Letter to my son

Dear Son,

The last couple of weekends have been really nice.  Mommy had a cake decorating class to go to.  When Mommy left, you were taking a nap, but when you woke up, Daddy, Oma and Opa brought you to the park.  They said you did well, but mostly played with another child and a ball, because the gym at the park was packed full of kids.  It's nice where this a small group of kids - just enough for interaction, but not so many that the kids are climbing on other kids.

On Sunday, we had a nice family outing.  Daddy asked Mommy what she'd like to do and I said, "go somewhere to take pictures."  You are my favorite subject for pictures, of course, and I like going to different places, more nature related.

First stop was the levee.  It was a nice cool morning and the bees and bugs weren't out yet.  Perfect for wild flower picking!

I pick flowers for you, Mommy

Smell the flowers, Mommy

We drove around, looking for more places to take pictures with flowers.  You asked, "Daddy, we have flat tire?"  No, it's just New Orleans streets.  You saw a street car and asked, "What's that?"  Maybe in the fall we can take a ride on the street cars.

We ended up at the Lakefront, not far from the University of New Orleans, where Mommy graduated from.  When Mommy was in college and had time between classes, she would eat lunch or do cross stitching by the levee.

It was windy at the lakefront and we saw a lot of sail boats on the water!  (Good place to bring a kite!)

Great place to run

Watching your shadow

The family outing ended at the Bonnabel Boat Launch Playground.

Daddy teaching you how to play football

You are a tough dude, lean and strong.  Stronger than I thought a 3 year old would be.  When you wake up from a nap, that's the worst time of day for you.  It doesn't matter if you slept for 30 minutes or 2 hours.. you wake up super cranky, fussy, sometimes down right mean.  This past weekend, you were in such a fit after the nap that you pulled back your arm and punched Mommy.  It hurt.  You tried to hit again.  You were put in time out.  Your ear-piercing, glass-shattering screams proved your anger.  Mommy put you on the bed for time out, because you tried to continue to hit and Mommy gently pushed you away.  It was a soft landing if you moved back.  You knew Mommy had a movie on TV waiting for you.  Eventually you calmed down, tried to get out of bed, but I told you that you were still in time out.  I picked you up and rocked you.  You pointed to the door.  I asked, "Do you want to go potty?"  You said, "No" and on the verge of anger again.  I said, "Okay, you don't have to potty, but you will need to tell me when you need to go, promise?"  You said okay.  (You did very well this weekend with using the potty - no accidents at all.  You even said when you had to do number 2.)  I said, "You can be out of time out and watch the movie if you are sorry for hitting Mommy.  Are you sorry?"  You said yes.  After that, all was right with the world.  You'd never know you went through that temper tantrum.  But it's really weird, because it's a nap time/wake up time temper issue.  In the morning when you wake up you rarely are fussy.  Maybe a little grumpy, but mostly you are a happy kid in the morning.  So, what's up with the naps waking up?

You told me your first knock-knock joke.  You said, "Knock Knock.  Who there.  Achoo Achoo Who Bless you."  You were just too adorable!  You don't allow the other person to respond, instead you say it all, but it was just cute as could be.  Mommy laughed.

Easter might be over, but you are still finding some Easter eggs in Oma and Opa's garden.

I need a magic word, Mommy

Mommy didn't know if you had missed a letter from school, because you were out one day.  (You threw up one night but only once, no fever.  However, school policy is that you had to stay home for 24 hours. ) You had a lot of fun going to Oma and Opas (even though they were in Maryland, it was good to go to their home and get a change of scenery, play with toys, take a walk, draw and work on projects - and it gave Daddy a chance to work on his reports without us disturbing him.)  

Oma and Opa set up TJ's gates at their home before leaving for their trip to pick up TJ.  You saw it and said, "TJ's toys."  You tell me, "I want to see my baby TJ."  When we played hide and seek, you hid between the pillows.

Another new thing you are doing is roll playing.  You tell me, "Mommy, you be the baby."  So, I pretended to cry.  You said, "What you need baby?  Why you cry?"  I said, "I need a hug."  You said, "Okay, baby, I give you huge, it okay."  You give me a sweet hug and pat me on the back.  It's a cute roll playing and ends fairly quickly.

On the walk, you pointed to the ledge. "I walk there."  I said, "No."  You informed me, "Oma says Yes.  It be okay Mommy."  You walked the ledge very carefully.

When I saw the sidewalk torn up, I told you to be careful and go around.  You said, "It okay Mommy.  Watch me."  You even balanced on the rock and jumped off of it.  

