10/25/2013
Dear Jake,
Happy Birthday! You are a 2 year old wonder today and we are all so proud of you! We celebrated your birthday on a farm with one of the guests of honor being, "Nutmeg" the horse. Your Mom and Dad had the perfect idea for your party which was outside and included a tractor and a hose to pretend spray people! All your favorite things!
I am not just being a proud Abba when I say you are so ahead of your age in so many ways. You can already sing the alphabet and count to ten. You have gone from walking to running and you love to practice your yoga and Zumba from school. You have lots of little friends and you are working really hard at sharing. This isn't always easy!
It is hard to believe that you are already 2 and every day that I get to spend with you is filled with laughs and fun.
Sometimes I would like to freeze time
but it is also so much fun to watch the wonderful little man you are turning into as you grow. This year you will become a big brother and you just became a big cousin to baby George. I can't think of a better role model!
Love, Grammy
3/30/13
Dear Jake,
March was a fast month full of accomplishments and celebrations for you! You have started to walk! You were so fast at crawling that you had a hard time deciding that walking was the way to go but after much coaxing you are on your way. You still revert back to the crawl when you really want to get something done but you are making great strides.
You have also started to talk a lot with "yes" and "hot" being two of your favorite words. You call me "Abba" so we may need to change this blog to;"Fridays with Abba"! I hope you always call me that because it is so special and as unique as you are.
We celebrated St. Patrick's Day and Easter this month. We went to the Melville's house on St. Pat's day and saw a parade. You got to meet the Easter Bunny and you liked him much more than Santa. The Easter Bunny brought you a great basket of your favorites, goldfish crackers, play dough and Lego's.
Your cousin Kim is the captain of her lacrosse team @ Curry College this year so one very cold night lots of the family went to cheer her on. We had a tailgate party with pizza before the game. You were a very happy camper with pizza in hand and staying up past your bedtime!
Love, Grammy
2/27/13
Dear Jake,
It has been a very cold, snowy February with one storm almost breaking a record with 24 inches. You love watching the snow fly from your porch and bundling up to play and sled in the snow. It was during that storm that you spiked a temperature of over 105 and had to take a trip to the emergency room. It turned out to be just a virus but you gave us all a scare!
You can stack your wooden blocks about 6 blocks high now and you have just as much fun knocking Poppa's stack over. You have quite a throwing arm and you've gone from throwing balls to just about everything including food! Mealtimes often look like a food fight! Your favorite word is, "Yes" and you always say yes to Goldfish crackers.
On Valentine's Day we let your Mom and Dad go out on a romantic date and we had a little pizza party. For your Mom and Dad eating with two hands when the food was hot was a novelty that they really enjoyed. Of course they probably talked about you the whole time!
Love, Grammy
1/31/13
Dear Jake,
Happy NewYear little buddy! Usually this cold winter month is a quiet one but not so much with you! In very exciting news you became a big cousin when your Godmother Jenn and Uncle Jon had your baby cousin, Mia! I am sure you will have lots of fun with her! You also helped Great Grandma Crowley celebrate her 85th birthday and my 58th birthday! You sure love to clap at the happy birthday song!
We haven't had much snow this winter but when we have, you love to sled on the hill next to your house. There has been some construction in your neighborhood and the trucks have been a great source of entertainment for you. As you can see in the picture, Poppa loves trucks too!
At 15 months you are starting to say a lot more words although you still keep a lot of your vocabulary secret and say words when you think no one is listening. I really can't wait to hear what is going on inside your little mind! You have a great sense of humor and love to crack yourself and others up. You can throw a ball but along with the throw you always add in sounds effects of the ball being thrown. Other than watching football with your Dad, one of your favorite activities is cleaning. You have conquered your fear of vacuum cleaners and love to help clean the floor with a dustbuster! We are really not sure where that comes from!
Love, Grammy
12/28/12
Dear Jake,
Merry Christmas! Although you were a little too young to understand all of the festivities, you sure caught the Christmas spirit and loved every minute. That is except for the one minute that you sat on Santa's lap! You were not very happy about that! You "helped" your Mom and Dad put up a beautiful tree and you were actually pretty good about just looking at it. You danced to all the Christmas carols and you were proud to tell everyone that Santa says, "Ho, Ho, Ho! "
Every morning when you wake up you always seem surprised that all of your toys are still there. So on Christmas morning you sure were surprised that more toys had appeared. You loved every one of them but the apple that Santa placed in your stocking was worth taking a break to eat!
My favorite part of this Christmas was watching how much fun your Mom and Dad had making this a special memory for you. Poppa and I always loved making Christmas special in our home as did your Poppa and Nanny Gorra. It is wonderful to see that your Mom and Dad will be carrying the tradition on!
Love, Grammy
10/25/12
Dear Jake,
Happy first birthday my little friend! It is amazing how quickly the year has gone by and how much you have changed. You have changed physically from that little baby in a receiving blanket to the handsome little fellow you are today. The funny thing is that you really haven't changed your personality very much. You have always been so beyond your age and always looking to see what will be happening next. You are a thoughtful, cheery little gentleman with so much love to give you melt our hearts.
So of course being the first child, first grandchild and first great grandchild on both sides of the family your birthday was cause for a major celebration! The party was filled with people who love you so much! I don't think there is a toy that is left for Santa to bring! It was really special that two of your great grandmothers could be there to party with you. As usual you were the life of the party. It was so much fun and that night we raised a toast to your Mom and Dad for the outstanding job they have done giving you the best first year!
When I began writing this blog about our fun Fridays together you were an infant and for your birthday I am going to have the first year of our blog printed into a book. I hope that when you are all grown up you can read it and have happy memories of our Fridays together. They are Fridays that I will always treasure!
