4 Years Old

Dear Brooklen,

My sweet B, I love you more every day.  I couldn't ask for a happier, more enthusiastic, fun little person to get to love and nurture.  You make each day so worth it! 

At four years old, you are full of energy and life.  You weigh 33 pounds and you are    inches tall.  You have TONS of energy and you are thrilled by the smallest wonders.  You are such a loving little boy.  You love to cuddle me in your arms and tell me how much you love me.  At dinnertime, you always have a compliment for me.  "Mom, make this again please," you will say.  "This is the best dinner ever!"  And when I tell you that we will have preschool at home, you explain that you are "so excited" to have school at home with me this year.  You also tell me that you want to marry me.  Someday this will change, so for now, I smile and enjoy the fact that I am the #1 woman in your life.

You are also a wonderful big brother.  You have a running "argument" with your dad about who Zaya's favorite is.  He thinks it is him.  You strongly disagree and fire back, "no, I am Zaya's favorite!"
And Hurley, oh Hurley ADORES you.  She wants to be just like you.  Everything you say, everything you do . . . she follows.  You sit in the middle of your two sisters in the car and you are always holding one of their hands.  I am sure that you will be very protective of those two as they grow up.  You already exhibit some of the "first child syndrome" that I, of course, had too.  You like to reprimand Hurley: "Hurley, if you do that again you will have to go to time-out," you say!

You are still a very active child.  You like to ride your bike and play soccer.  You are a good climber and you love to be in the water.  Sometimes you are fearless, other times you are timid.  It depends on the day and the activity. 

You LOVE to be kept busy.  One of your favorite things to do is to complete art projects.  You love crafts and art and a project always seems to make your day.  You thrive on structure.  You like to know the following days schedule at bedtime and you often can't go to sleep because your mind is churning with questions and excitement about things to come.  You remember EVERYTHING.  If I try to change our schedule on you, you always catch me.  You are very conscientious and you remember times, directions, schedules, and events. 

Your favorite movies are Cars and Toy Story.  You have several shows that you love: Dora, Diego, Team Umi Zoomi, Cat in the Hat, Curious George, The Backyardigans, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse . . .  the list goes on and on.  Since we don't have cable, you choose movies at the library and you are lucky enough to have a Grandpa that DVR's your favorite shows and sends them to you every week. 

You love to play with your friends.  Some of your best friends are Owen, Cali, Avery, and Brody. You love to play hide and seek and cars with your friends.  You and Owen made up a funny game called "This is Our Land."  You put everything you can find into a pile and call it "Our Land."  A few weeks ago, you modified this game.  You piled stuff in a dark closet and called the new game, "In a Dark Place."  Whew, I was relieved when I found out the actual rules to that game!

You are a very smart little boy.  You are learning to read, you love patterns, making up stories, simple math, and doing science projects.  You sure are a thinker!  You love to solve problems and you are very good at it.  You grew a garden again this year with your dad.  You enjoyed every bit of the process.

B, I can't imagine a day without you.  We love you so much little boy!

Love,

Mom