had them, but I like apples. Mommy says we have three apple trees and two cherry trees. The apple trees are Stayman, Granny Smith, and Fuji, and the cherry trees are both Balaton. That is a new kind of cherry that is kind of tart, not very sweet, but Mommy says it will still be yummy, and I guess I believe her. She is usually right about things.

By the way, I can count now! I don’t know if I told you before or not. I started out counting to three (One, two, three) and now sometimes I can get to five or six. Once I counted to twelve but Daddy says I skipped a few numbers (One, two, three, seven, twelve!) And I don’t actually understand why we count. I know you point to things and count while you point but I don’t really understand why. I guess I will learn that someday. There must be a reason.

I have been listening to lots of trombone music lately. Daddy plays the trombone, did you know that? And Mommy plays the oboe. But I like the way a trombone looks and sounds. It slides all around and it sounds really fun. Daddy plays me music on his computer and I like listening to it. I also like to listen to a tape Oma brought me of silly songs. And I like to hear Mommy sing me lullabies and “Jesus Loves Me.” Sometimes I sing along. Even though I am not a very good singer yet, I don’t get discouraged because I am still very young and just learning. Mommy and Daddy are good teachers.

Well, I should go get ready to go to the library now. I have to find my library books and get my shoes on. I hope my letter has cheered you up and that you aren’t feeling too bad right now. Mommy sends her love and I will give her many kisses to send to you. I am sending this through the computer so I’m sorry I can’t sign it myself but it will get there faster.

Love,

Isaac

Dear Great-Grandma,

How are you doing? I am doing well. I have had a good week and so have Mommy and Daddy. I saw Oma (that’s my Mommy’s mommy, in case you forget that’s what I call her) this weekend. She came to visit me and I enjoyed her visit very much. She bought me a balloon! It is big and yellow and has a big smiley face on both sides. It floats way up in the air as high as you let it go. It’s starting to lose its air now but it still floats high. I really like my balloon and I think I will be sad when it loses all its air and doesn’t float any more.

Well, I think I told you that Oma and Mommy were going to freeze corn on Saturday, and they did. Mommy says you used to freeze corn and you taught your daughter Oma and Oma is teaching Mommy and maybe Mommy will teach me sometime. It is very complicated to do! I will tell you what I remember.

First you have to get the corn. We got ours from a farmer who picked it that morning. We got six dozen ears and gave half a dozen to my friend Ethan and his parents and we ate some so we had five dozen to freeze. Next you take off the husks and the silk. Then you wash them. Then you boil them in hot water for a few minutes. Then you put them in very cold water with ice and let them cool off for a while. Then you take a knife (Careful! Sharp! Ouch!) and you cut the corn off the cobs into a big bowl. Then you put the corn in the bowl into little square containers and put lids on them. Then you label the containers. Last you put them in the freezer. And then you have a lot of good corn to eat! 

Great-Grandma, fresh corn is very yummy. I love to eat it up. Mommy and Daddy cut some off of an ear for me and I eat it that way but I can also eat it right off the cob. That way is more fun but messier. We had some for supper tonight again and I was very glad.

Guess what else Mommy has been doing! This weekend after Oma went home Mommy and Daddy and I all went to pick grapes at somebody’s house. He didn’t want them so he said we could come over and take as many as we wanted. So we went and picked bunches and bunches and bunches of grapes! Those are very yummy, too. I eat them skins and seeds and all but not too many because Mommy says they’ll make my tummy hurt if I eat too many.

But we can’t eat all those grapes right now so here is what Mommy has been doing with them. First she made a batch of grape jam. She had to wash some grapes, and peel some of them, and cook them, and strain them, and cook them some more, and add the peels and water and sugar, and then put them in jars and boil the jars. Then when they cooled down we tried some of the jam. Jam is even yummier than grapes!

After Mommy made jam, she made some juice. She washed more grapes and put them in jars and then put some sugar in the jars and poured boiling water on top. Then she boiled those jars too. We haven’t tried the juice yet because it has to sit for a week to let the flavor get right but I am sure it will be yummy too.

After she made that juice she still had a lot of grapes left, so she made some more jam and some more juice and then some more jam again, and then she froze some of the grapes so she can make a grape pie, but she says not right now because she has had about enough grapes for one week! So now the grapes are all used up but we have lots of yummy jam and juice and sometime we’ll have grape pie. I am looking forward to the pie.

