Your first preschool graduation was today. One year down, and only one more to go. You were in Miss Amy's preschool like your older brothers and sister, but I have decided that you and Miss Amy are not doing as well together as I would have liked, and I am putting you in another preschool next year. It is a preschool that will push you a bit harder, and I am excited for this change. You are a very smart boy, and just need the right people or environment to pull you out of your stubbornness.
Recently, I went on your field trip with your class to see the Santaquin Fire Department, and it was a lot of fun. The best part was that your birthday was coming up in just a few days and so you got special treatment. You were the one who got to pick a buddy with you to sit in the front seat when the class took a fire engine for a little ride, and turn on the siren. I loved to see how happy that small thing made you feel. Of course you picked Christian (your best friend), to ride with you. You guys are so cute.
Every single day you ask to play with Christian, and I am happy to hear from his mom that he asks the same thing about you. Even though he is one year older, you two are two peas in a pod and play so well. It will be sad to see Christian go to Kindergarten next year without you, and I really haven't told you that quite yet.
I love your age right now. You are excited about everything, but especially birthdays and holidays. You talked about your birthday for quite a while beforehand, and I knew exactly what to get you. You love to play with superhero action figures and we found some really fun ones that are really big and easy for you to tote and play with, and surprised you with a new Batman bike. You didn't even seem to mind that Emmi's birthday was the day before and so part of your celebration happened one day early.
You have learned the fun of hiding, and like to hide when me or your dad call for you. Luckily for us you can't stop giggling when we are getting close and so we haven't missed a hiding spot yet. The bigger problem is that you know your way down to Christian's house at the end of the street and have gone down there to hide without asking or telling me a few times. I have also found evidence of you going pee in the empty tub instead of the toilet on two separate occasions, which didn't make me happy.
Usually on most occasions, I love how you will tell me you have to go potty and run down the hall. Then without fail I will hear, "I will flush and wash hands, mom"... being called out since you have heard my reminders oodles of times. I love how I will tell you thank you for something and you will respond back with "thank you, mom!" as if it was expected for you to say that. I love how you are so stubborn, especially with clothing and have meltdown after meltdown if I but mention that your pants are dirty and you might have to wear shorts. Seriously, you are quite the character. Oh, how I love you.
Love,
Mom
I am definitely hoping that you will love your teacher next year as much as you have loved your teacher this year. Ms. Whiting (now Mrs. Hubble) has been a really good teacher for you for many different reasons. I have also loved working with her and I hope that she will be a teacher for your other siblings some day.
Me and Jack were able to tag along on your class field trip into Provo to see a couple different museums and to BYU campus. It ended up being a very long, tiring day, but I very much enjoyed being with you and your classmates. I noticed that you really are not one to walk up to another kid and start up a conversation, but will listen politely if someone is speaking to you. That day you seemed content just being around the other kids, and didn't have to stand next to a certain friend, and was not pushy in the slightest. You have a very calming influence about you, and I love that.
You do have many friends, but right now you choose to spend most of your afternoons with Landon Binks playing Xbox or games on the iPod. He has been a good friend and it seems like you get along really well, which I like.
This last report card was not good, and it looks like APA is really trying to get the most out of you. You are now in a grade that you are forced to learn how to study and retake tests if needed, because they do give you letter grades and your grades have slipped pretty badly in a few areas. Thankfully, you are only in 5th grade and after some retaking, your grades have improved. Me and your dad are very proud of how hard you have worked to get those grades and it is a good lesson to learn.
You have turned into a dog lover, and swoon and fawn all over any dog you meet, but especially your own. You seem to have the most patience of any of us with Birdie, and you try to get her to follow you every time you go downstairs. Yours is the only bed she will occasionally be found sleeping on at night, which is getting more frequent lately, and you are a huge help to me to get her water and food when needed. Just yesterday, your love of dogs got you into trouble as you reached your hands into the fence to pet your piano teacher's dachshund named Chester (who is put intentionally in the backyard during lessons because he is known to bite strangers). Chester decided to bite three of your fingers and did enough damage to make a run into the doctor for some antibiotics and a tetanus shot. You were a trooper though, and really no harm done. I am sure you will still love dogs and might even still want to pet Chester if the opportunity arises.
I had to get a picture of you making yourself a sandwich the other day. Your favorite ingredients are mayo, pepperoni, mustard and BBQ sauce. (Yuck!) You are so funny, and I really don't know how it tastes so good to you. You have even made it a time or two to eat for breakfast (double yuck!). However, I love to see your independence and your sweet personality. You are truly such a good boy and I love you so much.
