Letter to my Son

Dear Son,

You have been doing SO well with summer camp!  Mommy was worried about you not having enough social skills.  There were two days where you had less than favorable reports where you "were aggressive with taking music toys from friends" (as Aunt Kim said "boys will be boys") and the second one wrote that you "couldn't keep your hands to yourself."  But no explanation went with it, so I'm unsure if you hit someone, pushed back, went after toys?  But everything all other days are great, even some reports of you eating all of your food (on pancake for lunch day and chicken lunch).

But today... mommy had a little scare.  Mommy was at work and she heard her cell phone go off, for a phone call.  Mommy mostly gets text messages, if anything, on her phone during work time and that's rare, so when the phone rang, heart in throat... and worse when Mommy saw it was a call from Kehoe France School.  Mommy's fingers couldn't answer the phone quick enough... the lady at the summer camp said that during pool time, you were stung by a bee or wasp.  They didn't know, they didn't see it happen, but saw you rubbing your ear and saw the sting mark.  I explained that Daddy is highly allergic to bee/wasp stings.  They promised to keep a close eye on your ear and would call me if the sting mark got worse.

Fortunately, that did not happen.  Today, when you came home from camp, they camp leader wrote the following:


They also included a picture of a painting you did.  Ironic - jelly fish - water - jelly fish sting...


I think the words on this page might be the song that you will sing with your group performance on July 16th, Thursday.  The performance is at Kehoe France, Children's Center, at 9:30am.  Friends and family are invited!  I can't wait to see how you do within a group with the music instructor.  

This week your were in the camp newsletter again with pictures.  This time, though, I didn't know if you were crying by the pool?  Maybe the wasp sting?  Or you got squirted with water or you were laughing?  You are in the top right picture.


I'm thinking the above picture was taken yesterday?  It was after you had your hair cut.  Here's some before pictures...


Mommy's piano has become the iPad stand?

At the hair salon - eating M & M's helps with hair cuts!


After pictures:

(Special note:  Oma said, "Please put a note that the below pictures is AFTER Gregory came out of the pool and we took off his swim suit.  I don't want people thinking we let Gregory swim naked."  Daddy went swimming with you and afterwards, you didn't want to leave the pool.....


Eating ice-cream.


Working on potty training.  Daddy said, "Does Gregory need to pooh?"  You went to the potty, but no gifts to share...


Daddy has you wanting to sit (and now stand) on the kitchen counter.  You love to watch us cook in the kitchen.  And you are an excellent helper for emptying the dish washer - but you are SO fast at grabbing the dishes out of the machine that we have to move quickly!



This evening, after picking you up from camp, we decided to go to Oma's and Opa's house to swim.  The water was cool and refreshing.  At first you didn't want to get your feet wet, but then you laughed.  We are teaching you how to kick your feet and paddle with your hands.  Before we left the pool, you started getting the hang of it.


BRR, that water is COLD!


I like the tubes



Mommy joining in the fun



You held on to my fingers with a death grip!



WAIT!  No one is holding me!



You are such a STRONG Boy!



Daddy acting like you pushed him into the pool



Some cute stories... the other night, you took Daddy's hand and pushed him by the sofa.  Then you took Mommy's hand and patted your hand on the sofa for Mommy to sit.  So we sat side by side, then you joined us and sat in the middle, on both of us.



The other night, Daddy wanted to change the channel on the television.  You were close to the chair where the remote control was.  Daddy said, "Gregory, get the remote for Daddy.  No, the remote.  The remote, on the chair.  Right...there!  That's the remote.  Bring that to Daddy."  And you did... Daddy said, "We'll get our money's worth out of him yet!"  Daddy's sense of humor.  Don't ever doubt your Daddy's love for  you.  Our love for you can't be measured by any scale found here on earth.

Last night Daddy was holding you in a chair.  You swung your head forward, FAST and hard and hit Daddy right on his nose.  OUCH!  You didn't mean to hurt Daddy, but he sure was hurt.  You heard Daddy cry out in pain and then you started to cry.  I told you, "Daddy isn't mad at you.  He is hurt."  You leaned forward and rained kisses on Daddy's face.  I looked at Daddy and said, "Doesn't that make you feel better?"  Daddy was smiling, "Yes, actually, it does."



I love the excitement in your eyes when you play.  If Mommy hides a new toy in your toy box, you WILL find it!  Then you do a happy dance.  You still love to play hide and seek and now you are getting really good at being quiet when you hide (your favorite place to hide now is under the sheets in the bed).

You are doing much better with talking too.  You are saying "please" and "pop corn" and naming colors correctly, oh my gosh, so many words now!  The instructor at Kehoe France said, "Gregory doesn't talk to me, but he talks a lot to the other kids."  I think summer camp was a great idea and Kehoe France a great first camp experience.  I'm looking forward to seeing you with your new friends at the school performance.

Be strong, be sweet, be ... you.. my son.  You are perfect, just as you are.  As your great-grandmother said, "God doesn't make mistakes."

To my parents.... (Your Oma and Opa).... thank you, mom and dad.  Thank you for building the swimming pool in our backyard.  You did this when I was a young girl and I know it was a difficult financial endeavor, which children never fully understand until they get older.  I loved that pool when I lived there.  And now, I get to share the joy of swimming with my son.  Thank you for my special childhood memories and now my special memories with my son.  We love you!

Sweet son.... know that you are loved and that you bring such an incredible amount of joy to our lives.  

(Below are some videos from our swimming time today.  It's a shame that YouTube doesn't have good quality, the videos on my iPhone6 are fantastic!  By the way, son, your Daddy and Opa, LOVE gadgets.  Daddy recently added a light system in the house that is voice/iPhone operated and a system called the Echo - she goes by the name of Alexa.  Daddy can't wait to find out what technology will be like in the future for you!)

Love Always,
Mommy


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