Letter for my Son

Dear Son,

Your independence is showing more every day. You put on our shoes and you are putting on your own shoes too (when YOU want to)… and on the wrong foot, but it’s progress. You also love to play with the Velcro on your shoes and will watch intently as Daddy ties the laces on his shoes. Did I mention that you say the word, “shoe?”

You aren’t where you need to be with words, but so far you say these: Da, Car, Can (for candy), Tickle, Bubble, Pop, Kitty, Shoe, Cheese, Hat, Hot (for hot dog), Cook (for cookie) and Juice. It’s a start and the more you are around children, I think you’ll pick up on more words.

Which is why we have brought you to so many preschools lately. We picked out the summer camp for you – Kehoe France. It’s a private school, well established and well known in our area. We met with the principal, owners (Kelly France and Kyle France, both guys grew up on the campus with their families) and teachers. It will be an adjustment, full day of camp for 6 six weeks. We expect tears.. ours and yours, but hopefully by the end of the camp, you’ll have had a wonderful experience.

Eating a strawberry snowball at Kehoe France

"Mommy save me!" Lol

We are also looking at part time days for fall season in a preschool. There are so many schools in our area, making us fortunate. But you’ll soon learn that the one thing your Daddy hates is…. Indecision. It takes research and time to make this type of decision though and yes, it can be frustrating.

It’s nice to see you walking around on the campuses, waiving to the children and wanting to play with the toys. You love to explore; the teachers say, “It’s a sign of intelligence.”

You still have a love of climbing and happily, now you climb into the car for your car seat. You tend to get distracted though… but when Daddy starts up the car, you haul butt. Seriously, you move QUICKLY into the car seat. Interesting that you associate the sound of the car starting with the knowledge that you need to be in your seat right away.

We love your kisses. You pucker your little lips and even make the smoochie sounds. Too cute. And you still do sign language for “more”…. I remember showing you the sign language DVD’s. I thought, “How will a child understand the concept of more?” Yet, THAT is the sign that you pick up on and do the most. When you put your fingers together for the “more” you are irresistibly cute!

In the morning, you are the happiest when both Mommy and Daddy are in bed with you. We snuggle and tickle and laugh. Mommy sings “Good Morning” to you and Daddy growls like a lion. Your laughter is the best sunshine in the morning! But… you don’t like to touch the cold tile floor and much prefer for someone to carry you to the sofa for cartoons while we start our morning routine.

Daddy loves bringing you outside to play soccer. But when Daddy gets too close to the ball, you grab it with your hands and take off running. We are also teaching you how to catch the ball too.

When we say a body part, you don’t just point to the body part now. For example, if we say, “Mouth” – you open your mouth wide. If we say, “Eyes” – you blink your eyes. It’s cute to see the actions instead of the pointing.

Food wise, you still have a limited number of things you will eat, but that’s ok. You like it when we make shapes with Cheerios. You also loved Daddy’s grilled Angus beef hamburgers (no cheap burger meat for you, kiddo).

Normally you only eat the Mac and Cheese, but this time you ate all of the hamburger first!

When we go on walks, if there is a large step down, Mommy calls out to you, “Gregory, can you help Mommy?” You run back to Mommy, grab her hand and help Mommy over the step. Daddy said, “Aww, that is too cute. But you know, I would have laughed my butt off if you had tripped after having your son help you.”

Mommy wrote a poem. It’s rusty… been a long time since I tried to write poetry.

My Sweet Son

A stranger when we first met