Letter to our 3 1/2 Year Old

Dear William,

On June 8, 2015, you turned 42 months old. You weigh 45 pounds and are 43″ tall. You are in size 6 boys footed sleepers, size 5T pants/shorts, size 5T shirts (or 4-6 boys/Boys S shirts).

You’ve been going through a klutzy stage, where you’re bonking your head on all sorts of things. Between that and your increased appetite the last couple weeks, I wouldn’t be surprised if you grow taller here in the next month or so.

Firsts:
5/16, First Dance Recital (Cal Elite)

Things we did:
Saturday, 5/9 – Sea World!
Sunday, 5/10 – Breakfast w/ both Grandmas (Mother’s Day) at Souplantation
Saturday, 5/16 – Dance Recital
Saturday, 5/23 to 5/26 – San Francisco!
Saturday, 5/30 – visited the local mall
Saturday, 6/6 – Sea World

Language Development:

I love how you say the word “Weinerschnitzel” in a German accent.

Sleep:
You intermittently are waking in the middle of the night and requesting snuggles or bathroom assistance. The eve of your 2 1/2 year birthday, your father lowered the sides of your bed so we can get in and out easier to be with you.

Food and Nourishment:
You do pretty well with eating. You’re fairly willing to taste anything once. I had to laugh at you, you have become such a little chocoholic… I found some cookies I had baked and put in the freezer in 2011. I thought they might be OK, so I warmed them up. They were stale, but had chocolate in them. You wrinkled your nose and said, “These are weird, but the chocolate is good.” I took them from you because they just weren’t good at all and you were quite upset about that.

Nursing…

One evening this past week, you told us, “I don’t want to go to sleep. I just want to nurse and nurse, all night long.” I guess if ever there was a question about your feelings on nursing, that pretty much cleared them up.

One of your favorite things to do while nursing is to hum songs to me. One morning this past week, you started humming Christmas songs to me. I was kind of surprised to hear Joy to the World in June!

The other thing you like to tell me is how good I smell. When I ask you what exactly I smell like, you respond with, “Nah nahs.” Which makes me wonder if I really smell like milk after all this time, or if you just equate me and whatever I normally smell like with the smell of nah-nahs.

We heard a baby crying one day, and you told me that baby needed to nurse. You then looked at me and asked me if I was going to give that baby nah-nahs. It was a sweet question, given that several of our friends are either expecting or have recently had babies, I think you were wondering about having to share something that has been exclusively for you all this time.

When we went on vacation to San Francisco, your father’s cousin graciously allowed us to stay in her home. She is expecting her first child, and she was asking me questions about nursing. At the end of the conversation, we all stood up and you reached up and gently pointed at her breast and asked, “Is your baby going to get nah-nahs?” She stood there for a half second, translating in her mind what exactly “nah-nahs” meant and then responded with a smile, “I sure hope so!”

Favorites this month:

Color: Red
Song: Lightning Lost
Movie: Uh, let me think…Toy Story 2
Food: Grilled Cheese sandwich
Snack: Peanut butter pretzel nuggets
Dessert: Mini ice cream sundae (from Weinerschnitzel)
Fruit: Cherries
Vegetable: Carrots
Class: MyGym
Teacher: Mr. Steve (the old owner at MyGym); you told me he was your favorite, and Grandma D. later told me you said you missed him.
Store: Toys R Us
Restaurant: Outback Steakhouse
Vacation spot: San Francisco
Toy: Back yard dump truck at my house
Favorite theme park: Zoo

Things I want to remember:

How sometimes you’ll be snuggling with me and you’ll look up at me and ask, “Do you want a Froggy corner?” Since you were about 4 months old, the thing you do to your Froggy is to find one of the corners of its handkerchief and rub it between your fingers. It’s very soothing to you and it’s very special to you. I’m touched that you’re willing to offer me one of your Froggy’s corners.

How one of the videos your Grandma D. lets you watch is a monster truck video that counts in English and Spanish. One morning as we went down the stairs together, I counted, “One, two, three…” and you were counting, “Uno, dose, thres…” all the way up to 10. I was kind of surprised that you knew Spanish numbers.

