Dear Etrain

Dear Etrain,

This month we were sick...all. month. loooong. (In fact, we are still getting over it. Ugh.) The first two weeks were really tough because we couldn't go to any of your classes, so were stuck at home and had to come up with things to do around here. There was lots of playing around the house and visits to the park.


You've really taken to playing in the family room on the couch. Probably because Dada makes you cool ramps for your trucks out of pillows and blankets.

So hard to get you to look at me for a photo.

Post-sneeze. Poor boy.

Still trying to take selfies with you. You still don't love it, but I have to try to get photos of us together!

One day we were filling the pool with water and you thought it'd be fun to play with it. You quickly realized it was spraying everywhere and getting you wet, but I think that was part of the fun. I don't know how you stuck with it for so long...that water is cold! But you had us take off your shirt, you played a little more, then decided to tackle Ginger instead.



One major thing that happened this month is you started preschool! I may have mentioned that I've been going to MOPS at Mariners Church on Friday mornings and while I'm there you go to their childcare. They had recently started a preschool too, but were already filled up for Monday-Wednesday-Friday. I eventually went in to tour the preschool and found out that they had openings for Tuesday-Thursday. I had to move your My Gym and swim classes around, but made it work. So now every Tuesday-Thursday you go to preschool for the morning...and you LOVE it. You tell me how you're excited to go each morning and when I drop you off you run right in the room and don't even say bye. I don't mind because I know you're going to have a great time. The photos below are from your first day.

No it's not the beginning of the school year, but my big boy started preschool today anyway. #lovethatsmile #cutestkidever

A post shared by Alex North (@alexnorth) on Mar 28, 2017 at 9:38am PDT

So a restaurant company called Fridays had been talking to Dada about having him work there. The tricky part was that it is in Dallas, TX. Dada needed to go out there to have some interviews, and I wanted to go because if we are going to move there, I wanted to know what Dallas was like. So we hopped on a plane a couple weekends ago and checked it out. Don't worry, the job didn't pan out and we're staying here (phew!), but we got a fun trip out of it. You loved the plane ride because we let you watch movies the whole time. When we go to the airport you decided you needed to rest.


There was a pretty cool pond out in front of our hotel. It had a nice walking path around it, with lot of places to launch trucks off of. There was a big thunderstorm while we were there so, there were lots of big puddles, but that didn't stop you from finding fun places to play.

Dinner at Benihana.

You still love to torment the animals. You were actually being sweet with both Ginger and Burger, below, but I still question if they were very amused.

They sure do love when you visit.

You've been wanting to play in your room more, so we've been spending lots of time there after nap. You are such a talker now and you have begun to really get into pretend play. I know one day I'm going to miss that sweet little voice of yours so I'm trying to just record you being you. The videos below are just of you playing and being silly.




We still have lots of fun at My Gym too.


I know your hair is getting a tad long, but I'm reluctant to cut it. Lots of the blonde is growing out and I'm afraid if we cut it, you'll lose some of your blonde. We probably still have some time, but I just love your beautiful hair and I'll be sad when it's gone. I know you'll still be a handsome little man with brown hair, but I just want to hang on to my blonde baby for a little longer.

Back to you being a talker. It's so awesome. You and I will talk all day long. In the car you'll point out everything around us. At home you'll tell me stories. Tons of stories. And like I said, you've gotten more into pretend play. You can just sit there and make up little interactions with your cars and trucks. It's so adorable. I love how happy and creative you are. You fill in parts of the books we read. You request songs from the music I play, and skip around dancing (or running) to your favorites...and you'll tell me "MOM! Like dat song." You tell me what you want to eat or how you're excited for school. When I ask what you did at school, you say "play monster trucks." And when I ask if you have any friends you tell me you play trucks with Andy and Mason (I smile every time. Warms my heart.) Oh, and the ABC song. It's your thing now. You sing it over and over and over again everywhere, everyday...in the car, in the store, while you're playing, during dinner, etc. LMNOP is still challenging, but it's so cute to hear you try.

Another thing I've loved watching this month is your confidence in making friends. When the kids down the street are out you love to go play with them, even though they are older. You say, "play with kids, Mama." If there are kids at the park you have no problem going up to them and playing. Just today we went to Irvine Spectrum and there was a grassy area where some older kids (6-8 years old?) were running around, sort of playing tag. You just started running around with with them. There was one little girl you seemed to really like and kept chasing. She seemed to like the attention and began trying to get you to chase her more. It was so cute to watch.

I look forward to many more days, months and years of fun with you. Keep being you, son. You're perfect.

Love,
Mama