Well, that is what Mommy has been doing this week. Shall I tell you some of the things I have been doing? I learned to open my door from the inside, so now when I wake up in the morning or after my nap, I can come right out and start to play. Actually, though, I like to play and read in my room in the morning. It is a nice way to start the day. This morning I even fell back asleep while I was playing! But then I didn’t take a nap, so it all worked out in the end.

I went to story-time at the library again and got new books out. My friend Ethan has started coming to story-time and it is good to see him there. I love to go to his house. I got to go visit him today while Mommy went to see the dentist. Next week I will go again because she has to go back to the dentist to get a chipped tooth fixed. I don’t know how she chipped it. I recognize Ethan’s house when we go there–even if Mommy doesn’t tell me where we are going I know when we pull into his driveway that it is his house.

Another thing I got to do this week was see a big building fall down. It is a building at college that they didn’t want anymore so they asked a man with a big digger to come and knock it over. I went and watched him do it and it was noisy! And big! And the building fell down! The big bucket took bites out of the building and it was very exciting and a little scary, but Mommy told me it was okay so then I wasn’t scared anymore. Now the man with the big digger is loading all of the pieces of the building that fell down into big trucks that take it away. It is taking a while because it was a big building so we go and watch sometimes.

Another thing I did today was to ride in the bike trailer that Mommy pulls behind her bike. We went on a long bike ride and then we went to the playground. It is a big playground that we don’t go to very often–I think I have been there once before. There are all kinds of things there because it is at a school so there are lots of children who use it. When I am bigger I will go to that school and use that playground every day. I love the slides the best, but I also like climbing and going through the tunnels and playing with the steering wheel. Mommy claps when I go down the slide by myself.

I am getting very sleepy because I had a busy day and I didn’t take a nap, so I should go to bed now. I will try to write again soon! I hope next week is as interesting as this one was!

Love,

Isaac

Dear Great-Grandma,

How are you? I am doing well. I have had a good week. I don’t think anything really out of the ordinary happened, it was just an ordinary week. But it was still a good one.

I am learning more words and phrases! Some of the ones I especially like are “How about…” (and then I suggest something, like “grape” or “cracker”), and also “Oh dear!” and “Thank you.” I can name a lot of different kinds of balls, like ping-pong ball, tennis ball, baseball, soccer ball, and just plain big ball. I also like frisbees. Have you ever played with a frisbee? Frisbees are neat because all you have to do is sort of fling them and they go a lot further than a ball.

Anyway, maybe I should try to list all the things I did this week, besides reading books and playing with my toys. Mommy and I try to go somewhere every day together. It keeps us both happy. We go to the grocery store, and the post office, and the playground (I love to swing and I can go down the slide all by myself with no help from Mommy!). We also go shopping sometimes for things we need. There is one shop near our house where we go once in a while where Mommy has to hold me so I don’t break anything by accident. I don’t mind too much, especially if she tells me what everything is when I ask her.

What else did I do? I rode in Daddy’s big truck on Saturday! That was a lot of fun. Daddy and I bought a freezer for Mommy so she can make lots of food and freeze it. She made some spaghetti sauce earlier this week and next Saturday she and Oma are going to freeze corn. I think sweet corn is pretty good!

I also went to youth group at church on Sunday. I bet you didn’t know I was old enough for youth group! It was kids in middle school, 6-8th grade. They are all really nice to me and they play with me so I like it there. Mommy and Daddy are “Sponsors” and I come along for the ride.

I went to storytime at the library again and I was not at all shy this time. In fact Mommy says this time I wasn’t so very well behaved. I didn’t want to sit on her lap and I went and stood in front of the lady reading the stories and I wanted to flip all the flaps in the lift-the-flap book and then I didn’t want to sing the songs because I was too busy reading the book the lady had just finished reading. But at least I didn’t take any toys from other babies, right?

Today we went to visit the pastor who is in charge of the youth group and he and Mommy did some planning for the year. I sat in my stroller and tried very hard to distract them both and I mostly succeeded.

