Dear Etrain,
The fun from last month continued right on through to this month. This sure has been a great summer so far. I hope you realize how lucky you are one day. :) But really, I'm having so much fun that it's a total pleasure to spoil you with exciting adventures and experiences. And we don't necessarily have to go anywhere to have a good time. These photos below are of you and Dada after you helped him with some yard work. Pretty sure this is when we planted the pumpkins. I didn't get photos of that so I'm not sure, but more on that later.
Last year Dada and I took a small vacation to San Diego without you. I think it's important for just the two of us to take little getaways with each other at least once or twice a year. We get to enjoy alone time together which helps our relationship and marriage. And when we come back, we are refreshed and excited to see our sweet baby boy.
Well, we decided to go to San Diego again this year. We had a wonderful time. We went to a baseball game, rented jet skies, ate at a bunch of great restaurants, and rented these scooters that were scattered all over the city. You just choose one, scan it on your phone, and ride wherever you want. When you're done you scan it again and leave it where you are. It's great and so much fun. Dada and I rode them several times together on the same scooter. Here's a little video of our first ride. Your Dada is the funniest guy I know.
While we were gone for the weekend you stayed with Nana and Papa and had some fun of your own. They spoiled you tons AND took you to Legoland. I've never been before, so I thought it was just a Lego themed amusement park. I guess they also have a water park and aquarium. Nana and Papa took you to all three and you came home raving about it for weeks. We'll have to go again sometime.
Dada had an idea to plant some pumpkins in our backyard. Our hope is that if we plant them early enough, we might have pumpkins for Halloween. The package the seeds came in said we need three months, which is exactly how much time we have. We are off to a good start. If we planted them on the day above, that was July 22. The photos below are July 29 and leaves have spouted already!
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| Forgot to mention we also planted watermelon seeds over here. |
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| Same shirt, but this photo is July 31. |
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| August 7th! Lookin' good so far! |
You have also really started to enjoy afternoon dance parties. You've always liked it when I play "fast songs" and can run around our big play area, but lately you've been stopping for more dance breaks too. You'll ask me to record you dancing, or if I'm already recording you want to make sure I capture all your cool loves. I love that you love to dance, son. Dance class is usually seen as a girl activity/sport, but in these dance shows you're seeing how awesome the male dancers are too. I hope you'll be willing to take a dance class some day.
I talked about you and your buddy Isaiah last month. You two are still having a great time together. You love to build forts with the chairs after school. This day you decided to finish your lunches while sitting on top of the forts.
You've been becoming more and more confident in your swimming and I'm so excited for you. There was a time when the pool (well, the spa) was more of a big bathtub. You liked to splash and play with toy boats in the water, or you would jump from Dada to me, but you didn't want to swim, or dive deep, and certainly not float on your back. You are so much more comfortable now and I'm so proud of you.
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| We've had a bunch of beach days with Isaiah. |
Grandma and Grandpa came over for a visit one weekend and they brought some toilet paper and paper towel tubes to play with. It was cute watching you guys play your instruments.
You still go over to Nana and Papa's occasionally on Sundays. Nana always has great clothes for you to wear at church. This day she had also given you some sunglasses, which I thought were super cool. This was my attempt at getting you to pose for some photos. By the way, I wasn't the one who buttoned your shirt. ;)
That evening we went out to dinner at one of our favorite spots near home. I was just admiring my handsome dinner dates across the table.
We're still going to soccer class, but I moved you up a level. Your last class was with 2-3 year olds and the other kids just seemed too young. You were the only kid that could follow directions on your own and didn't need me by you every second of the class. You're now with 3-4 year olds and having more fun. We even stay after class to play on the playground with some of the kids from your class, before your My Gym class...which I moved you up a level on as well. I sit in the lobby, but I don't take class with you anymore, and you don't seem to miss me. You love running around with the older kids.
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| An app on my phone put a bunch of photos together and made this one. Looks kinda cool, right?! |
Isaiah's mom and I decided to switch up one of our beach days a bit. We cut beach time a little short, and took a ride on the trolley to go out to lunch! You two were soooo excited and had a BLAST on that trolley. We had a nice lunch and even played at a park before hoping on the trolley back to our cars.
You are getting better and better on your scooter. You ask to ride it almost every day.
Summer time means the fair comes to town! Dada noticed that they had a show for the Demolition Derby and got tickets for us. It's not monster trucks, but we figured you'd still have fun seeing cars driving fast and smashing into each other. And we were right. You loved it and of course asked when we were coming back. You also really loved the fair rides. We got there early and bought a bunch of tickets. We tried a couple games, but you loved the rides the best. They had a bunch that were basically the same thing, just different things to ride - tractors, motorcycles, trucks, cars - after your first ride you were hooked.
This is you just being the coolest little dude. I love your personality and I love that you love to be silly. You had just showered and sometimes I need to bribe you to comb your hair afterward. I tell you I need to give you fast hair so you can be really fast. Whatever works.
The next two photos aren't great, but they remind me of stories. Our mornings are usually so packed that the afternoons seem boring in comparison. You always want to play. Duh, you're a kid. Sometimes we see if the neighborhood kids are out, or we have dance parties, we play any number of games, but I also try to set up play dates. The photo below is of you and Makayla. We met her and your buddy Ethan (yup, same name...that's how we became friends), at a place were they have a music night for kids. You guys are sort of into it, but mostly just enjoy playing with each other and the other kids there.
The other photo is just proof that I sometimes make you fun meals. :)
In this photo shoot, I ended up trying to get some close ups of that gorgeous face of yours. You have the BEST smile...when it's natural. So, after our usual poses, I got up close to just get that sweet face. I ended up with a million photos that are all wonderful, just not that perfect combo of your natural smile WHILE looking at me. Good thing you're adorable no matter what.
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| This was the smile I wanted, but you weren't looking at me. |
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| So I asked you to smile and look at me, and I got this. Oh well. You're still cute. |
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| Who can resist this face? You make ME smile. |
One last story. We were out front playing one afternoon, when we see the neighbor across the street drive his car into the garage...
You: Where are they going?
Me: To his house.
You: Why is he going to his house?
Me: Why do you go to your house?
You: To play.
This is a perfect example of you now. Full of questions and always asking why. You ask why a LOT so I will often challenge you with a question back. Usually it's "why do you think __ (then I repeat what you asked)", because you usually have the answer. This time I switched it up and you had the best answer. Of course you go home to play. That's basically the reason you go anywhere...to play. You love to play. You're also three, so that's exactly what you should be doing. You're the best.
I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be. (This book (forget the name) makes me cry every time when I read that, but that's only because it's so true.)
Love,
Mama
P.S. I saw this on social media the other day. A woman I follow says this is her family motto. I thought this is a pretty amazing family motto. I hope our family will be able to live up to this, and that you grow up feeling this way about yourself and us. I can't see the future, but I can tell you Dada and I will do our best.
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