Letter to My Son

Dear Son,

We have a new son.  You tolerate him well enough, but you don't spend too much time with him, even though others of his kind you are quick to play.

Meet Andouille.  Dewey for short....  We rescued him from the St. Charles Animal Shelter.

My parents' dog's name is Biscuit.  My brother's dog's name is Gumbo.  So, we thought we'd keep it Cajun and go with Andouille.. and it's a weenier dog, dachshund mix with min-pin.  Dewey is not an alpha dog and is a year old.  The two of you will walk together, for just a little bit before you hand over the leash.

Daddy was trying to teach Dewey to sit.  He had a treat, "Sit!" and would show Dewey how to sit.  Daddy said, "Sit!"  YOU sat on the floor.  A few minutes later.... I had a biscuit in my hand.  I asked you if you wanted a piece.  You got down on all fours and opened your mouth like a puppy dog!  

The "I'm not sure about you" look.

Gregory is lining up dog biscuits and the dog isn't even interested.

"Mommie, can we bring this one home?"

High Five!

Thinking inside the box?

I told Greg we should have bought a fish tank!!

Some stories shared by your grandparents:

From Granny:  We play "crash the cars and planes."  We drive and fly and then crash them together.  Then Gregory has to "bring them to the garage" to fix them.  (This explained why Gregory all of a sudden wanted to push cars and planes into me.  Lol.  He wanted to play.)

From Oma:  One day Gregory was playing with the markers.  I brought him to the mirror and said, "Look at that boy with the blue nose."  I took him to the sink so we could wash off the blue mark and he wiped his nose hard.  The next day, I took Gregory to the mirror and said, "No blue nose today."  A few minutes later, Gregory walked up to me.  He had marked his nose blue!

Here's a picture of Gregory - he is getting the spider hold down, hanging on with arms AND legs:

Not exactly the spider hold, but he loves it!

You recently had a blast at the bounce house birthday party for your cousin, Isaac, who turned 4.  Your cousin had the party at a place where there were over 12 bounce houses.  You loved it, going from one bounce house to another.  You loved it even more when Mommy and Daddy went into the bounce house with you!  You were the youngest boy at the party, but you kept up with the best.

You love to go for walks, but now that summer heat is upon us, we will probably not go for as long.... which is sad... the other day we saw a neighbor's boy.  He was on one side of a tree and you were on the other.  He played peek a boo with you and you loved it.  Then he'd run around the tree and you'd chase him.

You like to drink orange juice..  Daddy has a new way to serve it for you.

At the table, you want to play with your toys rather than eat.  Mommy said, "If you sit at the table, you have to eat your food, not just play with your toys."  You would take a bite, then play.  Take a bite, then play.  You understand very well.

Most of the time you love to take toys apart.  You'll get frustrated if a piece wasn't meant to be taken apart and can't be....  but there are moments where you start to build and I see the engineer in you...

Uncle Rob and Aunt Roda are in town right now.  Oma says you follow Uncle Rob around and want to do what he does.  The two of you were at the table, playing with play doh, having a great time.  Rob made.... a.. ummm.. dinosaur.  Okay, that's what we will call it.  But when Oma saw it.. she (with her bad vision) said that Uncle Rob made something rather obscene.  I have to include a picture of it.  I even warned my brother that I would post it on the blog....  It gave the ladies a lot of giggles.

  

I can't believe, sweet son, that you will be starting summer camp next month.  Oma is worried about you being able to handle a full day.  I think they will keep you busy enough.  As long as it doesn't get boring, you'll be fine.  I was worried about you with strange children.  But you didn't know a lot of the kids at Isaac's birthday party and you did fine.  I feel much better about it, though I do worry you might be the "biter" of the group.  Or that you will "pinch" someone, because Mommy and Daddy laugh when you do this to us.  I have high hopes that being around other children will prompt you to talk more.  You are definitely trying.

Thank you, my growing boy... for the sunshine and smiles, even the frustrating moments are beautiful.   We are a family and we love you.

Love Always,

Mommy