Tomorrow Mommy and I are going to somebody’s farm to sell corn. It is the people who own the bakery she worked at who also own the farm and the corn. They are busy people which is why they don’t have time to sell it themselves, so Mommy and I will go do it. I think it will be a lot of fun! That is also where we will buy the corn to freeze on Saturday.

The last thing that I want to tell you about in this letter is that whenever we get back from a trip in the car, I like to go pretend to drive in the front seat. Sometimes I am allowed to and sometimes I am not. But I always ask! I like to wiggle the steering wheel and play with the shifter and turn on the hazard lights and the turn signals and the headlights. I open the glove box and take everything out and I turn on the overhead light and pull the sun visors down. Then I look for more buttons and knobs to play with. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Because it is!

Oh, there is one more thing. I told you I am sleeping in a big bed and as soon as I wake up, I have always just gotten up and knocked on the inside of my door to tell Mommy and Daddy I am awake. Well, this week I have decided that it is nice to read a little before I knock on my door, so I climb out of bed in the morning and go pick a book or two to read and then I climb back in bed and read them. It’s a nice way to start the day, don’t you think?

Well, I am off to find something else to read. We got some new library books yesterday so maybe I will find them! I love you, Great-Grandma.

Love,

Isaac

Dear Great-Grandma,

Well, it has not been very long since I saw you, but it has been a long, long time since I wrote you a letter. In fact I think I was still in North Dakota when I wrote to you. So it is definitely time to write to you again. I have missed telling you all about how I am doing.

Did you know it is Grandparents Day on Sunday? Well, it is. I hope you get this letter before then so that you can know that Mommy and I will be thinking about you that day and sending our love. We are both glad to have you for a grandparent.

I hope you had a very happy birthday, too. I really enjoyed visiting you and playing on your bed. I am so glad we could read the duck book together and eat ice cream together. I might not remember it when I get older, but my mommy will and she will tell me about it and I will be happy to hear the story of my Great-Grandma’s 84th birthday.

I should tell you some of the things I have been doing lately. You might already know that I am sleeping in a big bed, not in my crib anymore. I like being able to climb out of bed in the morning and go knock on the inside of my bed and say “Mama! Daddy!” and then they come into my room and tell me good morning. I also like having my sheet to cover me up at night and I like having a pillow to put my head on. I don’t fall out of my bed because there is a rail kind of like the one you have on your bed.

I know so many words that I can’t tell you all of them. I can try to repeat anything Mommy and Daddy say. (Sometimes it comes out right and sometimes it doesn’t, but I always like to try.) I can say two words at a time right now. My favorite phrase might be, “Climb up!” I also like “Hop up!” and “Run run run!” You can probably tell that I like to be very active. I also like to go “Outside!” and “Downstairs!”

Mommy is starting to potty train me. I am kind of interested and kind of not. I think maybe I will not talk too much about it, but I will let you know if anything exciting happens.

I have started going to storytime at the library with Mommy. It is on Tuesdays. We go sit in a circle on a rug in the library and we sing songs like “Wheels on the Bus” and we read a couple of stories. We get to shake bells and after the stories are over we can play with toys. It is kind of neat but there are a lot of kids there and I’m a little nervous about that. But we have only gone twice, so maybe I will get used to it soon.

I have been swimming in a big swimming pool a couple of times, too. We might go swimming again this week because it is going to be very hot here, but then again we might just stay at home because I have a pool in my very own back yard. It is on the patio and it has big polka dots on the sides. Have you ever gone swimming? I like to splash in the water but I don’t like to sit down and I really don’t like to get my head wet. I am also not very excited about baths lately, and I hate getting my hair washed. I scream really loudly and so Mommy or Daddy does it as fast as they can and then I get out of the tub and I’m fine. I don’t know why I don’t like it, but I don’t.

I love to read books right now. The other thing we do at the library is pick out books. Then we may take the books home with us and read them. I think that is a great plan. I like to read books a lot of times in a row right now. We get to the end of a book and then I say “Again!” and we start over. It is fun, because then I can start to tell the story myself. One of my favorite books has the phrase “Hey you!” in it and I can say that. “Hey you!” I also like the book about the sheep in a jeep that say “Uh-oh!” and another book where the praying mantis whispers, “Hello!” I can whisper “Hello” just like that praying mantis. I am a good whisperer and a good shouter, too. Mommy says I need to learn when not to shout, though.

