Dear Bently,

I'm not going to lie to you child, you are in a pretty difficult stage. You don't want to take naps and will yell and scream for hours on end when I try. But then because you don't take naps you end up really cranky all day long. And when you're tired you turn violent. You hit me, your Dad, Livvy, random kids at Arctic Circle, I mean everyone. You throw tantrums when you don't get your way. You scream and cry when we leave something you wanted at the grocery store. You run away from me at Walmart and you are constantly telling us "no" or "go away" or "stop that mom". Some days I just want to pull my hair out. Some times I loose my temper and I am sorry little man. I hate it when I do that. But some days are magical. We play and smile and laugh together. You want to know what makes those days better than others? Sure you still throw tantrums and get mad at me, but I start off with the right attitude. I approach the day like everything is going to be awesome! And most of the time it is! It's a lesson I'm learning about having a good attitude! :)

I love being with you. I love it when we laugh together. As you get older and understand more we are laughing more together. The other day you were drinking out of your cup and you started to talk in this crazy voice into it. The cup made your voice echo and sound even more strange. We both had a good long giggle fit over it! It was pretty hilarious. :)

This letter is going to be super random but I want to tell you a story. Yesterday it finally happened. I lost you in Walmart. I try and let you walk around the store because you love it so much! It's quite a sacrifice to let you do this. You are constantly pulling things off the shelf, throwing things in the cart, or running away. But I like to give you the chance to be good. I always tell you "Bently if you run away, you have to sit in the cart." You hate sitting in the cart. Yesterday you were doing good. You were staying with me and not touching everything in site. Well one second I'm looking at an outfit for Livvy and the next second your gone. Now usually when this happens I yell your name and you come running. Or I turn the corner and you are there. So I don't panic at first and call for you. I don't hear anything in return. I start walking around and can't find you anywhere. I'm trying not to panic, but I can't help it. My heart is beating fast and I'm running around like a crazy person calling for you. Finally after what seems like a lifetime (it was maximum like 4 minutes) I went to the dressing room and told the Walmart employee I lost my child, I hoping they wouldn't judge me too harshly. I tell them your a blonde haired two year with a monsters inc shirt on. Within 2 minutes they find you. You were looking at the toys in the baby section. I should've known. I stand anxiously at the fitting room waiting for them to bring you to me. Longest minute of my life. Finally they turn the corner and the nice lady is holding you. She told me you wouldn't come to her at first but then she asked if you wanted to go find your Mommy and you went right to her. I was so grateful to see you. I knew that you were probably fine but that didn't stop your Mommy from having an anxiety attack. I love you so much Bently! You are my whole world and I never want to loose you! I think we'll be sticking to the cart from now on!

Love,
Mom