Gerritt's Crush

Gerritt & Luly snuggling on the couch


Gerritt & Luly playing with cars in the back yard


Building a block tower together


Gerritt & Luly playing with Spike (with Sophia being the 3rd wheel :-))


Gerritt loves to play with my jewelry box & this is often the end result

Gerritt has been making some funny & at the same time cute statements lately such as, "Don't worry, Mommy." Or, "I love my doggy! My doggy is so happy!", while hugging & kissing it. Or, "Look, Mommy, I don't have a fever!", while touching his forehead (when asked whether he was ill). We have this ritual where I kneel down on the floor & he runs into my open arms yelling, "I love Mommy!!!" He also says, "This one for Mommy! This one for Gerritt!" while giving me his old stuffed dog (it's a girl according to him) & taking the new one for himself (it's a boy). Gerritt has named his boy dog Tobby (after one of the book characters).
Recently Gerritt has developed a crush on his 5-year-old Romanian neighbor Luly. He insists on seeing her as often as he can, which is almost every evening. Usually, when Gerritt gets home from daycare around 6 pm, he & I walk over to Luly's house across the street. Sometimes he plays at her house for a while, but more often than not they both end up back at our place. They do projects together like building a tower out of paper blocks, riding bikes or cars outside, or playing with miniature plastic animals. They dance; they hold hands; they wrestle or jump on the floor mattress; & run outside in our back yard. It can be anything as long as they are together. Gerritt has told me several times, "I love her!" I am not sure he fully understands the implications of his love declaration, but I think what he's trying to convey is that he really likes spending time with Luly. I was pleasantly surprised to observe how attentive & patient Gerritt was with her (certainly impressive for a 2.5-year-old boy who is normally very possessive of his toys!). He is learning a lot about women, since Luly happens to be a big drama queen & can burst into tears when she doesn't get her way. I often hear, "Don't cry, Luly!", "Do you want this?", "Do you like this?", "Here you go, Luly!" If we give Gerritt any snacks, he'll make sure to share with Luly (WITHOUT our prompting). Poor Sophia is not the object of Gerritt's affections, however, so she often gets pushed & hit on the head with a toy or stick resulting in a time-out for Gerritt & hugs for Sophia. :-( Gerritt is growing up to be a fine young gentleman! Too bad, Luly will be moving away soon. I am already sad for Gerritt.
His list of favorite books from the past couple of weeks includes:

Nicky and the Rainy Day by Valeri Gorbachev
Bye-Bye, Big Bad Bullybug! by Ed Emberley
The Foggy Foggy Forest by Nick Sharratt (Gerritt's favorite)
Where is Spot? by Eric Hill
There is an Alligator Under My Bed by Mercer Mayer

I can tell that all of our nightly readings have enriched his vocabulary greatly. I surely hope he will love books & reading as much as I did when I was little. More library trips to come!