I can say “Excuse me” when I burp and sometimes Mommy doesn’t even have to remind me. I say “Amen” when we pray before a meal. I can say “I’m sorry” but I’m not really sure what it means. Sometimes I have to go on a time out because I am not obeying Mommy or Daddy. I know I’m not supposed to dump my food on the floor and I’m not supposed to hit people, but sometimes I do anyway. I like to kiss Mommy’s knees and find her belly button. I like to see pictures of people and tell you who they are. I like to do all kinds of things, and every day is busy, but sometimes I get bored and tired and sad. Do you ever feel that way? Sometimes that means it is bedtime for me, but other times it just means Mommy needs to give me something to eat or help me find something to do. I’m glad she knows what I need even when I don’t.

Well, right now it is time for me to go take a nap, and maybe if we mail this letter right now it will go out in the mail today and get to you before Sunday. I love you very much and I would kiss your hand three times if I were there with you.

Love,

Isaac

Dear Great-Grandma,

Well, my time in North Dakota is almost over. I can hardly believe it! Daddy and I will start driving home on Sunday, and Mommy will be taking the train home next weekend. I have seen lots of trains out here so I know what they are. They make LOUD sounds with their horns!

I think it will be nice to be home again, but I have gotten used to things out here so it will be an adjustment again. It seems like I am always making adjustments.

I want to tell you about some of the fun things I have been doing here this summer. Not the things I do every day, but the things that were especially fun and special.

One thing we did was we went to the Grand Forks fair. We went there early in the morning and not many people were there, but there were lots of animals. I saw horses, cows, pigs, goats, bunnies, ducks, geese, chickens, llamas, and ponies, all close up. I hear that you get to have animals in your room sometimes. That must be fun! I like to watch animals. Once I was outside and saw some puppies taking a walk down the street and I wanted to see them, but they were walking away from me, so I ran and ran and ran and ran and tried to catch them, but they were just too fast for me, even though I am a very fast runner now. Oh, and I can jump now, too! I can get both feet off the ground at once. Before, I could only get one up at a time, which was fun but not as impressive as both feet.

Another thing we did this summer was go to Moorhead. That is a town an hour south of Grand Forks where Mommy lived for a few years. She still has some friends there so we went to visit them. Actually, we went twice. Once we had a picnic outside and I played with toys and children older than me and explored the house. Another time we went to an apartment and I ate lunch and took a nap and when I woke up we went outside to a place where there were lots of people. Mommy said it was called a street fair. There were tents and people juggling and food and old cars that Daddy liked looking at. Daddy also bought a wooden plane that he likes to make fly. I want to make it fly too but he won’t let me, which makes me mad.

Another thing that happened this summer is that I went swimming in a big pool for the first time. That was pretty scary. Have you been swimming in a big pool, Great-Grandma? I didn’t like how big and cold it was, but I liked watching the people. I think maybe I could get used to it and have fun eventually but not just yet. I like the little pool in the courtyard here much better. I can stand and splash and get out by myself if I want to.

Another thing that happend is that Uncle Darren came to visit. That was actually the same time we visited some of the people in Moorhead, so he came to visit them too, and when we were riding in the car he showed me pictures on his cell phone. I liked having Uncle Darren here. We played games together and I called him “Agoo” (Uncle). That was a while ago, though.

But I think maybe the most fun thing that I did this summer was the balloon room. Let me tell you about the balloon room. Mommy says it happened like this: There was a girl who went away for a week, and while she was gone some of her friends decided it would make her very happy if they filled her room up with balloons. So they bought lots and lots of balloons and gave a few to everybody to blow up and put in her room. There are a lot of people here, so when everybody blew up a few balloons, that meant that the room got very, very full of balloons. So when the girl got back she was very happy that her room was full of balloons but she couldn’t sleep in there because her bed was covered with balloons, so she had some people help her to move a lot of the balloons into the next room, where nobody lived. So then that was the balloon room. It had lots of balloons in it, and Mommy took me up there to play. I can’t really describe very well how much fun it was, but if you ask Aunt Lucy she will show you pictures of me up there and maybe a movie too. I didn’t want to ever, ever leave! But Mommy let me take a few balloons down to my room and now I say goodnight to them every night and when I wake up I ask for my “boon” and we go find them and say good morning. I really like my balloons!