Love,
Mom
Just after my last post on you, we had decided that you were doing awesome, and your sessions with Dr. Williams were not needed for now. We talked to Dr. Williams and he agreed. He was so proud of you, saying, "We are going to graduate you?.. Awesome!!" It has been about a month since we have stopped our visits, and you are still going to school really well. I have not seen any more big bouts of anxiety, which makes me really happy. I know Dr. Willliams will always have a special place in both of our hearts and he said that he will be there if ever you need to talk to him again.
You are the only child in the family that got a friend birthday party this year and so your Dad drove you and six of your closest friends to Classic Skating one afternoon. Your Dad came back exhausted, and your head hurt from falling at the rink being that it was your first time, but I think overall you boys had a great time.
Also this last month you had to say goodbye to Mr. Crippen, your school teacher. He got hired at BYU and was needed right away. You formed a special bond with him and I know how much you looked up to him in everything. I was not surprised at your tears when you relayed to me the news, or your sadness. I am glad they threw a party in his honor just before he left, and gave us another chance to be with him. School and life has gone on and you have adjusted well to your new teacher, Mrs. Gregson, although it is just not the same.
I have written before about your tender heart, and how kind you are. You truly do have a big measure of our Savior's influence inside you, because you can't stand to see anybody being left out or being picked on. I find it funny that although this is true, you are also the usual culprit to pick on your siblings.:) You are a tease sometimes like your Dad, I guess.
You have to read so many books off the school reading list and a few weeks ago I found some on your list at the library and brought them home. I hadn't read any of them before, so I wasn't too surprised when one of them named "Crow Boy" made you sad. It was a very old book about a Japanese boy that was more or less shunned and looked down upon by his Japanese classmates. At the end of the story, the kids are sad to learn about his history and finally befriend him. You were reading the book to me, but I heard you were getting choked up and I had to take over. I reassured you that he ended up having friends in the end, but when I tucked you in bed just a few minutes later, the tears were falling freely from your eyes and you readily admitted that the story was the reason.
I love this about you Sam. This is the third time in the last year that you have cried over a movie or a book around the same storyline. I am certain that you are kind in school and I know you are to your friends, because I hear you. I know that you will be an excellent husband and father because of your big heart. I am so proud to be your mom, and to get big hugs and lots of love notes quite often. Even though you like to tease your siblings like I have mentioned earlier, you are always very respectful to me and your father, and I honestly do not know what I did to deserve such a great kid. All I know is that I am grateful. You help me want to be a better person. I love you lots.
Love,
Mom
Last night as I went in to turn off your lamp for the night, I paused for a moment at your side, taking in your sweet angelic face as you slept. I thought to myself how beautiful you were (the leftover eye makeup that we hadn't taken off yet didn't hurt), and being your mother, of course I would think that anyway. But you really looked like a little angel, and I had to force myself not to wake you up and tell you how much I love you, and instead I said another quick prayer of gratitude for you and let you sleep.
I was so anxious to watch you on stage yesterday at the Miss Payson Pageant, more so than I probably should have been, and my terrible shaky job recording it is proof. However, I am so grateful you got the opportunity to do so, and that Kate asked you to be her Pageant Pal. I thought you handled yourself so well and was proud at how beautifully you shone on the stage. You and Kate were good sports about not winning, but I think you both had a wonderful time in the process. Who knows, maybe it will not be your last time in a pageant, although I don't know if I am cut out to be a stage mom.
You sure do love to sing, and we frequently hear your brothers asking you to stop when you start belting it out in the car. Your favorite is Let It Go off of Frozen, but will sing to any song that you hear on the radio. Consequently, you are doing really well in your musical theatre class and we are excited for that recital here in a few months.
At school you are still getting A's and a few high B's and all your teachers have nothing but good things to say at parent teacher conferences. I love how you come home from school almost every day telling me that you fell down. I really don't peg you for a klutz at home, yet you have a new scrape at least once a week from recess. It must be all the running you do, getting chased by the boys. I also always hear tales about a particular boy named "Marlan" that likes to tease you. If someone made you fall it seems to be him. Honestly, I am thinking that he sees how cute you are.
Already you are learning multiplication and have beautiful cursive, which is absolutely amazing for a 1st grader. You are looking forward to your birthday so much, and seem to ask me every day how many days (or weeks) it is until then. Me and your father have seen a few emotional outbursts that we would expect from a daughter, but really not very many, and let's hope that continues.
All I know is that I am indeed so grateful for you, for the opportunity I have to have a mother-daughter relationship and to try to raise you to be a good wife and mother some day. You have a lot of good examples of women on both sides of your family, and I hope that you will try to follow in their footsteps.
