September 10, 2008

My Dearest Nathan,

Where can I possibly begin in telling you how much I love you?  There are no words.  To say that you have profoundly impacted my life and made it richer, more complete, is simply an understatement.  My dear, sweet, loveable, huggable, handsome boy – my heart melts at the very sight of your big brown eyes and sweet, boyish grin.  You have made me realize my true calling in this life and you have made my life so rich and so sweet that I feel like the most blessed woman on planet Earth!  I still remember my pregnancy with you.  I felt like the most beautiful creature walking the planet when I had you growing inside of me.  And though I didn’t know who you really were at the time or who you would become, I knew one thing for sure.  You would be a smart and loveable boy.  And, I was right.  So where do I begin in telling you all the things I love about you?

I love how your quest for learning is never-ending.  You are so enthusiastic about learning and you are eager to try out everything!  I love that about you! Your excitement about life is so contagious! 

I love how you love your little brother.  I love how you have to hug him and greet him as you get into the car from school or one of your other daily activities.  I love to see you wrap your big brotherly arms around him and tell him how you missed him. 

There are so many things I love about you.  You make me so proud to call you my son and I pray for God’s most abundant blessings upon you and that you continue to grow and develop in His image.  I love you so much, honey bear!

Here’s how your rounding out thus far:

Physical

• You have mastered doing your own zippers and buttons which really just adds to how independent you are. You want to do all of your own buttoning and zipping but I occasionally am able to convince you to let me help out if we’re in a hurry!
• Your catching skills have improved so much and you love to play catch with Daddy or Will.
• You love to run around and do anything physical.  You are constantly jumping off beds, couches, chairs, etc. imitating the show, Wipeout, or some other stunt you’ve just made up.  You’ve also talked about going to the Olympics someday for jumping.
• You’re able to open doorknobs, handles, and other items that require fine motor skills, which is a big help to me [sometimes].

Social

• You make friends EVERYWHERE!  That’s no joke.  My favorite thing is when we’ll be somewhere and you’ll play with a kid then when it’s time to go you’ll tell me that you need to go say goodbye to your “best friend”, even though you don’t know his or her name at the time.
• You’re so attached to the friends that you do have and that makes you a good friend.  You love to talk about your friends and how you miss them or what games you like to play with them.
• You love to hang out at busy places or go on playdates where there will be lots of people and activity.  You’re quite the social butterfly. 

Emotional

• You are very sensitive to me yelling at you.  I know, I am not always the perfect mother and I have my moments.  Because you are such a gentle person by nature, my getting upset with you sometimes gets you even more upset.  Thank you for being patient with me and reminding me to please not yell at you.
• You love to get invitations or other things in the mail. You will constantly ask me if you got mail when you see that I’ve checked it recently.
• You are very sensitive and caring when you hurt someone else either by accident or on purpose.  You sympathize with others and when I explain to you why or how we do something, you are very remorseful if you’ve wronged someone.
• You are extremely family oriented.  You often comment on how much you miss your Auntie, Grammy, uncles, or other family members.  You constantly talk about how you want to see them and want them to come visit you.  I am so glad you value family as much as I do.
• You sometimes think you’re all grown up.  When you get a boo-boo or get hurt you will cry or be upset but the minute I go to try and kiss where it hurts, you stop me saying, “no don’t kiss it, don’t kiss it!” as if you’re brave enough and don’t need the attention.
• I love how you still need and want me to stay with you while you fall asleep and want me to sing Sulah, Lulah to you as you twirl your hair and drift away to dream land.
• You always have to have something to sleep with when you go to bed at night; one toy object.  Some nights it’s a favorite transformer toy, other times it may be a toy car or airplane, and you’ve even slept with one of your foam swords before. 

Intellectual

• You are fascinated by planets and the solar system.  You know all the planets by heart and love to read and look at books related to the solar system.
• You are really in to working in your workbooks each and every day.  You seem to never tire of doing written activities and love the challenge of new ones.
• You are mostly interested in checking out nonfiction books from the library, just like your mama!  You especially like books about bugs (namely, spiders), transportation, and spaceships/rockets.
• You can read every one of your classmates’ names even if you can’t remember who’s who.  Your teacher is quite impressed with your reading skills and it’s just the first week of Pre-K!
• You are a very visual learner and easily pick up new concepts just by seeing them once or twice. 
• You love rewards!  You are all about getting gold stars and trophies and certificates of achievement.  You are so easy to reward because you enjoy being rewarded, even with just the smallest bit of praise.
• You love to read to your brother and teach him things.  The chalkboard walls in your room have seen recent use as you’ve started to play school with your little brother and help teach him to recognize letters and numbers. 

Foods You Eat

• Peanut Butter & jelly
• Recently you have started eating hot dogs (no bun) dipped in Ranch dressing.
• You will eat ground beef when I make it with spaghetti and occasionally eat a homemade cheeseburger without the bun.
• You love milk!  You also love apple juice and OJ with no pulp.
• Some of your favorite sweet treats include: marshmallows, oreos and milk, ice cream sandwiches, fruit snacks, candy corn and of course, cupcakes!
• You’ve also recently tried celery (dipped in Ranch) and said you liked it.
• You don’t care for watermelon or cantaloupe whatsoever.
• You love to eat seaweed and eat it by the handfuls.
• You love to eat things off of kids’ menus that are notated as “new”.  You are a marketing person’s dream.  You love the idea of trying something that’s “new” to the menu.

Things you like to play

• Playing transformers
• Playing R2D2 and Star Wars where we act out little scenarios with the Star Wars characters.
• You love playing reality tv shows like Wipeout, American Gladiators, and Hole in the Wall.
• Playing hide ‘n seek.
• You love some alone time every now and again where you will play with your Playmobil sets or Legos.
• You love to play order off the menu where I make up a menu for either breakfast, lunch or dinner and you order off of it.
• You love to play computer games or games on the Wii, especially the roller coaster game, Thrillville.

What you want to be when you grow up (at the moment):

• Train conductor
• Astronaut
• A daddy
• A police officer