Hailey is 4. Things are never a bore.

Dear Hailey, 

I have more pictures for your milestone post than your older siblings because we spend so much more time together and you are just growing and changing so quickly! 

At 4 years old, you can technically ride a 2 wheeled bike without training wheels, but the bike we have for you is kind of big and you have issues with applying breaks. For now, you are happy to continue to scoot around in your balance bike and we even brought out the tricycle for you to practice pedaling. You seem to have a stronger leg that you prefer to lead with and so for the past few months, we've been trying to help strengthen the other leg. 

I love how I can reason with you. Today I announced to you at pick-up that we were going to get flu shots together. At first you protested, but then after I explained that if you got sick, you wouldn't be able to go to school, you first replied, "That's ok, kids are annoying anyway!" But then I reminded you that you would be stuck at home with nothing to do and that would be boring. You thought about it and then asked if I would hug you for the shot. I agreed and you were ok with getting the shot. 

I don't have a picture of you in your gymnastics getup, but you love to wear your leelee-tard to school. I think it's so cute the way you say it. 

You are not afraid to get down in the gravel and get messy at the playground. This is very different than your older brother and sister. I like this about you a lot. 

You are starting to enjoy board games and the phase of wanting to win is starting to creep in.

And you are one of the most patient kids ever. One day we were going to go to the pool around 2 in the afternoon. When you had asked when we would go, I told you after lunch. After lunch, you quickly dressed into your swim suit and then you disappeared. Around 1:30, I realized I hadn't seen you in awhile, so I started to look for you and I found you here, ready to go to the pool. 

You have a lot of sass. Your "No, Thanks." can sound harsh and cold, sometimes indifferent. But at least you are saying it politely. 

When you turned 4 years old, you were so proud and you literally told everyone you saw (even announced it by yelling out to the people walking on the sidewalk outside).

You love hanging out and helping me...at least you don't mind it. I say you "love" it based on the fact that you announced that a "wow" of the day was helping me mop the floor. 

I am really enjoying this 4 year old stage. I feel like I never was able to enjoy it fully with Nathan or Hannah because they all had to compete with a baby for attention at that age. Now, I can just enjoy this fabulous (for the most part) 4 stage. 

You enjoy your playdates with your own friends. We explore and play for a bit, but then you two usually end up doing your own thing. 

Another favorite friend loves to play hide-and seek with you. You two are hilarious when it comes to playing this game. 

You enjoy going on adventure walks with me. You are now able to go 1-2 miles easily without having to be held. 

You still enjoy playing with either Nathan or Hannah, but never both at the same time. I noticed that when all three of you start playing together, Nathan and Hannah end up doing their own thing and you just drift away and then come find us. When you are playing with one of the kids, you guys can sit and play for a long time. 

Bubbles, chalk, play-doh, drawing, and crafts are your favorite pastimes. You also love Jory John books along with books that are silly. You just learned the concept of rhyming through a book and just recently learned that "elemen" which sounds like element (you hears this from martial arts) is not actually a letter in the alphabet. 

You also love cooking and helping out in the kitchen. Peeling garlic, mixing and chopping chunky pieces are your favorite kitchen activities. 

Sometimes I let you go nuts and make your own creations (with a little bit of guidance) and to my detriment, they've all turned out pretty edible, so now you basically think you are a genius chef who can just throw random things together to make something yummy. 

Whenever you are bored, you ask me, "What's next?" or "What should I do?" I suggest things and you always say, "No Thanks." I've come to realize that when you ask that, it means you want to watch TV. After multiple times of explaining that screen time happens when Nathan and Hannah come home from school, the question seems to pop up less. 

 You continue to love your seal family and still cuddle with "Mommy Gogo" at night. 

Your Ducks class teacher said that you don't talk much in class. She says that you will answer questions when asked, but you never will just join in a conversation. Your gymnastics teacher says you are pretty funny, but you also tend to stick to solo activities. I'm not super concerned right now, but I wonder sometimes if COVID has made you more shy and reserved at school. You are one of the few kids who wear a mask in your classes, but you seem to be ok with that. 

I love you. 

Love, 

Mommy 

Hannah 7 Years Old and I'm in Heaven

Dear Hannah, 

You are my adventurous, try everything, nature-loving, strong-willed girl. To tell you the truth, I was actually very worried about you at the start of the school year, but it seems like all my worries stemmed from my own securities and I hope I didn't project any of them onto you. 

I  thought you were indecisive. When asked what kind of doughnut you want, you usually will just say, "I don't know, just get what you think I will like." but then I realized that you liked them all and didn't want to have to pick just 1 or 2. That's what happens with most of your decisions, you want to try it all and so you have a tough time picking just 1. 

