Dear Ethan,
I’ve been thinking about this letter for a few weeks. Part
of me curses myself for starting this dang tradition of a letter the night
before you start school. Not only is it
a busy time, but the stress of expressing myself – or rather, expressing you, gives
me a little anxiety. Ultimately, the
desire for you to have a written record of these years wins out. Here goes…
Second grade! What?! A
year of full day school in the books – you seem like an expert already to
me. But, at the same time, I still see
in you my little boy, the one who still cries when he’s hurt and wants to
snuggle. The one who still loves to play
with his four year old sister, probably more than anybody else.
I am exceedingly proud of the way you treat Eleanor. You certainly have your moments, but you are mostly so
patient with her and truly enjoy teaching her things. The other day, you played “school” and had
Eleanor trace over letters you made. You
came down to show me how well she did, and she was beaming from ear to ear at
the stars you gave her. She wants to do
everything you do and picks up so many of your actions and sayings. One that comes to mind is your “thumbs up or
down” dinner rating system. This one, of
course, I could do without! But, oh, how
I wish I could freeze a bit of time while the two of you are best friends. And, oh, how I dream of a strong, positive
relationship for the two of you later in life.
Right now, few things make me happier than listening to the two of you
play Legos or Star Wars (or Star Wars Legos…) together, having so much fun.
You have taught Eleanor to be just as creative in her play as you, and
it made my life easier this past year.
Who needs play dates with other kids when the two of you play so well
together?
Just like in Kindergarten we watched you come out of your
shell a bit, first grade pushed you even further. You are by no means a ham, but you seem to
have your father’s performance gene, even if only for family at this point. After our trip to Hilton Head, you became
slightly obsessed with Greg Russell and his guitar stylings. In our basement, we currently have a guitar
on a stand as well as a homemade microphone stand. You spent much of the summer singing your
favorite Greg Russell tunes or
performing other shows like The Spiderman Show, or plays like Rudolph. We took you to see Rudolph this past winter, and you performed much of the show for us,
verbatim. Both dad and I were impressed
with how you remembered such cute details from the show. And now you have started piano and will
hopefully have a chance to perform in a recital. You seem to have a talent for music. And, while the time spent cajoling you to
practice is usually the worst part of my day, I love when you finally get into
it and play the pieces. Your teacher is
impressed with you so far, and hopefully you (we) will stick to it!
Another interest you have that I am trying to really hone is
for cooking. Both you and your sister
love to help me in the kitchen and I try really hard to let you do just
that. You have even helped me chop
vegetables with a real knife. As we cook
together, I talk a lot about what we are doing and why. My ultimate goal is that you will leave this
house knowing how to cook, and well. You
will know how to sauté, make a roux, season appropriately, cook meat properly,
and so on. You will also know how to make Grandmama’s meat and marinara sauces as
well as homemade pasta. She was already
so proud of you, but she will love to watch us cooking together from her
kitchen chair in Heaven.
Perhaps most exciting for me, personally, in this last year
has been watching your confidence in reading grow. We learned in the middle of first grade that
while you could decode words, your fluency was lagging a bit. So we started reading more, and more, and
more. Many mornings were spent snuggling
in bed, reading back and forth to one another.
And now, at the end of the summer, you are flying through Diary of a Wimpy Kid and
not even stumbling over the big words. Plus,
just in the past couple of weeks, you’ve discovered that you can read for fun! I have caught you reading in the morning on
the couch, or in your room, and before bed. For a long
time, I think you were overwhelmed by anything with a lot of pages or
words. Now, you tackle them and enjoy
the independence of being able to read to yourself if no one else is
available. You’ve also conned us into
later bedtimes as you finished “just one more chapter!” That is okay with me,
though, and I really hope this love of reading you’ve had for so long
continues.
Daddy would be sad if I did not mention your involvement in sports. This fall, you will do your fourth year of AYSO soccer. You do not love soccer, but you do not hate it either, and we like to watch you improve. Daddy works very hard with you, and while you may not always appreciate it right now, I know you will look back and feel pretty fortunate that your father cared so much. You will also be in a short season of Fall Baseball. You have some talent here, no doubt, but you are not a sporty kid just yet. You are more content playing Legos or with other friends. This may change, but it may not. Either way, we know the exercise is important for you, and you do enjoy your games and time with your teammates. And, of course, you love the participation trophies you have been accumulating!
Bud, I want you to know how much I love you. I know I am cranky sometimes and tell you to
quit hanging on me and to get out of my face (because, seriously, that’s
annoying), but I will always always always love you. You are my little man. My favorite part of
every day is going with Eleanor to pick you up from school. Love to see you come out enthusiastically and
hear a little about your day. Hopefully,
this year I will still get my daily hug…the hug that precedes the throwing of
your backpack at me before you run for the park. I will take what I can get! You cannot even know how grateful I am to be around for these moments with you, to be able to volunteer in your classroom, serve in your school's parents organization, and be around for the little things. This will not always be the case, and I heartily soak the moments in now, while I can.
Love you!
Love,
Mommy
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