Love,
Mom
It is amazing to look back to when I was deciding to have a 4th baby. I remember being so torn, really feeling like we were not complete, yet scared for all the pains of yet another pregnancy and birth. Me and your dad were talking the other day about how much we both had hoped you were going to be a girl so we could have an even 2 and 2, and give Emmi a sister, and how initially I was so sad that you were indeed another male. But your dad said, "I wouldn't trade my Jack for anybody," and that is exactly how I feel as well. I would never trade you, even for another daughter.
What a joy you are to have in our family. You are everybody's favorite playmate and make us all laugh at your cute voice and funny things you like to say. You are so tender and sweet, always the cuddler and demanding to be held and even on-the-mouth kisses after I tuck you in. I love how excited you get about almost everything, and how dramatic you are in your face when you talk. You talk really well for a 3-year-old and like to talk my ear off at times.
You are loving this spring weather and even when chilly, like to go outside with Birdie and have a "potsicle." You still love to watch Netflix while you eat your frozen mac n' cheese dinner for lunch. While me and your Dad were in Las Vegas, you started carrying around old sets of keys that don't go to anything, and still have to have them in your pocket when we leave the house. Your Uncle J has given you the name of "Keymaster" since you like to take and hide the keys, and we had a crisis where we couldn't find our mailbox key for a few days. That is your favorite key because it looks like your John Deer Gator. If anything is missing, but especially keys, we automatically come to you and you usually know right where they are.
You are such a smart boy and can already count and sing your ABCs pretty well for your age. I can see your growth in Preschool and I love to see what fun things you make and bring home, especially the cute hats.
I love you Jack-Jack, and I can't wait to see what you will be talking about or doing next.
Love,
Mom
Every year you get more and more handsome, and I am so excited about the good young man that you are becoming. All of a sudden you are now out of cub scouts, and preparing to be a deacon next February, wow! A couple of weeks ago, for your 11th birthday, you asked only for Xbox games, another sign of getting older. You are easy to please, and I love that about you.
A few days after your birthday, we went to The Brick Oven and to the Lego Movie with the Thomson side, which also made you really happy.
You are getting very independent and responsible when it comes to homework, and I have learned I can trust you when you say that you are finished. You love school, and it makes me smile to watch how you are especially loving science and PE at APA, which you didn't care much for before.
You love to read at night in bed, usually one of the last of the kids to fall asleep, but you are one that I never have to tell to get back to bed. You mind me and your Dad very well in general, only occasionally do you protest. I love it when your chore is dishes, because you do them quick, and without complaint or help from me.
I love how you want the same home lunch every day (peanut butter and jelly/Nutella sandwich and cookies) for lunch, and how little it is that you ask for in comparison to your siblings. I love how you have to give me a hug before leaving for school, but even want a hug as you leave sacrament meeting and go to Sunday school. You are the most upset of all the kids whenever I have to go to dance or a church meeting at night, even though I leave you in your father's care. I can see how much you love me, and I hope that I show you how much I love you just as clear, because I really do.
Love,
Mom
I wanted to record an update about how well you are doing these days.
Since I have taken you in to see Dr. Williams (your psychologist), your improvement with your anxiety has been remarkable. After only 2 sessions with him, you were able to let me drop you off at school, then you were quickly able to carpool again in the mornings, and almost never threw up. Still now, we are working on you eating a full breakfast. You don't eat much, but I can tell you have a good knowledge now of what anxiety is, and how to work through it. Every now and then you will show anxiety in the morning, and I will have to reassure you, or remind you of what Dr. Williams has told you, but not very often. Dr. Williams has given us wonderful lessons on deep breathing, muscle relaxation, and even some ways to use humor to get through it.
We are still going in to see him every week, and will continue that until Dr. Williams says that you are ready, but I can see a big change thus far. I am so grateful for him, and grateful that I took you in. I can't imagine what you would be like in the mornings if I hadn't. Dr. Williams was also surprised at how fast I got you help, and that you had only shown these signs for a week. He had supposed that it had been going on for longer, like the other children he normally sees. He told me that it is wonderful that I was able to get you in so early, saying that the longer children go without help for anxiety, the worse it usually gets. That made me feel good, and I hope that it rings true.
Also, after having a discussion with your group math teacher, I have decided to continue with the ADD meds in hopes that it will help you at school. She and I both think that I am on the right track with the medication. We switched you over to a liquid kind, and you have no problems taking it every morning. I have also got some great feedback already from your math teacher, so I think it is working. We might have to up the dose or switch kinds before we find the best one, but I think it is definitely worth the effort.
I love you Sam. I am so glad to see you doing so much better.
Love,
Mom
