My Dear Elias,
I sit here, listening to you sing to yourself during nap time, or, “quiet time” as you tend not to sleep during nap-time much anymore. Most days you sing or do ‘cribnastics’, your take on gymnastics in the crib. I’m thinking back over this past year, and honestly, it feels like more than just one year. Two has been a big year for you, for us. A lot has happened, a lot has changed and you have grown, so much this year.
Looking over your pictures from the year it is so crazy how MUCH you have grown! And changed. You went from basically a baby to a very big boy. I watched you carefully too, because I knew how much you were going to change this year, but boy was I wrong in just how much! Daddy reminds me that you getting bigger is a very good thing, but I can’t help but cry just a little when I realize just HOW fast you have grown!
Thinking back to where you were just one short year ago, it amazes me how much one can change and grow in just one year. How much you’ve learned and accomplished already! My dear boy. I love taking drives with you, because you love to chat. About what you see, about what you are thinking, about anything and nothing all at the same time. And sometimes we sing. “Lets do it together!” you say, as we sing old MacDonald for the 50th time. The other day in church we sang “Victory in Jesus” your favorite, and I had the pleasure of sitting beside you as you belted the words out. Oh, my dear boy.
This has also been a challenging year, as you have found your voice and opinions and the stubbornness in which you inherited from both mama and daddy. Boy, did you find that. You are fierce and wild, but sweet and cuddly at the same time. The best of all the worlds rolled into one little adorable little man, who I have the pleasure of calling my son. My heart physically hurts when I think of how much I love you.
Watching you grow into the role of a big brother has been amazing. You love your little brother so much. You always have. The only ‘problem’ is you want him to play with you, now! You want to wrestle and tussle and he isn’t quite there yet. So sometimes your play gets a bit rough. Or you are testing your boundaries and you overstep them at brother’s expense. The other day one of your friends hit Hans and you laid into them. You yelled “WE DON’T HIT!” Preach it, man! I didn’t say anything, because I loved just how much you had your brothers back. Then there was that moment when we were driving home, brother had fallen asleep and you reached over and held his hand the rest of the way home. Or how you are so quick to comfort him “We are all here Burger! Mamamas here, dadadas here and bubbabbubbas here too!”
There are so many moments I want to remember forever. So many sweet things you say and do. So much of your goofy gooberiness I just want to bottle up. Like how you dance when we sing you are my sunshine at night.
You transitioned into a toddler bed, potty trained and have learned just about all your letters and numbers. You remind me everyday that we need to “do my matching, numbers and letters now!” “We should do those, shouldn’t we?” you say. You have also started going to Sunday School. When you hear that your friends are going to school you proudly proclaim “I go to Sunday school!” You are getting the hang of it and last week you asked to go and even participated! Way to go!
You are learning to be friends. You kind of walked away from that for a while and kind of preferred to be alone (except for those you knew). But lately I’ve been seeing you attempt to make friends -we had a new daycare friend start and instead of being standoffish, you offered her toys and asked if she wanted to play with you. My heart burst with pride.
I feel like there for a while, all I was doing was disciplining you. Telling you no, putting you in timeout, putting your toys on the fridge. Your sweet little self was still in there, but you were testing the boundaries, so hard. Hitting, yelling, spitting, all sorts of behaviors that we couldn’t let you get away with. I’m not saying you are over all that, but we have started to see a little light at the end of the tunnel. You are quicker to use your words instead of striking out.
My little dinosaur, paw patrol, puppy dog loving little boy. My spaghetti eating, bathtub splashing, nighttime dancing little goober. My big helper, best brig brother there ever was! How can I ever convey how much I love you? My heart is so happy to be your mama. When I dreamed of having kids, I would have never imagined having such an awesome little boy like you.
My wild, sweet, crazy, goofy, funny, adorable, handsome little man.
I pray that three is a good year for us both. A growing year, to be sure. But a year where we both grow closer to Christ. A year where I am able to teach you about God’s love and instill a love for Him in you. A year where you keep learning about kindness and love. I pray that you know how much your daddy and I love you, but that you learn just how much deeper God’s love is for you. I pray you never doubt that you are loved. That you never question that. Regardless of what happens and how badly you might mess up. You are loved. So loved. So, so loved.
Love,
Your mama
Tangled Thoughts 