How you loved San Francisco so much and we got home after the trip and you were so thrilled to have all your toys around you. But then, once the joy of being home wore off (about 2 hours), you crawled up next to me on the couch, looked at me and said, “I don’t want any of my toys. I don’t want any food. I don’t want anything. I just want to go back to San Francisco.”

How you told the waitress at the place we go for Taco Tuesday that when you grow up, you’re going to move to San Francisco and cook chocolate at The Ghirardelli Factory. From there, you branched out and told her you were going to work at Outback Steakhouse and make grilled cheese sandwiches. And Scoma’s to make salmon. But most definitely the Ghirardelli Factory to cook chocolate.

How you weren’t feeling well earlier this month, and you coughed and coughed. Then you sat up and told me, “Oh! I coughed up Froggy!” Surprised, I repeated, “You coughed up Froggy?” You replied and said, “No, actually, I coughed up a bed!”

How we went by Toys R Us one Sunday after church to look around. They have a big wooden train table in there. You happily played with the trains and then another little girl came along and started playing. Then a little boy came along. You seemed to be doing OK with it, but when we got out to the car, you got really upset. When I asked you what was wrong, you told me, “I’m not happy with the boys and girls they broke my heart by playing with the trains. I’m going to kick them out by their sandals and I’m done with them!” Then you added, “I don’t like him! I’m gonna throw them into the tree and play with the trains all by myself.”

How the day before we were to leave on vacation to San Francisco, you woke up running a fever. Concerned, I decided to take you to the doctor that afternoon, just to make sure your ears were OK and get cleared to fly. You piped up and said, “Are we going to San Francisco? I want to go to San Francisco… I’m all better now!” As if you could will it away. We called in “sick” to your classes that day, and was glad we did. For the first time in two years you fell asleep in your Grandma D.’s arms at 9:30 AM and slept for an hour and a half, ON THE COUCH. Unheard of.

How at your doctor appointment that afternoon, the doctor wanted to do a strep throat test. The nurse couldn’t get the required swab and was threatening to hold you down. I calmly asked for the doctor to come back in and try, suggesting that maybe she had a trick or something. You are very much into “tricks” these days, so you picked up on that and were over the moon excited to find out what trick the doctor had, and while we waited, you wanted a “yucky wooden stick that tasted like a piece of wood” so you could practice. As it turns out, the doctor sure did have a trick, she made you pant like a dog and while you were doing that, she got your throat swab… and then she swabbed your Froggy’s throat, too. When we left her office, you were laughing and smiling. A neat trick, indeed, and FAR better than holding you down! She also had the nurse watch so she could learn the trick, and that made ME happy.

How when we visited Alcatraz Island, your first impression of the place was, “Daddy will be very busy if he has to clean all the bird poop up!” We determined that was very true, since Alcatraz Island is overrun with bird poop.

How when we went to dinner at Scoma’s (in San Francisco), your father asked you while reading off the kid’s menu whether you wanted spaghetti or a grilled cheese sandwich. You replied, without even thinking about it, “Shrimp! I want shrimp, please?” And then, while we were eating dinner, you looked at my plate and exclaimed, “That’s a dead fish! It’s not swimming anymore. Eating a live fish would tickle!”

How you really loved our rental car in SF; it played movies. When we got home, your father pulled up in our regular car at the airport, you exclaimed, “Hey! Where did our new car go?” And then the next day, our neighbors pulled out of the garage and it was the same car/color, you said, “Did they drive our car from San Francisco for us?”

When we got home, you were able to get some play time in with your neighbor, Josh. Their house is the same floor plan as ours, just reversed. As a result, you knew exactly where to go to find Josh’s bedroom. They had to leave to go somewhere and you were devastated. You told me, “When I grow up and Josh’s mom gets older, and Josh’s daddy gets older, and Josh gets older and I get older, I can go play at Josh’s house all day long.”

We’ve really had problems getting you to drink water during the day time hours, and then dinner and bath time come along and that’s all you want to do, is drink water. So your Grandma D. thought she would try another path and educate you about what exactly water does for your body. So, one night at dinner, you informed us, as you sucked on your water straw, “I need to drink lotsa water because it’s good for my brain!” Then I rattled off other things it’s good for, your heart, liver and poopy. After each one, you said, “Yes.” In a tone of voice that indicated I was repeating something you already knew and to get on with it already.