I thought that you forgot how to make friends at school. Every day you would come home and tell me about how you played by yourself at recess, or how you just talked to a kid during recess. I would try to coach you on how to join in on a game, but you quickly let me know that you chose to not play with anyone because you didn't want to play what they were playing. I got frustrated, so I ended up telling you that you have 2 choices, play what you want by yourself, or if you want to play with others, sometimes you need to play what they are playing and make compromises. You seemed like you didn't want to compromise, so I just left it alone and let you figure it out. I did suggest that you bring a jump rope to school to play during recess because I didn't want you sitting during recess and according to your teacher, you just jump away happily during recess. (Your jump rope skills have improved drastically, I must say). Well, over time, kids must have started to see how cool of a kid you are and you are now part of a friend group. Sometimes you still like to go off and play by yourself, but you announced to me today that you now have 5 friends in your play group. 

Your teacher has also told me that you, despite being one of the youngest kids in the class, are a leader and academically, you are doing great. 

I thought you were more peaceful, opposite of an adrenaline junkie. But I was proved wrong when you totally had so much fun riding roller coasters at Sea World and was able to ride ones that Nathan was too intimidated to tackle. 

I know you love to create and make things. Just recently you built a house for your American Doll girl. I joke that in the event you became homeless, you would be able to create a pretty comfortable shelter out of cardboard. 

I thought you were done with martial arts, but after giving in-person class another shot, you realized that you still enjoy it. You actually don't like the sparring part, but you like the other aspects of it. You are also doing recreational gymnastics and would like to compete one day. 

I thought you liked vegetables. You were the most willing to eat veggies as a toddler. I never had to coax or let you douse your veggies in some sort of sauce. But now, you really only like certain veggies and will gag if  you eat squash. 

You still love food and love to help out in the kitchen whenever you can. 

Your bestie is still the girl next door. You are both back to being at each others' houses once again and you two even had a sleep over one night. You two play very well together and love to be silly and imaginative. I'm super happy that you have each other to grow up together with. 

You continue to have a good moral compass and I feel like I can trust you with making good decisions. Sometimes I can see you struggling over right thing to do vs. fun thing to do, but I think over the years, you will learn to figure out how to balance those things out. 

Love, 

Mommy 

Nathan is 9, Things are Pretty Fine

Dear Nathan, 

I can't even start to express how proud I am to be your mom. You are a child who always tries your best in whatever you do (except for writing, you really dislike writing), and truthfully, most of the time you do it really well. 

Nathan's first "Hustle Ball" earned on 10/10. 

It was an "L" in the books, but still a good game to watch.

Baseball practice is still 3 hours long for the most part, but to you, it goes by quickly because you "love it!" You have a great attitude about it (even if you are one of the most inexperienced players on the team), for example, when you are sitting out, you see it as an opportunity to rest and enjoy the game. 

You are really enjoying skating. You especially love playing tag by the school and you are now really fast on the roller blades. I can only rely on my fast stopping skills to avoid being tagged by you. 

When you turned 9, you asked your best friends to come over for an evening of fun. You requested your favorite take-out, Chick-fil-a, and you boys had lots of fun chatting outside as you ate. 

Afterwards, you guys played a little bit of video games as you waited for it to get a bit darker outside. 

And then ya'll went outside for some laser tag. 

But who knew that the highlight of the night would be shrinky-dink crafting. You all sat and drew, some with directed draw, some just free-handed, and I love the bursts of laughter that would occasionally erupt. The dynamics of the group was sweet. 

Watching the shrinky-dinks shrink in the oven.

Screen time aside, I think it's safe for me to say that martial arts is the highlight of your week. You have had a few chances to be Senpai (highest belt in the class) and you've relished that honor each time it happens. You are a hard worker in martial arts and sometimes you get a little emotional when you don't get to do something because of time. But I'm also proud to announce that during the most recent episode, you were able to calm down quickly and move on. 

You still love to talk. You love to narrate you life (especially during video game playing) and enjoy sharing your gaming accomplishments with us. Most of the time I have no context about what you are talking about, so I just smile and nod. 

Your favorite books are the Percy Jackson and Harry Potter series and you are still enjoy a good Dog Man book. You continue to be very much interested in Greek Mythology. You know so many of the stories and even are able to correct me when I get the name and title of a god wrong. 

We also realized that you need to get glasses. You had an appointment today and will be getting your glasses in about 2 weeks, right before your last game of the season. So far, you have not hit a ball during a game, maybe the glasses will help, or maybe they won't...we will find out. 
 

Next week, you get your tongue tie released so that will be interesting. You've been seeing an orofacial myofunctional therapist and doing exercises to prepare for the surgery since school started, next week it finally happens and afterwards, you will have 4 more weeks of therapy and exercises to do. 

Love you so much! 

Mommy