When we walked through the school/church lot, you saw a yellow ball.  You asked if we could play.  I like how you ask first.  I replied, "Yes, but we have to leave the ball here after we play, because it belongs to someone else."  You ran and kicked the ball (mostly left footed) and you did not argue about leaving the ball afterwards.

Back at Oma and Opa's, we did some drawing

When I took out my phone, you wanted to take pictures.  You blew me (and the camera) a kiss.

Then you wanted to press the iPhone camera button for selfies.

You saw your old bib and said, "TJ's bib!" And you put it on.  I told you, "I'm going to take a picture. Oma will love this."

You did the "S" project at school - SNAKE

But you and Mommy did the "S is for Seahorse" project at home too!

You missed the letter T at school.  They did T is for Tractor.  You didn't have that project at school.  So, at home, we did "T is for Train Tracks" - you totally loved it.

Oma asked, "How did you get him to wear the hat?"

I said, "I told Gregory that he is the conductor of the train."

Just chillin

Some fun pictures from this past week.

The weather has been so nice; we went to the park a lot.

You love to run!

Your "no, I don't want to leave face"

You are climbing this very well now.

You wanted to get on the swings and another boy at the park  went on the other swing.

The boy on the left said that he was "Three and a HALF."  The two of you did raspberry farts back and forth and laughed at each other.

One day you saw a boy twisting the chair around.  Mommy did that for you too.  This time, you wanted the chair going around again and Daddy twisted it high.  You like going around but the when it stops it does a jolt you don't care for.

Friday evening we went to the Chinese restaurant.  You love looking at the fish.  Mommy took this time to talk with you about what is underwater.... you said, "Fish, Submarines, Sharks, Whales, Dolphins."

Daddy said, "There's been a lot of selfies with you and Mommy and none of me."  You said, "Mommy give me your phone.  I take picture of Daddy."  Here's what you took.

Daddy took the phone and took this picture.

After the meal, Mommy followed up with the underwater conversation and turned it into a project.  You loved it and even took the submarine tub toy out of the bathroom and said, "I have two submarines!"

Then you asked, "What next project Mommy?  V IS FOR VOLCANO!"  I guess that's what we're doing.  You say, "Volcano red and laba" (You don't know how to say "Lava".)

School update:  You aren't wanting to play with the other kids unless you are outside on the playground, running with the group.  When you are inside, you will do arts and crafts, but when it comes to general playtime, you are going to a corner.  I don't know if we have drilled into your head, "Don't do this and don't do that" that you feel you can't do anything.  Or maybe it's because you are missing your friend at school.  But this really makes Mommy sad.  

I wanted you to go to school for social skills and to have fun and learn new creative things.  Instead, it seems the year is ending on a sad note.  Daddy asked Mommy, "Are you thinking about sending him to a different school next year?"  No, I still have hope for the school and I like the church community and I do think the school offers a lot of various activities (parades, zoo mobile, etc) that you can enjoy.  

Praying the year ends better and that you are able to reconnect with your current classmates.  I know you love the Youth Jr group at church.  I hope you get that same feeling again for your school.  You're too young not to have fun at preschool.

This past week, we were invited by Father AJ to a reception of church members getting to know one another.  It was a nice gathering.  You thought it was the Youth Jr group and wanted to run the entire time.  If you weren't running, you were inside the podium.  Father AJ said, "Gregory isn't bothering me.  He reminds us of the reason we are here."  It was nice meeting everyone, but most of the time, Mommy was chasing after you.

You like the scarecrow outside of the church's veggie garden.

You saw Daddy eating the cake he made... he left the room, you pulled the chair out and stuck your finger in the cake - you were quiet and that's the reason Mommy came in to take this picture just as you were about to eat the icing on your finger.

Mommy hurt her leg, running into the dishwasher edge.  You said, "I get you medicine for your bo bo."   I saw you get your step and followed you.  You went into Mommy bathroom, put the step by the wall cabinet and opened the medicine cabinet door.  Wow.  You know where Mommy keeps the medicine.  Time to move things to the upper levels again!  You know you can reach things with the step.  Scary... and brave... and creative... and problem solving.  It's fascinating, but mostly scary for parents!

You're learning.  We're learning.  It's a fun process.  It's a trying experience.  It's days of joys and silly laughter.  It's nights of tummy aches and going to work the next day with no sleep.  It's running, climbing and jumping.  It's, "I help you Mommy" to doing any type of laundry activities and cleaning up.  It's snuggles and naps and bath time and songs.  We are blessed.  You keep us going and growing right along with you.

Love Always,

Mommy