July 21, 2009

Dear Primo,

You’re three years and three months old. When I try to think of words to describe you, I wonder if I’ll ever be able to stop. Active, intelligent, quick thinking, sweet, kind, loving, cuddly, athletic, tired, three (so very, very three), best brother ever, healthy, messy, danger seeking, impulsive, talented…You are so many things rolled into the most loved little boy ever to have lived.

Your reading is really taking off. You often pretend you can’t read, but that’s just because you’re tired & don’t feel like working. You regularly sound out words that blow me away, and remember sight words after being told just once or twice what they are. You’ve just started to really write in the past month. You love to trace your name and write it hand-over-hand with Mommy. You’ve also started drawing faces (usually sideways, with the most insane hair I’ve ever seen) which is really cute.

Academically, you’re ready for full day preschool or maybe even kindergarten but instead you’ll be going in the fall to a wonderful dayhome where you’ll be able to continue playing with your sister and will have homeschool preschool time each afternoon while the other children nap. Your babysitter is the most qualified person we could hope to find, and she seems almost too good to be true. I hope you love it there as much as I think you will. I really don’t want to go back to work because I love nothing more than being home with our family, but groceries and bills are expensive and we just can’t make it on one salary right now. You’ll understand all of that one day many many years from now. Luckily I have a great job for working moms and you’ll be dropped off late, picked up early and I’ll never work a weekend or holiday or summer. My homework can be done after you’re in bed so other than being at a glorified preschool-like playdate from 8-3:45 four days a week and Friday mornings, nothing will really change and I have a feeling you’ll thrive. There’s a schedule of arts & crafts, outdoor play, games, literacy activities and more and since you love to learn & love to play it’s right up your alley. There are only a few other kids so you’ll get lots of one on one attention. Daddy and Grandma Betty will be able to keep you home some days too so most weeks you’ll probably go about 3 1/2 days. At this point you’re really excited about it so I hope it stays that way. It’s sure to be harder on me than on you and your sister.

We’re just in the process of adapting the types of discipline we use with you. Time outs are just becoming a power struggle so we’re taking a Positive Parenting course and using more democratic & logical methods. We’re a “huggy” family, but we’re hugging more when you’re being a stinker now and it’s working great. The biggest challenge for me is when you run away in public (which is why I still strap you in and make you ride in carts). When you’re well rested, you’re incredibly well behaved and think things through well but if you’re even a little short on sleep or if it’s approaching 3 pm, you’re impulsive and physically unable to behave properly.

You’ve started to have some dreams that are scaring you awake in the night. Butterflies in your room landing on you was an entertaining one. And I’m pretty sure you got stuck in a jar of peanut butter one night too.

Your Great Grandma Carlson passed away in on June 15 (she was 98 1/2) and we spend a weekend in Regina & Milestone for her funeral and a coincidental small family reunion. You loved the hotel and especially loved spending the day at Great Grandma’s farm with the family. You were upstairs and said “I’d better get back down and see my people!” You loved climbing up on one particular big tree stump, and running around the big open spaces. And eating, of course – that’s always a big thing at the farm.

We took you on your first camping trip at the end of June, to a campground just half an hour from home in case we needed to get home for bed. You did amazingly well and loved every second of it. You threw rocks in the river with Daddy, cooked and ate your first marshmallows and camping pies in the fire with Mommy, went swimming, painted rocks and played badminton with Bella and just got really, REALLY dirty. It was so much fun. Our friends, the Oseens, lent us their trailer with complete valet service to and from the campground, and Steve officially became one of your favourite people. You often see something that reminds you of camping and say “It’s just like Steve’s trailer!”

We took our annual trip to Waterton on Canada Day. Grandma Betty was camping out there with Claudette & Gerry. You and Bella both loved it. We dressed you both in Canada outfits and tattooed your cheeks and arms with flags and maple leaves. You waved your flags and shouted YEAH CANADA! and sang Happy Birthday to Canada a few times. It was pretty awesome. Again, one of your favourite things to do was throw rocks in the lake.

We’ve spent a lot of time this summer just playing, both at home, at friends’ houses and at local playgrounds. You and Bella love to play together and you have so many friends that we don’t have time to see them all. We do at least two playdates a week, and usually more. There’s something to do every day and it’s exceedingly rare that we spend a whole day at home. In fact, I can’t remember the last time. We all need to get out, even if it’s just for a bike ride or a trip to the grocery store. You still love to shop with Mommy, and I love to shop with you. It’s a great place for you to learn about smart food choices (which you’re well aware of, and often ask if something is organic before we buy it) and is also a great place just to have little talks about whatever comes up.

You continue to amaze me with your kindness and empathy toward your sister. Sure, you’re a normal big brother and drive her crazy sometimes, but the two of you are the very best of friends and you never leave her out. We can’t give either of you anything without you demanding the same for your sibling, and if you’re having one on one time with Daddy or I you’re always asking where the other one is.

You’ll be starting your first session of swimming lessons next week, taking two trips to Grandma’s, going to the zoo and enjoying many more great adventures over the next few months and I couldn’t be happier to be watching you grow, learn, experience, and love with such abandon. You are absolutely, stunningly, amazingly you.

I love you from the bottom of the ocean to the top of the stars, and all the way around the world!
Mommy
xoxo