How various things have gone missing, like your swim goggles that I clearly remembered putting on top of the red wagon to dry… or one of your Froggys that Grandma D. clearly remembered putting on the couch. Turns out, you’ve been going around and relocating things. The Froggy was found hiding in your Trunki and your swim goggles were found outside on the patio table.

One of my radios has a weather button. You love to push that button and listen to the weather.

How one morning, I told you, “I love you so much. Do you know why?” You responded, “Because I’m so cute!” ha

How your Grandma D. took you to the park one day and you were playing with a 4 year old girl. You told her that you were 5 and that you had been to San Francisco and Nebraska. She told you she had been to Colorado. I guess traveling is a topic of conversation not only to be held between adults, but children as well!

Swimming…
You continue to do so well in these classes and just really, really love swimming. Our lower community pool has a broken heater, so we’ve been trekking across the street and up the hill to the other pool, which caters to a denser population, so is more busy than ours. At one point you told me, “I really like swimming, but I don’t like all these strangers in the pool, they’re just… BLAH!” This is when parenting is tough for me, because I kind of felt the same way.

Dancing…
You had your first dance recital and it was so cute and so much fun! The interesting thing was, you really had no idea that there was going to be an entire show going on behind your class while you performed, and so you spent most of the time facing backwards from the audience, amazed at the aerial acrobatics that were going on behind you. Someone mentioned to my mom that I should get you for the “between” performances so you could see the show, otherwise you would just be sitting in a dark area behind stage. So I sought you out and you looked at me like I was heaven on earth… it worked out perfectly, you got to see some of the performances, and do your performances, too.

Gymnastics…
You had a bit of a rough spot this past month with your gymnastics and listening to the teachers. I’m really not sure what is going on with you and this class, you say you love going, but you don’t like red circle time. Despite the “magic” Mr. Kevin works on you, one class you had to be sent to sit by grandma D. because you were pestering the other children. It’s likely you had trouble coming off your vacation high, but I wanted you to understand the seriousness of how disrespectful you were. So when I had your full, undivided attention (while nursing seems to be the best time for “talks” of this nature), I told you if you didn’t listen to your teachers, I would stop your MyGym classes. No more MyGym. You were understandably upset, as was I. The next class, you were like a different person. Listening, minding, not pestering other kids… and when I got home, I told you how proud I was and listed off all the things you had done right. You snuggled into me and said, “Thank you, mommy… what do I get?” Huh. I’m thinking you “get” to keep going to MyGym and, also, I’m pretty sure you “got” your round cookie already from Grandma D.

Bath time play…
You love to play out the Ghostlight scene from the Cars movie.
You love to play scenes from Toy STory.

Routines…

The afternoon of Mother’s day, we stopped by a Walmart that we don’t usually visit. In the toy section, a bunch of characters from Planes were on clearance. Your father bought you four of them because they were so cheap. On the way home, you declared, “Happy Toy Day, mommy!” Which morphed into “Boy Day!” by the time we got home.

My cat, Tug, has a tendency to nip if given a chance. I overheard you correcting him when you were petting him with, “No, no, Tug, just kisses or licks.”

One morning, Grandma D had arrived and was on the phone. You hollered over the balcony, “Grandma, get off the phone now. You’re supposed to be spending time with me!”

I love our life with you. The joy you bring us, the challenges you share with us, all of it makes us grow together as individuals, and as a family. How do I thank you for being who you are, when you’re just … you? So I find myself thanking God above every night for the precious boy that I hold in my arms and for the trust you place in us to be the best parents we can be. It’s a trust that I find myself almost reverent of, because we are your world and I’m constantly striving to make sure your trust isn’t misplaced. There is nothing in this world that makes me feel more humbled than your little eyes looking up at me, through all the emotions you feel every day, in complete and utter trust. Whatever else life may throw at you, I pray that you will always feel that kind of trust toward us, your parents.

Love, Momma

More pictures from this month can be found here:  LINK