SIX!

Dear Carter,

Last year at this time I was pretty sad to see you turn five and officially exit the toddler stage.  Here we are a year later, with you in Kindergarten, learning so much, growing taller, and now I can barely consider you a little boy anymore.  Six sounds so big!  Maybe it's a good thing you're still a bit of a little guy--it lets Mama pretend a bit longer!

It's been an interesting year.  Definitely not our easiest, but you are still the brightest spot of my day most of the time!  Even still, it's been a tough year in the behavior and discipline department.  You like to bug your brother a LOT, and a lot of the time you're pretty crafty to not get caught.  You have a ton of energy, which can make all of us nuts when you're running around  all the time, often putting yourself at risk, but I guess that energy has to go somewhere--and better there than battling Jacob even more.  You tend to have a lot of witty comebacks for things, which is sometimes hilarious and sometimes a big problem.  So, you've probably spent more time in your room than ever this year, but I suppose you're still a piece of cake compared to what we went through with Jacob, so you're pretty lucky on that front.

I think the toughest part of wrangling you right now is that you are such a screen kid.  You love TV, you love playing games, and unless we forcibly take those things away, it's rare to find you doing something non-electronic.  That makes me a little sad because you are SO creative and have such an imagination--you can turn anything into a toy and make any number of unrelated toys work together in a story--and sometimes I worry you're not using those skills enough.  I'm amazed at how you pick up electronic games, and I know your daddy loves snuggling you to watch shows, but it's definitely something we're going to have to work on.  No sense starting until after your tonsil surgery, mind you, but I want to make sure we're maximizing that brain of yours!

School has been an interesting transition.  You don't seem to love it, but you do like your teacher and I can tell you're taking in so much information!  I know you love to learn, so I think that part of you likes it more than you let on.  You seem to indicate you don't have a lot of friends, but I sort of doubt that since you make buddies everywhere you go.  I know that reading and writing are a struggle for you--though I'm hoping that your surgery will give you sound sleep and a clearer mind that will make that stuff so much easier.  It'll come, I think--but I'm sorry if my patience isn't what it should be in the meantime.  Still, I love that you're learning so much and turning into such a cool, smart little kid.

You always have stories to share, and the things your brain comes up with range from the silly to the awesomely creative to the downright weird!  Sometimes I just can't imagine what inspired some sort of crazy tale you're telling, but I do love that you have taken in so much information and been able to regurgitate it in some sort of different way.  It's a good reminder for the times I feel like you're struggling at school that something is sticking in there!  Between your stories and your brother's constant dialogue about basketball and sneakers, sometimes I probably don't have the patience I should to listen to all you have to say, but I try.  Silence is golden, but you'd never know it in our house!

I feel like a lot of this year has involved your health.  It's been a year since we started considering getting your tonsils and adenoids out, and next week, if all goes well, we'll be fixing that.  Strep almost derailed those plans, but it looks like we're back on track.  As much as I'm scared to death about you getting surgery, I'm so eager for you to breathe clearly at night and hopefully sleep much more soundly.  Next up is getting you to gain some weight (you're so skinny!), and maybe double checking to make sure there isn't anything that's making all of that reading and writing harder for you than it needs to be.  Raising you has been so much different than your brother and sometimes it's hard to know what's normal and what's not, so just know we're doing everything we can to make you a happy and healthy kid.  But trying a few new foods in the meantime wouldn't hurt!😉

Speaking of new foods, I think your hesitance to try new ones has led to a change in your planned career.  For a while now you've said you want to be a chef.  But after not wanting to eat certain foods, I think that became less realistic.  So lately you want to be an archaeologist.  You want to bring dinosaurs back to life--but only plant-eaters, of course, because the meat-eaters would eat us.  It's probably just as realistic as Jacob's NBA dream, so go for it!

What I love most about you--and what keeps us sane in the middle of everything else--is how much you love!  You are the most loving child, and it makes me so happy!  Your brother has never really been a touchy-feely-huggy kid, but even when you were tiny you told me you loved me a dozen times a day, and it warmed my heart so much.  Even now you're always up for giving hugs and kisses, and you love snuggling.  I even like watching you with your stuffed animals because you can be such a cute little daddy to them.  And when you always share your bear with me when we snuggle at bedtime, it just shows me how you think of other people, and I love it.  Oh, and let's not forget how you pray for my smell to come back.  That is the sweetest of all!  Please never lose that sweetness or that love of others!

You just bring so much joy into my life, and if I could hug you and hold you forever to keep you safe, I would.  But it's clear you're growing up and little by little I'll need to let you go.  I'm so proud of the little person you're becoming and as much as I'm sad to leave another little kid year behind, I'm excited to see where "big kid" you is headed!  I love you so much and hope you have an awesome birthday!

Love,
Mommy