Love, Grammy
10/10/12
Dear Jake,
I am combining a couple of weeks together here because it's been really busy! Grammy is in charge of giving flu shots to our town and flu season really keeps me busy! Also, your Mom had to go on a business trip so we all pitched in to help your Dad. Of course your Dad really didn't need much help being the super dad that he is!
So one night Poppa and your Uncle Jack came to hang out with you. It was a beautiful fall night and we stayed outside bike riding and having a great game of hide and seek. You loved hiding behind the trees but you had a hard time not laughing while you hid!
The leaves are turning and the Halloween decorations are everywhere! The countdown to your birthday is winding down!
Love, Grammy
9/28/12
Dear Jake,
This Friday it was cold and rainy outside so we snuggled up inside and had a cozy afternoon. You got another tooth this week which caused a lot of sleepless nights so you were happy to be home. We had fun emptying out your toy box and playing. You have loved all of your toys but I would have to say that your overall favorite has been the Fisher Price Lantern. I love it as well because it gave me a much needed refresher course on many of the nursery rhymes!
It's also easy to see that you are going to love books. You love going through each one and for the most part you are careful with them. Sometimes you just can't resist the urge to rip out the pop-up characters and then you seem to feel really sad about it! Of course that's what tape is for!
This week marked your 11 month birthday and we are all getting very excited to celebrate your first birthday with you!
Love, Grammy
9/21/12
Dear Jake,
You have gone from toothless to having 3 teeth in 1 week! You are not quite sure of the whole situation and you are choosing to keep your teeth top secret for now. You might be worried that they will be taken away since you are in the habit of squirrelling illegal objects in your mouth!
This Friday we got to have a sleepover while your Mom and Dad went to a wedding. Poppa and I took you out to dinner at Stars where you loved sitting backwards in the highchair entertaining the crowd. We had a visit from Uncle Walter and Uncle Don. They had lots of fun stories about their visit to Italy to see the Heintzelman's.
It is always fun to have a sleepover with you because I get some snuggle time with you in the morning before you really wake up. It is also really fun to see how amazed you are each morning as you come downstairs and see that all your toys are still there! It's like Christmas everyday!!
Love, Grammy
6/14/12
Dear Jake,
Fall is here! After a summer filled with fun it's now on to pumpkins, Halloween and of course your first birthday! It is so hard to believe you are turning one! It seems like you were born yesterday but at the same time I don't remember life without you! I have no idea what used to occupy my thoughts!
So this Friday we went to pick out a pumpkin for you. Last year you were only a couple of weeks old and I picked a mini pumpkin for you. This Halloween you are a big boy and you got to pick the one just right for you. You didn't quite understand that it is a decoration and tried to eat it all the way home!
Love, Grammy
9/1/12
Dear Jake,
There is a beautiful bay side beach in Brewster where your Mom spent many summer days with her cousins swimming, making sandcastles and eating samores. Little did she know that your Dad actually spent some of his vacations a bit further down on the same beach! We used to take long walks on the beach and I am sure at one point they probably passed each other but they didn't actually meet until their college days. It was just meant to be!
We all spent the weekend at that same beach for Labor Day. It was low tide when we arrived and you couldn't believe that you could crawl so far without anything stopping you. You tasted a bit of sand and decided it doesn't taste very good. You loved sitting in the small pools of water that gather on the beach and going out into that great salt water. The sounds of the waves made you a bit sleepy. We are considering buying a wave sound machine for nursery!
It was a wonderful weekend filled with memories of fun times in the past along with making new memories for you. I sure hope that when you are my age you still enjoy the salty air and beaches on Cape Cod Bay!
Love, Grammy
8/17/12
Dear Jake,
Last Friday you got to go to visit your Grandma and Poppa Gorra! You had lots of fun swimming in their wonderful pool. So instead of Friday together this week we had a sleepover on Wednesday while Mom and Dad went to Fenway Park to see the Bruce Springsteen concert. They had a great time and got to see your second cousins Tim and Jenny there.
We had lots of fun on our sleepover. Poppa brought some pizza and you had your favorite fruit, some cantaloupe. You learned how to clap this week so we clapped a lot. You have to think about it each time but then you are so proud of yourself when you hear the clapping noise. We also clapped for your Godfather Jack who turned 24 years old this week!
One night this week you stopped by Grammy's office. You were so excited to see all the things on my desk that you could get into that you had a smile from ear to ear!
Love, Grammy
8/10/12
Dear Jake,
Whenever we take a stroll around your neighborhood you always look so enviously at the kids on bikes. So this week Poppa and I bought you your first tricycle! Poppa spent the afternoon putting it together and the look on your face as you rolled down your street was worth every moment! Now you are part of the neighborhood bike gang and you are loving it. We thought about adding a horn or bell to it but I'm not sure we need to with your loud chorus of; "ba, ba, ba"!
Love, Grammy
7/27/12
Dear Jake,
This Friday your Great Aunt Loretta came to visit! When your Mom was born on December 12, 1980, the first thing Aunt Loretta did was go with your Mom's other aunts, and buy a dozen doughnuts to bring up to the hospital. They were so excited about becoming aunts that they ate the whole box before they arrived! So, on October 25, 2011, Aunt Loretta came to see you in the hospital with a dozen doughnuts to celebrate. This Friday she brought you a book called, "Brown Bear" that you loved. Your attention span is getting longer and you are able to sit and really look at books now. The cardboard books work the best because you can chew on them after we finish the story!
Love, Grammy
I am not just being a proud Abba when I say you are so ahead of your age in so many ways. You can already sing the alphabet and count to ten. You have gone from walking to running and you love to practice your yoga and Zumba from school. You have lots of little friends and you are working really hard at sharing. This isn't always easy!
