Letter to our 4 year 9 month old

Dear William,

On September 8, 2016, you turned 57 months old.  You are 47 1/2″ tall and weigh 50.4 pounds.

Time warp — 8 months old to 4 years 9 months old

Things We Did This Month:
8/13, we went to San Diego.  We drove down the night before and stayed overnight in a motel. The next day we left my car with the Miata Whisperer to get it fixed.  You loved the motel and I’m pretty sure you would love to live in a motel the rest of your life.  Ironically, the motel was nothing special, but it served our purposes.  You also really liked the shop I took my car to in San Diego.  It was a Miata Tech day and there were lots of people there, including another boy (who was 6) named Rylee.  Plus, they had a giant container of M&Ms on the counter and you “ate a lot of M&Ms” according to Rylee.

8/20, we were at our mountain cabin to celebrate our wedding anniversary.  You told your grandma that you didn’t like anniversaries until she told you there might be cake.  We didn’t get cake, but you got a virgin pina colada because your father ordered himself a regular pina colada and it was served in a pretty pineapple with an umbrella.  Sadly, yours came in a plain glass and you had to share it with me, your father generously gave you his pink umbrella.  We also made it a 3 day weekend and you pointed out that, while you had mommy and daddy days, we had William days.  I think going forward you’ll like anniversaries.

8/27, we had breakfast with a group of friends at the Irvine Spectrum.  You spent a lot of the visit running to the fountains and sticking your feet in the water.  Life is short and feet in the cool water is refreshing.

9/3, we had breakfast with you godmother, took Bug (cat) the vet and went to Saddleback Church’s end of summer cookout.  The summer cookout ended up being more of an adventure than a cookout, as you managed to inadvertently elude us and ended up being announced by the DJ as “we have a William who has lost his parents” over the loud speaker.  Your parents had a frantic 15 minutes and you had your 15 minutes of fame.

9/8, I took a sick day to spend with you. You were running a high fever and were feeling pretty crappy.  We took you to the doctor who said it was just a virus and it needed to run its course.  It was scary, because you were complaining of a sore neck and back.  But your overall picture of health wasn’t dire, so I had to keep a good perspective.  But… an extra day with my William was a blessing.

Recurring Things:
Saddleback Church Kids, Library Story Time,

Monthly Interview of Favorite Things:
Color:  White… no, no, actually it’s red.
Movie: Pocahontas
Food:  Pancakes!!!  At Denny’s!
Snack: Melon balls
Dessert: Cupcakes
Fruit: Plums
Vegetable: Cake. Cake. Cake. Cake.
Class: I have no class.
Teacher:  I have no teacher… Oh!  Grandma!
Subject to learn: Science.
Store: Sprouts.
Restaurant: Denny’s.
Vacation spot: San Diego.
Book: Toy Story.
Toy: Penguin family from Sea World.
Theme Park: Sea World and Disneyland.
Favorite thing to do with Mommy: Go to Disneyland
Favorite thing to do with Daddy: Go to Disneyland.
Favorite thing to do with Grandma: Nothing.
What do you want to do for a job? Nothing.  Oh, well, I guess heavy equipment.
Anything else?  No.
What do you think of being 4?  Not good.

Sleeping:
You’ve been doing fairly well with your sleep this month.  The exception has been the last week.  You managed to contract a mystery virus and for some reason your sleep is always the first thing to suffer when you get sick.  In fact, restless/poor sleep is usually the first symptom of sickness with you.  You were up 3 times one night, 2 times the next and up at 5:15 AM the next night.

Classes:  Summer is over, so I’ll start looking into various “sport” classes for you again to supplement the curriculum you work through in your schooling.

Awanas:
This will start up again mid-September. You have mentioned a few times that you miss Awanas and want to go again.  You went with your Grandma to hand in the enrollment paperwork the end of August.

Always Learning:
On 8/8, you attended your 3rd dental appointment.  During this appointment the hygienist was able to get x-rays of your mouth (1st attempt in March 2015, they didn’t have the machine plugged in); 2nd attempt in November of 2015 they used adult bitewings, so you gagged).  Despite my requests for them to try one more time, we were unsuccessful previous to this.  The results of this appointment and examination revealed that your teeth are very tight together (they should actually be spaced further apart, like picket fences) and that you have significant decay in your back molars requiring extensive dental work to preserve your future dental health.

I find myself feeling discouraged about this, because we do a 20 minute routine of cleaning every night on your teeth — starting with an interdental toothbrush, then a small flosser, a larger flosser, tooth brushing with a Sonic toothbrush, a water pik, a spot shot of mouthwash and then you swish with mouthwash.   I’ve really struggled over the years for myself, and I think your father has, too, that despite the insane amount of time we spend in our own mouths every night cleaning (we joke we should move a couch in and set it on our tongue so we can clean and relax each night in there amidst our teeth, ha), it seems there’s always something that needs to be done.  It appears that trend will continue with you.

