birthday boy
June 8, 2006
my dearest monkey,
today was your third birthday! we continue to be amazed by you on a daily basis - by your astounding language skills, the way you really pick up on what’s going on around you even when we think you’re not paying attention, your social and outgoing ways, and of course, your sheer cuteness. the 4-5 year old girls you meet seem to dig you too…enjoy it now while it lasts, kiddo, ‘cos if you’re anything like your parents, your teenage years will be awkward and date-free.
you’re definitely turning into a three year old - you are willful and whiny and downright stubborn at times, and definitely seem to have inherited your dad’s selective listening skills. and the constant “why why why?”. it’s absolutely exhausting, i tell you! but you are also generous (most of the time) and loving and concerned about those around you. it’s been such fun observing you these past few months since you’ve become a big brother. someone asked what the greatest joy and the greatest challenge of having a new baby in the house were, and i had to say that the greatest joy has definitely been watching you with calvin, as you kiss him and want to hold him and try to give him toys and want to build him forts. and the greatest challenge has been trying to keep you from literally smothering him with love, as you build pillow forts on top of him and cover him with oilcloth splatmat “tents” - thank you for coming to us immediately and saying “mom! i buried the baby with pillows!” it was so neat to hear you say last weekend, “calvin is my best friend!” - i’ll be sure to remind you of that when you’re 15 and he’s 12, and he wants to tag along with you everywhere.
your biggest loves, typical boy that you are, are trains and trucks and cars and airplanes. you have an amazingly active imagination. i love listening to you as you play with your cars and legos and fisher price and your toy kitchen. and perhaps it’s a sign that we take you to too many coffee shops since you’ve taken to playing barista at the playground (standing at the railing of the climbing structure at Mt Tabor Park, you say “what would you like to drink?” and when the reply is “a latte”, you say “two dollars please!” and turn and make a hissing milk steamer noise)
you continue to refuse to eat anything green other than seaweed salad when we get sushi, and the only other vegetable you willingly eat is crispy eggplant from fujin. you regularly devour two bowls of cereal in the morning with daddy, and then two waffles when i come down. yet your size 2T shorts still fall off your skinny little waist. go figure. that would be your father’s metabolism, not mine. you’re obsessed with baseball, just like daddy, and run around yelling “one three five - strike out! fly ball! home run!” (despite your amazing vocabulary, your counting skills need a little work). you use words like “flabbergasted” and “delicate” and “concentrating” and “corridor” and “propeller”, and say things like “act-u-ally, i believe, all trucks are ve-hicles.” you make us read to you nonstop, and like to watch “just a little bit of tv?” and then you really do watch just a little bit, turning it off after a show is over, instead of just sitting there and zoning (not that we’d let you do that, but we don’t have to struggle with you to turn it off which is pretty great, i think!)
your best buddies, other than calvin, are kate and ava and gwen and seth. your favorite hangouts are palio’s, piccolo park, the playground at mt. tabor, and the playground at abernathy elementary. and ava’s backyard. lately you’ve been asking “can you send me over?” when you hear ava and jill out in the yard. at least you’re asking instead of just taking off! you’re so incredibly ready to start preschool - i can’ t wait for fall to see how much you love it!
i love you, my sweet sweet boy. happy birthday!
xomommy
my dearest monkey,
today was your third birthday! we continue to be amazed by you on a daily basis - by your astounding language skills, the way you really pick up on what’s going on around you even when we think you’re not paying attention, your social and outgoing ways, and of course, your sheer cuteness. the 4-5 year old girls you meet seem to dig you too…enjoy it now while it lasts, kiddo, ‘cos if you’re anything like your parents, your teenage years will be awkward and date-free.
you’re definitely turning into a three year old - you are willful and whiny and downright stubborn at times, and definitely seem to have inherited your dad’s selective listening skills. and the constant “why why why?”. it’s absolutely exhausting, i tell you! but you are also generous (most of the time) and loving and concerned about those around you. it’s been such fun observing you these past few months since you’ve become a big brother. someone asked what the greatest joy and the greatest challenge of having a new baby in the house were, and i had to say that the greatest joy has definitely been watching you with calvin, as you kiss him and want to hold him and try to give him toys and want to build him forts. and the greatest challenge has been trying to keep you from literally smothering him with love, as you build pillow forts on top of him and cover him with oilcloth splatmat “tents” - thank you for coming to us immediately and saying “mom! i buried the baby with pillows!” it was so neat to hear you say last weekend, “calvin is my best friend!” - i’ll be sure to remind you of that when you’re 15 and he’s 12, and he wants to tag along with you everywhere.
your biggest loves, typical boy that you are, are trains and trucks and cars and airplanes. you have an amazingly active imagination. i love listening to you as you play with your cars and legos and fisher price and your toy kitchen. and perhaps it’s a sign that we take you to too many coffee shops since you’ve taken to playing barista at the playground (standing at the railing of the climbing structure at Mt Tabor Park, you say “what would you like to drink?” and when the reply is “a latte”, you say “two dollars please!” and turn and make a hissing milk steamer noise)
you continue to refuse to eat anything green other than seaweed salad when we get sushi, and the only other vegetable you willingly eat is crispy eggplant from fujin. you regularly devour two bowls of cereal in the morning with daddy, and then two waffles when i come down. yet your size 2T shorts still fall off your skinny little waist. go figure. that would be your father’s metabolism, not mine. you’re obsessed with baseball, just like daddy, and run around yelling “one three five - strike out! fly ball! home run!” (despite your amazing vocabulary, your counting skills need a little work). you use words like “flabbergasted” and “delicate” and “concentrating” and “corridor” and “propeller”, and say things like “act-u-ally, i believe, all trucks are ve-hicles.” you make us read to you nonstop, and like to watch “just a little bit of tv?” and then you really do watch just a little bit, turning it off after a show is over, instead of just sitting there and zoning (not that we’d let you do that, but we don’t have to struggle with you to turn it off which is pretty great, i think!)
your best buddies, other than calvin, are kate and ava and gwen and seth. your favorite hangouts are palio’s, piccolo park, the playground at mt. tabor, and the playground at abernathy elementary. and ava’s backyard. lately you’ve been asking “can you send me over?” when you hear ava and jill out in the yard. at least you’re asking instead of just taking off! you’re so incredibly ready to start preschool - i can’ t wait for fall to see how much you love it!
i love you, my sweet sweet boy. happy birthday!
xomommy