Well, Mommy has to go to class now, and since she is the one helping me with my letter I will have to say goodbye. You are right, Mommy helps me with my letters and Aunt Lucy helps with yours, so we are kind of alike! I like being like you because I think you are a very nice lady and if I am nice like you, that will be a good thing.

I love you! I hope I will see you sometime soon again.

Love,

Isaac

Dear Great-Grandma,

Hello again from North Dakota! It is me, Isaac. Do you still remember me? I still remember you! It is only about three more weeks until I will come back to Virginia and be closer to you again.

But in the meantime, I am having a lot of fun out here. I get to play with lots of people. In the morning, I wake up nice and early so I have plenty of time to play with Mommy or Daddy before breakfast. Then after my other parent gets up, everybody gets dressed and we go eat breakfast in the dining hall together. I usually have rice chex and eggs and banana. That is my favorite breakfast. Once in a while I get a special waffle made just for me.

When we come back from breakfast, I know it is time to go play in the nursery so I run down the hall to the room where I play. Daddy usually follows me just to make sure I get where I am supposed to go, but I know where I am going so he wouldn’t really need to come.

I play in the nursery for about three hours, and then when it is lunchtime Mommy comes and picks me up. I am always very happy to see her but once in a while I am in the middle of something so I don’t always want to leave. I have to finish first. So when I am quite finished Mommy takes me back to the room and we say hi to Daddy, and then we go wash our hands and get ready for lunch.

For lunch I have lots of different things, but I love to eat olives and kidney beans. I also love tortilla chips and ice cream. I don’t usually get all of those things but when I do I am happy. Mommy and Daddy often have things I am not allowed to have because they have wheat in them and they would make my tummy hurt. But there are plenty of other things to eat.

After lunch we go back to our rooms again and it is time for my nap. I have been enjoying my nap lately so I don’t mind taking it. I usually sleep for two or three hours unless something wakes me up sooner. Sometimes a noisy baby wakes me up and sometimes a noisy motor outside. They like to trim the grass and the trees during my nap, which makes Mommy and Daddy unhappy, and me too because I wake up and then I am grumpy.

Anyway, then after my nap I play in the nursery for a little while again and then Mommy comes and gets me and we go play somewhere till Daddy is done with work. He works in his room, did you know that? He talks to people through the computer and does things in Virginia when he is in North Dakota. It is very odd.

When Daddy is done with work we play for a bit again and then it is supper time. I have the same kinds of things for supper that I have for lunch. I love watermelon and peaches, and I like it when I get bacon. Sometimes I steal it off of Mommy’s plate when she is not looking. Shh! Don’t tell her! I use a spoon sometimes and I use my fingers sometimes. The spoon is more fun but the fingers are easier.

After supper Daddy usually takes me somewhere to play while Mommy gets some work done for her classes. And then it is bedtime and Daddy puts me to bed. Mommy does sometimes too, especially on weekends, but during the week it is mostly Daddy. But I always give both Mommy and Daddy a goodnight kiss. I can give real kisses! Here is one for you: *kiss*

So that is what my days are like. I play in all kinds of ways. I still love to play with balls. I can throw them and roll them. I can’t really catch them. I can hit them with a hammer or a golf club. I can also put shapes into a puzzle. I can recognize a star and a circle. I pretend to count to three so that Mommy and Daddy will help me jump (one! two! three! JUMP!). I pretend to play ball with my hedgehog puppet that Grandma and Grandpa gave me. I dance to music. I read books. I make animal sounds. I spin in circles and get dizzy. I walk on my tiptoes. I walk backwards. I take big steps and little steps. I jump on the bed (do you really think it is wrong? If Mommy and Daddy say it is okay, can I still do it?). I pretend to open doors with keys. I play with clocks and watches. I wear Mommy and Daddy’s shoes. I put things in and take them out. I draw circles. I watch Mommy and Daddy draw circles (and other things too). I run up and down in the hall. I take the keys off Daddy’s keyboard. I make my little stuffed bunny hop around. I pet my toy puppy. I look in the sky for the moon. I open and close drawers. I turn fans on and off, and lightswitches too. I tickle Mommy’s toes and she tickles me. I play hide-and-seek. I ride on Daddy’s shoulders and tell him to go fast. I dig in the sand with a shovel and fill up a bucket. I drive toy cars. (I would like to drive real ones but I am not allowed.)