Your dentist recommended general anesthesia (“GA”) to enable her to do all the work in one sitting, but after researching the possible risks and side effects of GA, particularly given the amount of time she anticipated you’d be under, your father and I determined that we were not comfortable with that option for you.  We consulted with another dentist for a 2nd opinion.  He concurred with your primary dentist’s treatment plan, and said he understood why she would recommend GA for that work, but he concurred with our decision to do small appointments and break the work up into “quandrants.”  We have scheduled your first treatment appointment for later this month.

Interestingly, you really like your primary dentist and didn’t like the 2nd opinion dentist at all.  Let me add one important detail to that sentence…… rewind ….. You liked your 2nd opinion dentist until you realized he didn’t have TVs or videos for you to watch while you sat in his chair.  ha

Things I want to Remember:

One day with your grandma in Walmart, you apparently saw a battery operated police car.  You really wanted that car and you told your grandma, “Well, I’m not enjoying any of my toys…”  There was a distinct pause as you formulated your next sentence, and then you said, “But if you buy me this I will enjoy them.”  Analyzing that, I thought how clever that was as a negotiation tool.  The only thing you have as tangible currency is your toys, and so it was clear that you didn’t want to give up your current toys, you merely wanted something new to add to your enjoyment of them.

Our routine in the evenings has evolved into me going swimming for a little while and then you and your father joining us.  Sometimes we eat dinner first, other times you and your father go get take out and bring dinner to the pool.  ONe evening you and your father went to Chick-Fil-A and your father later told me that you told him you wanted a picnic at the pool and swimming, instead of staying at Chick-Fil-A and playing in their playground.

The summer Olympics were this past month. They were broadcast from Rio and we watched some of the races.  You recognized our nation’s swimmers by the American flag that was on their swim caps.  Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky were our top performers for this Olympics.  You were pretty clear about your belief in me as the fastest swimmer, though, even though I wasn’t in the Olympics.  What this translated into our lives, though, is that you started encouraging “races” in the swimming pool and you took the role as narrating our swim races like the Olympic announcers.

One evening we had a lap swimmer in our pool and I told you that you needed to stay out of her (unmarked) lane.  You tried to swim through it a couple of times, and I held you back.  Exasperated, you pushed away from me, swam to the steps, climbed out using the steps, walked around the pool to the other side (thereby avoiding swimming in her lane), hopped into the pool on the other side of her and started swimming with purpose down the side of the pool to the deep end.  You grabbed hold of the wall at the deep end and said, “I’m swimming laps, too, and she has to stay out of MY lane now.”

Dropping you off at your Saddleback Kids class, I give you lots and lots of kisses and tell you that I’m filling you up with love. This helps you handle the separation easily and I know someday you will push me away because you’ll know that I’m being silly. For now though, you love it and soak it up. You push your little face into kisses, and turn your head so I can get both your cheeks, your forehead, your nose and you snuggle your cheek against mine.  While we were waiting one morning, and I was filling you up with love, you turned to the little boy’s mom who was standing behind us in line and he was fussing about not wanting to go in, and you said, “Why don’t you fill him up with love like my mommy does to me?”

Picture: I have a movie to watch!

Your grandma sent me a text that read:  “Just arrived at the little park down the street.  I said, “We’re now at Awesome Park.” William says, a bit sarcastically, “No, we’re not!” His tone of voice was so funny.

Fart humor is big right now in our house.  You correct us if we try to blame farts on anyone other than who did it.  And you hilariously lay ownership to your own.  For example, You: “Oh, goodness sakes!” Me: “What?” You: “Oh, goodness sakes!  I did a big fart!”

Your father was on the couch stretched out relaxing after work one evening.  You walked up and said, “You’re taking up the whole couch!”  You wedged yourself into the couch and said, “Now, look at my cute legs and look at your long legs, daddy.”  As if to say that your cute legs fit the couch better than his long legs.

Playing in the bathtub, you laid your foam bathtub Legos out on their side and said, “Look, I’m playing on my piano!”  More about these foam Legos in your bathtub?  They can be stacked tall and be a Christmas tree, a robot, and many other things in your imagination. Upside down, they sometimes serve as cups for concoctions that your bath water magically turns into, and sometimes your other toys are taking baths in them.  Other times, if laying on their side, they are ships of various sizes.  I have learned to listen carefully before I start getting you washed up, because I don’t want to interrupt the making of a dangerous (imaginary) chemical!

You have become tired of Honey Nut Cheerios in the morning, and now we’ve switched you to Honey Kix.  So, every morning as we leave for work, you hand us two Kix cereal balls with the instructions to think of you. You give your father two, too, with the same instructions.  You have followed up with me when I call you later in the day to find out whether I’ve eaten them or not.

In the waiting room of the dentist we saw for your second opinion, you wanted me to read you a book that they had there.  Unfortunately, I was working on paper work. You said, “Well, what am I gonna do? I can’t read.”

You are ready for Halloween already, the stores and their marketing ploys with holiday stuff out three months early has done their job with you. You tell us, “There is lots of fun stuff coming up!” Because you know that Halloween kind of kicks off the whole holiday season.  And then, one night you told us, “Grandma is scared of Halloween, but I told her I will protect her.”

