To my 4 year old!

Dear Adam, 

I never thought I would be lucky enough to have a son like you. Over the past year you have gone from my baby to a full on little boy who I love to spend time with.  Don’t get me wrong, I always loved being with you, but it’s changed so much from the days when I would trying to get through a day of errands before you got hungry or tired to having you in the backseat keeping me entertained as we go on day of errands. 

You are so matter of fact and so smart.  You either have me on the ground laughing or wondering how I am being corrected by a four year old, again. You love to cuddle and watching the sun set from mommy and daddy’s bed. You are finally at the age that when daddy is traveling for work you can sleep in mommy’s bed and go back to your own bed when daddy gets home. Your favorite food just might be carrots and cucumbers, oh and edamame.  But if given the choice I’m sure you would pick a marshmallow over carrots. Oh you also love miso soup. 

It is never a dull moment with you.  You are so smart and comprehend so much! You really have the capacity to outsmart me and I am terrified for your High School years when you will run circles around me. I have to watch everything I say because you listen and pick up on everything! You’ve even started listening and asking about words in a song. You ask questions on every page of a book these days, which makes bedtime a long process but I love hearing what you ask.  Daddy told me you asked the other day why a stuffed monkey in a book was made to look like a real monkey. I don’t know if this is what most four year olds ask but I think it’s amazing that you picked up on that. I think that also might mean you are a realist. 

Your school had an outreach this past week where children from an orphanage came to spend the day with your class. Every child was asked to bring a small wrapped toy. We wrapped your present together and I explained that this present was for someone who doesn’t have a lot of toys and who might not get anything else for Christmas. Your immediate response was – ‘But Santa will bring a present, I’m not Santa.’ It broke my heart in equal measures that you were so sure about Santa that you really truly believed that he brings every child a present (when does that blind faith end? I just might cry that day) and also that these children you were seeing don’t have that luxury of that blind faith. 

You helped me wrap the present and came home that day full of excitement about how you gave your present to a child who doesn’t have toys at home. When I asked if there were more toys that you might like to give from your own collection, you replied that you don’t need the farm puzzle anymore because you have the space puzzle, which prompted you to remember that your friend borrowed your dinosaur puzzle all those months ago and has had it a long time (yes, Grandma Gertch…I know you said we would never get that puzzle back). 

You have best friends that you love, current favorites are Ben, Victoria and Tyler but you always seem to be making new friends. When your friends tell you that they love you, your response is – but they’re not my mom! I don’t know where you got this adorable idea that only your mom tells you I love you, but I love it! 

You are also empathetic and understand when I explain that you should invite kids to play with you and your friends even if they are shy and other kids are not playing with them. When I asked  you how you would feel if you weren’t invited to play you immediately answered sad and you have never left Oscar out of a game since. 

You love school and love your teachers Teacher Maureen, Teacher Carol and Teacher Sofia all love you and always tell me what an engaged and enthusiastic student you are. You are learning to write letters and put letters together. When we sound out words you can figure out what they spell. You also are very into adding numbers together and have recently learned to count to 60! You love classical music, especially the dramatic pieces played loudly. 

You play with Malcolm all the time and although you often want whatever toy Malcolm has and vice versa you are learning to share and be a good big brother and have so much fun together. Your current favorite activity is to race across the living room from side to side with little Malcolm running along as fast as he can behind you. 

Your favorite superhero is Batman and your favorite color is still purple. Whenever there is a choice you unfailingly choose purple. You are so loyal to purple I can only hope that you love your future wife as much as you love the color purple. She will be one lucky lady! I hope that are never embarrassed that purple is your favorite color. 

You are such a unique little boy, confident yet cautious, intelligent and hy-STE-ri-cal, sensitive and daring, loving and strong. 

I love you, 

Mom