Dear

Oh, child, you are so dear to me. Today, you:

• Had your second swim lesson. I prepped you beforehand (which I am learning is key to success in everything we do) and we talked about how you were going to get in the pool, listen to the teacher and do the things he asked you to do. And you did it. You needed a couple of little reminders to listen and to do your best, but I was so proud of you, you brave little boy. I particularly loved the moment when the teacher returned you to the edge of the pool after practicing kicking and you said "Thanks!" which totally took him off guard- the other little kids in your class do not have manners like that, and you just do it so naturally. When you got out of the pool I could not stop telling you how happy and proud I was and you just looked so giddy and delighted. It was a priceless moment.
• We went to dinner tonight and you had the misfortune of sitting next to your little brother who is messy, drops everything, and sweeps food off of the table for fun. You got off your chair no less than a hundred times to retrieve his toy car, drawing paper, crayons and the food that fell from his seat. You were particularly bothered that you couldn't get all of the little chip crumbs that ended up on the floor. You are so adorable and even though I felt totally frazzled trying to manage two children under the age of three you did your very best to help me.
• Your new phrase is "Can I ask a favor, Mama?" when you mean "Can I ask a question?" Today you said "Can I ask a favor, Mama? Are we driving up a hill?"
• After your swim lesson we went to Target to do our grocery shopping. Lately we are working on a no-thumb-sucking policy in public places. I always prep you before going in and you have been very agreeable about this whole idea. Today you forgot yourself a couple of times but I just reminded you by putting my hand on yours and you would quickly take your thumb out of your mouth. By the end of the trip we were all tired and hungry, and the last time I did this you said "BUT I JUST WANT TO!" and took your thumb out of your mouth anyway. Good work, little man. I know this is a hard one for you.
• You always want to know the name of the song we are listening to. One of the song titles had the word "brick" in it, so you asked what a brick was. I explained it to you, saying that we have bricks at our house, and that building is made out of bricks, and they are strong so that's why people build with them, etc etc... I got to a point where I thought "How did we get on this topic?" and at that exact moment you said "Mama, why are we talking about bricks?"
• You are so sweet with your brother. You guys definitely have sibling stuff- sharing issues, pushing/pulling on each other, etc- but you are just so cute with him sometimes. In the cart at the store today you were telling him he was so cute and that you missed him (while you were at swimming). You are always coaching him to say new words ("Eli, can you say CAR?") and I love listening to that when we're in the car. Today we saw a little kid toddling around and you said "He looks like he's Eli's age!"

I could go on and on. I am sitting here now thinking of all of the funny things you said and did today and chuckling to myself. You are so cute.