Grandma D. told me that one day you told her, “That’s for dolts.”  Confused, she asked you, “What? ”  You replied, “Dolts.  That activity is for Dolts.”  And you pointed at a gathering of grown ups playing a game at the park.  Grandma finally translated that you meant ADULTS and, yes, that was indeed what you meant.  This was after our Big Bear weekend where we had explained that the pina colada drink your father was having, despite it being fancy and fun looking was an “adult drink.”

After we ate dinner at Souplantation, you informed me that “the goal is to run in the grass.”  Meaning that you come along and eat with us at Souplantation (or anywhere, really), just because you get to run in the grass.

When we were riding the ferris wheel at the Spectrum, we got buckled in and you told us, “We’re in jail!!”

Back in the car, with you buckled in, you asked for your water, but you forgot to say please.  I reminded you to use your manners, but apparently you were in a contrary mood, so you informed us, “If you don’t give me my water, you won’t be my mommy and daddy anymore.”  It didn’t get you very far, and you still had to say please.

One night, we had pork and beans for dinner and caramel apple for dessert. Outside playing later, you handed your father a bowl and said “here is some caramel apple soup!”

You love coming to my work place.  For many reasons, but the primary of reasons is that my co-workers keeps a jar of Hershey’s Kisses on her desk.  I let you have one of them and then you have a mouth full of chocolate.  The other is that I keep a collection of miniature model cars at my desk and you love to play with those cars.  One day you accompanied me back to my office to pick up something i had forgotten. As we were leaving, your mouth full of chocolate, you looked at an Audi parked in the lot and exclaimed, “It’s an Olympic car!”  Well, I guess Audi’s logo does look like the Olympic’s logo.

Your father received a card in the mail detailing the restaurants that will have free food in honor of veterans.  You overheard from the back seat and asked in an awe-filled voice, “All the restaurants have free food?”  Your father said, “Yes, for veterans.”  You replied, “For vegetables???”  We had to explain the new word, veterans, to you.  ha

Done in the bathroom, you said in a hurried voice, “Let’s get out of here before something else happens!”

Driving home late after dinner, you said “I have tired bones…”

After we got home from Big Bear, you lined up all your ceramic houses on the half wall above your train table and told us that was Big Bear. It does kind of look like the village.

One of the nights recently, after your dentist appointment, we went through our routine of flossing and interdental toothbrush and mouthwash, and we laid in bed to go to sleep and I realized I hadn’t actually BRUSHED your teeth with toothpaste.  Irritated, I asked if you were still asleep, and you answered, so I told you what I’d realized and we needed to brush your teeth.  You played dead log until I said you could spit your mouthwash again.  You immediately said, “Let’s go do it!”  And then you said, “This is strange, getting up to brush my teeth in the middle of the night? Weird.”  The next night, I didn’t forget, but you said, “Let’s get up in the middle of the night and brush my teeth like last time!”

You were playing a game on your iPod and one of our cats hopped up on the arm rest next to you. You started petting the kitty and without looking said, “My Tuggy is liking this.”  Amused, I said, “That’s not Tug… you need to look at the cat you’re petting.”  You were surprised to see that you’d been petting Ripper the whole time.

Along with fart humor, you’ve also had butt humor.  I admit this is likely coming from me, because I measure sizes of room in the amount of butts that can comfortably occupy the room at the same time.  So, you told your father one night, “Daddy Big Butt and William Little Butt!”  Your father asked, “What about mommy?”  You replied, “She’s just mommy butt.”

You authored a song this month, as you seem to do every few days. This one is quite the catchy tune and lyrics, it goes, “Daddy’s butt, daddy’s butt, little wooden dump… daddy’s butt, daddy’s butt, little wooden dump.”  I *still* have it stuck in my head and I last heard you sing it on 9/3.

At the dinner table, your father announced, “We’re all going to bed in 5 minutes!”  You responded, “Now daddy… What about dessert?”  Obviously your concern wasn’t bedtime, just missing dessert time.

At the vet, you were allowed to listen to Bug’s lungs and heart.  You said her lungs sounded like “Whooshie, whooshie” and her heart “sounds like a horsey galloping.”

Coinciding with your week of sickness this week, you told me last night (the night of your “month” birthday) that you needed to try and get more sleep, that you are tired.  I nodded my head sagely and said, “That makes sense.  How about we try to get you to bed early tonight, then?”  You agreed.  And so we did your routine a little earlier than usual, and when you got silly, I reminded you that you wanted to go to bed early and how about you try going to sleep instead of being silly and keeping yourself awake.  You agreed and drifted off to dreamland … and as I held you, your sweetness, your warmth, all of YOU, I thought to myself, as I do every night, just how sweet you really are… and that you will always be my baby, my little William, my child… even though you grow up every day and you adamantly tell me (and anyone who asks how old you are) that “I do NOT want to grow up.”  Time seems to march on, quickly, effortlessly, the Big Events of our Life mere pickets on our fence as we blast by it, bumping along on this dusty road we call life, whether we want it to or not.  But despite that, I will always remind you that I love you Ten Times a William.

More pictures from this month can be found here: LINK

Love you forever, sweet William,

Mommy