Letter to my son

Dear Son,

Oma and Opa were kind enough to bring you to Granny and Grandfather's and Uncle Jerry's house to play a couple of times recently.  Granny said that you would rough house with her on the sofa, during the first visit.  Then, the second visit, you told Granny, "Let's play on the sofa."  Too cute!

Your shirt "Straight Outta Metry" is a Christmas gift from your Uncle Jerry.

Granny mentioned how your vocabulary and speech have grown in leaps and bounds.  I still hear you making simple mistakes and I know with some correction, which we are working with you on, your words can become very clear.

You are coming up with topics to talk at length about and you have stories to share now.  If a big group of people are talking, you will say, "I NEED to talk to my mommy (or whoever you want to tell the story to)."  You expect people to stop talking and listen.  And they do.

You're Daddy recently wrote on Facebook:  "Without a doubt.. the GREATEST invention in the world is the mind of a child.  Gregory is going into his "story" modes where he tries to explain situations and lessons, as well as his rambling "Teaching" modes quite often now (those are my favorites).  He is even correcting us if something is incorrect.  I can listen to him for hours."

This morning, we spoke about dinosaurs and Mommy said, "I like the pterodactyl that you made."  You informed me, "Mommy, a pterodactyl is not a dinosaur."  I asked you why.  You explained, "Pterodactyl flies.  Dinosaurs can't fly."  Smart boy!

You went to three art classes at Michael's this past week.  You loved going to them, as the theme was dinosaurs.  Here are some fun art projects you came home with:

I like this next one.  You put the dinosaur stickers on each red card.  It's a memory matching game, which you enjoy doing.

Opa even got into the spirit of Dinosaur week!  He is wearing the dinosaur mask that Daddy bought one year.   The kids were a little... scared, but not you!

Love the dino hat you made.

But you told Oma she had to wear it first so you didn't mess up your hair.  Hehe.

At the end of the last art class, a line formed to get face painting.  It was a long line.

It was a long wait.  But you stayed in line.

You told the artist what you wanted.  It's a super hero mask.

Mommy asked what your super hero powers are.  You said, "Jumping!"  (You do this very well, very high and will even spin and jump).  Mommy said your super hero power are awesome hugs.  Daddy said your super hero powers are farts.  That made you laugh.

You had two bug toys.  You kept saying, "Mommy you don't like bugs."

I said, "No, I don't like bugs" and then I grabbed them and put them down your shirt.

You laughed so hard!  Then, you had to do the same to Oma too.

Daddy said that "Oma played it well" pretending she was afraid of the bugs.  You two were too cute.

You took a late nap.  You still had the mask painted on, because any time during the day that we asked about cleaning it off, you refused.  When I took the picture of you sleeping with the super hero mask, Daddy said, "It looks like he fell asleep and we drew on his face."

This past week we reached record highs, mix in the humidity and outside was a sauna.  Daddy determined it was time for ice cream and snowballs; he invited Oma and Opa to join us.

It was so hot outside that we all went into Opa's car with the air conditioner running to eat the snowballs and ice cream.

Daddy commented on Facebook, "No such thing as "Terrible Twos or Threes with this boy!  What a GIFT!  We had a Sno-ball date yesterday when it was close to 100, with everyone and a dog in the car and he (you) STILL enjoyed it and was entertaining as well."

You shared Mommy and Daddy's ice cream.  You literally ate some from Daddy and some from Mommy.  You took turns between the ice cream bites, which made Oma laugh.

Saturday morning was an early celebration for Grandfather for Father's Day.  We invited Granny and Grandfather to breakfast at Caffe Latte Da.  You insisted that you give Grandfather his card.

You started the morning with a raspberry when Mommy wanted to take your picture!

We had a yummy breakfast.

Took some fun pictures.  Grandfather, Son, Grandson.

Granny stealing some sugar

Hugs for Grandfather. 

When we got home, you were so helpful.  You helped load the cloths into the dryer and then took the hamper back to the appropriate bedroom.

Family Selfies

At the library, Mommy started reading a book at the alphabet being constructed.  You traced the letters with your finger.

Then you saw some older boys playing on the smart table and joined in.

You and Daddy waiting for Legos!

The older kids worked with small legos.  Younger kids were given bigger blocks.

You took to the blocks like it was second nature.

I loved watching you build.

Daddy counted 28 kids and more arrived after we left.

Daddy said, "But there's no interaction between the kids."

Not true, the little boy across from you talked a lot.  You even shared one of your Lego pieces that he wanted.  Plus, just the fact that you were surrounded by other children, each of you participating in the same activity - it is interaction.  It might only be visual interaction, but you watched what they did as well.  It's all part of learning and social skills, along with the fun building of Legos.

You recently had a hair cut and you sat in the chair by yourself.  Daddy was very happy with that arrangement, because it meant that Daddy didn't have to get your hair all over him :)  You weren't in the mood for a hair cut, but you went through with it and we all survived.

As a treat for being such a big boy, Mommy gave you three masks - PJ Masks!  You loved them.  You could have chosen the Geico or Cat Boy mask, but you went for Owlette - Mommy's favorite - red and Owlette has wings!

Mommy was in the kitchen working on a "glaze cake" - other than the one bottom cake layer, everything was new to Mommy - first time working on a jello layer, first time making a mousse layer and then, of course, first time making the glaze (not to be confused with normal buttercream that I have down pat now).

While Mommy was busy in the kitchen, you decided to "help Mommy cook"... you made interesting sandwiches and salads and all kinds of yummy stuff.  It was cute to watch you play.

Daddy said the cake looks like smurf snot.  I should have topped the layers with the smooth cakes that I make, but the recipe didn't call for this.  I couldn't get the mousse smooth enough and then it blended with the jello!  I also didn't wait long enough for the glaze to cool, so it ran too quickly off of the cake.  Lots of learned lessons.  I plan on doing this again, but it's a LOT of work - two days of doing the layers and toooo many dishes to count!

The first layer of jello crumbled.  Daddy helped Mommy do this over and it sort of came out smoother.

The pretty blue glaze, but I wasn't patient enough to wait for it to go to 98 degrees.

Errrr, the messy lumpy cake/jello/mousse cake.  The mouse wasn't going to get smooth for anything!

With the mirror glaze poured over - it should have been thicker but I didn't let it cool long enough.  You said it tasted yummy and you thought it was pretty.  Thank you, sweet son!

Today is Father's Day!  Mommy gets to share your pictures while you made Daddy's gift!

We are so fortunate to have Daddy.  He is an awesome Daddy with lots of smiles, joy and can fix anything (even jello!).  Daddy wants to teach you so much, not just about things you need to know, but how to treat people and be kind.

And how to be happy.  Which is why the coffee mugs for Daddy was the perfect gift for Father's Day!

Greg ~ Thank you for being you.  I can't imagine raising our beautiful son with anyone but you.  Our family is God's blessing and it was meant to be.  I love you.

As I type this, you, cute boy, are tapping your foot on the bongos, saying, "I'm making a song for Daddy."  You get that from your Daddy - a song in your heart.

Happy Father's Day to my Dad and my Husband and I look forward to the day you become a Daddy too!

Love Always,

Mommy