Enzo's first year

I can't believe my baby is a year old today!  Time flies so quickly - especially when you spend so much of it at doctors' offices and hospitals.  But besides all of that, Enzo's been up to quite a lot lately.  He "wrote" a letter a couple of days ago to his Uncle Matt, who is on a mission in Brazil.  Since it does a pretty good job of summing up Enzo's recent accomplishments, I think I'll copy and paste it here to save myself some time and effort.  


Uncle Matt,

My mom keeps trying to write you an email but I kept pushing all of the keys on the computer because I wanted to write you.  So my mom decided to let me write you an email instead.  Happy Birthday!!  Did you know that my birthday is the day after yours?  Mom says she wanted me to be born on your birthday - but I didn't want to be born yet.  You know, my heart didn't work quite right and I'm a wimp - I knew it would hurt to fix it.  And I knew my dad was a big tease and would make fun of me all the time (plus, he grounded me for being late, who wants to start their life off grounded?)- so I just wasn't going to come.  The doctors finally made me come, but I was too late for your birthday. Sorry.  We can celebrate together next year anyway.

Anyway, want to hear what I've been doing this whole last year?  Besides 2 surgeries where the doctors cut me open, I also got a weird thing called a ..s...st...I don't know...mom, what is it?  Oh, stent.  So I got this stent thingy put in through my leg and into my heart to hold open that vein thingy.  I think I'm doing good - and so does Mom and Dad, but who knows what we'll find out at my next heart doctor appointment in February.

I finally learned to crawl a couple of months ago and now I am all over the place.  I really like getting into things that I shouldn't.  Last week, I dumped the whole trashcan all over the kitchen floor.  And on Saturday, I pooped all over mom.  Then when she was in the shower cleaning up, I pulled all of the wipes out of a new wipe container.  Then, while Dad was cleaning that up, I crawled all the way across the house and opened up the door to mom's shower and tried to climb in with her.  She didn't think that was a good idea, since I had all of my clean clothes on, so she stopped me and yelled for Dad.  She sure knows how to ruin my fun sometimes.  But she sometimes lets me do fun things that Dad won't - like feed myself - and eat candy canes. 

Sometimes, Dad is more fun though.  During the day, Mom tries to work all the time and ignores me a lot.  And I sure like a lot of attention.  If people aren't paying attention to me, I like to whine.  Sometimes, when Mom is working in the kitchen, I will crawl up to her and climb up the back of her legs and hang on to her pants and whine at her.  It really bugs her, but that's what makes it so fun.  So I really like it when Dad comes home, because he will play with me.  Mom plays with me too, but not all the time.  Since Dad is only home a couple of hours with me at night, he spends most of that time playing with me, and I love it.

I'm learning how to talk too.  My first word was "mmmmmm" which is what a cow says.  I can also tell you that a doggy says "heh-huh-heh-huh" with his tongue hanging out.  Most of the words I can say though start with the b-sound.  I can say bah (ball),  ba(th), buhbeh (bubbles) and sometimes, boo(k).  I don't know why people need the sounds at the end of the words though, I can get by without them.  I can say mama too, but I usually only say that when mom isn't paying attention to me or I'm mad about something.  I like Daddy though, so I say dada or daa-ey lots. 

I also love to dance.  Whenever there is music on or anything with a beat, I like to bounce up and down to the beat.  I even do it to the music in the grocery stores.  Another thing I love to do is read.  I can sit and look at a book for hours (well, to me it seems like hours, mom says it's only a couple of minutes.)  One morning mom left me in my room by myself, so I found my Rudolph book with the fuzzy fur on it and sat and read at it for a long time.  Even mom agrees, it was like 20 minutes.  She kept checking on me and would find me sitting, looking at the book and sometimes turning the pages.  When I got tired of that, I went out in the hall and danced to the beat of the washing machine.  I'm hoping Santa will bring me some more books and something that makes lots of music for Christmas.

My favorite time of day is the end of the day.  Not only do I get to play with Dad, I also get to take my bath.  As soon as my parents start taking off my clothes, I start laughing and kicking my legs.  I don't like getting out of the bath though, cause it's really cold.  After the bath though, Mom and Dad play with me until I'm tired enough to go to sleep.  If they don't, I really whine at them.  I get really silly when I'm tired, and as long as they play with me, I laugh my head off.  I'm really ticklish at night time too.  I love it when Mom tickles me under my chin or in my arm pits.  I also love to make faces, Mom's favorite is when I scruch up my nose and smile.  I'll send you a picture of me doing that in the bath.

I'm also learning to pray.  Just since Sunday, I've learned to fold my arms.  Dad was so proud of me and excited that I could do that.  We say our prayers every day and I pray for the missionaries, especially you Uncle Matt.  I also pray that I can grow up and go on a mission some day just like you.  I hope you are having a great time on your mission, I can't wait to meet you.  Mom and Dad say that maybe we will come out and meet you at the airport when you come home.  Let us know when you know for sure what day it is so that we can see if we can come.

Well, I'm starting to get tired and hungry, so I think I will go whine at Mom some more.  I love you lots - and Mom says she does too.  We hope you have a wonderful birthday.

Love,
Enzo


Uncle Matt,

I got so excited to go whine at Mom that I forgot to send you that picture.

I also forgot to tell you about my new favorite trick.  When Mom and Dad try to give me something I don't want, I Iike to trick them by taking it from them as if I really want it, and then throwing it down.  They really love it when I do that.  But they are also teaching me about Jesus, so I guess I'll have to stop doing that someday.  I got a cool book with pictures of Jesus and sometimes I say something that Mom and Dad kind of think sounds like His name.  It's really something like "geegeh" or something like that - I haven't quite got it down right.  I'm working on it though.  I'm sure by the time you get home I'll be able to say it really good.  I know He's my big brother and he's done so much for me - like heal my heart - again and again.  He helps me feel better when I'm sad and he also helps me so that when I do something bad (like throw things at Mom and Dad), I can say sorry and come back to Him again. I'm going to try to be like him when I grow up - if my Mom and Dad keep teaching me about Him.  Maybe when you come live with me, you can help teach me too - and tell me all about your mission so I can be like you too. 

Well, I think I want to go play with the broom now, and eat all the dried food that I have thrown on the floor that Mom hasn't cleaned up yet.  Talk to you later.

- Your favorite nephew you've never met,
Enzo