Sachs Press

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