I can say all kinds of words. I can’t really list them all here because there are so many of them now, but here are some of the new ones I have learned recently: puppy, rhino, screw, soap, more, flagpole, pillow, run, fast. If you heard me say them you might not recognize all of them because my pronunciation is not perfect but Mommy and Daddy understand me!

I am afraid it is time for me to go to bed again, so that is all I am able to write for now. I will send this letter to Grandma through the computer so that she can give it to you when she visits you tomorrow. I am writing this on Sunday and she will see you on Monday and give it to you. It is nice that it can get there so fast!

Thank you for praying for me, Great-Grandma. I am sure that it is helping me to grow stronger and wiser. Do you know something, I have stopped getting hurt so much since I have been here. I just thought about that today. I used to bump my head all the time and now it doesn’t happen much at all. I wonder why that is. Is it because I am growing up? Or maybe because you are praying for me?

Here is another kiss for you, and a hug too. Mommy sends some also.

Love,

Isaac

Dear Great-Grandma,

Well, I am in North Dakota. How about that! That is what my Mommy and Daddy tell me, although I really don’t know anything about it. What I do know is that we got in the car and drove all day and then I fell asleep and woke up a couple times in the middle of the night and we were still driving and then I woke up in the morning and we were STILL driving and then I took a nap and when I woke up we were STILL driving and then finally we stopped driving. We got out of the car and some people helped us take everything out and now we are staying in a building that is not our house.

I still have my own room. I get to sleep in my own little nest. It is a big mattress with a sheet and my lamby on it and some things around it and one little corner open so I can get up and go play when I wake up in the morning. It’s not a crib but I can’t roll out, but I can get out on my own. I can’t describe it very well so I hope you understand what I mean. Anyway, the neat thing is the fact that I don’t have to wait for Mommy and Daddy to let me out of my crib anymore in the mornings. I just get up and do what I want! I really like that. There is another mattress with lots of my toys on it. Once I slept on that mattress because I thought it would be more fun, but it wasn’t really, so I sleep in my nest now.

Mommy and Daddy have a room across the hall from me. They have a big bed and some desks and dressers and I like to jump on their bed. That is a lot of fun.

We eat our meals in a big room with lots of people. There is plenty of food to eat and it is usually pretty good. I like chips and ice cream and grapes. I have to eat other stuff too, though. Oh! And chocolate milk is really good, too. In fact I think that might be the best thing I have ever tasted. Do you like chocolate milk?

I get to play with other babies here. There are a lot of little babies and a couple of older babies but I am the oldest one in my group. There is another group with even older babies but I don’t get to play with them, at least not during the day. I think they are all older than 2. I am not 2 yet. That doesn’t happen for six more months, says Mommy. That seems like forever to me. Mommy says we will be back home before I am 2.

I do kind of miss home, but I also like it here. There are a lot of people who are nice to me. I miss my Mommy and Daddy a little bit during the day because they are busy while I am playing with the babies, but they always come back to get me, so I guess it is okay.

I heard you were in the hospital again. I don’t remember the hospital but I do remember the doctor’s office and I hate it when they stick those big needles into me. I don’t want them to do that any more, but Mommy says it is good for me. She also says I only have to go one more time until I am 5 years old, which is a whole lot older than 2. Mommy also says you don’t ever have to go back to the doctor, and that the doctors are going to let you go live with God when you want to. I don’t really understand what that means, but I think that they must be nice doctors to let you do what you want. Mommy says that we will miss you a lot when you are gone to live with God, but someday we will go live with God too and then we will see you again and not miss you any more. I think that sounds good to me.

I love you as much as I can, Great-Grandma, and Mommy does too. We will keep writing to you as much as we can until you go live with God. Mommy says she is having a good time here in North Dakota and that she is going to learn a lot this summer. Daddy is keeping busy chasing me and doing his work. We are meeting all kinds of interesting people, and there will be games to play and places to visit. I will tell you all about it as often as I get the chance.

Now I am going to send this letter through the computer to Oma (that’s Grandma Karen, you know) so she can bring it straight to you. That means it won’t have my signature on it, but you know who wrote it anyway.

Love,

Isaac