Reddy,
My littlest guy is three years old. Our sweet, funny little man is climbing up that toddler ladder and coming into his ownself. What a long while we waited to hear and understand what you had to say about the world - and man, oh man...is the wait ever over. Your speech cleared up right before you turned three and now all you do is chatterbox all day long! It is when, and where, and how, and why why why. It is 'watch dis', and 'look at that', and 'can I do it?' It has been such a joy to learn more about you through what you ask and want to tell stories about (mostly dinosaurs, hunting, fishing, sports, and nature).
It consistently makes me laugh that you think being everyone's favorite little dude is normal. With all your siblings, every time we go anywhere where they have friends you are like an instant celebrity. Everyone is always high fiving you and playing with you and laughing at your jokes. The self confidence that you have that has come from years of this has really encouraged you to be brave and friendly.
You are an outdoor kid (you spent most of your first year of life outside!) so you always prefer to be outside; jumping on the trampoline, zipping around on your Strider bike, or checking all our flowers. This summer you became a lightening bug catching expert. You don't like swimming in pools, but you love lakes or public pools that have walk in access. As long as you can touch the bottom, you are so full of joy in the water. The way you shriek and laugh while you jump and splash makes me so happy.
At three, you love dinosaurs (T-Rex best of all!) and superheroes (Spiderman best of all!) You would spend the whole day play fighting with Rusty; sometimes you are enemies and sometimes sidekicks - but there are always sound effects. You love sports (baseball, football, soccer, and basketball) and you like to dress appropriately for your big siblings' practices and games (cleats, tall socks, and mini jerseys.
You want to be independent and do things yourself (getting dressed, getting snacks, opening yogurt so it dumps all over my kitchen, putting on shoes, etc) but you also like to baby brother it up (telling everyone you can't do something because your legs hurt or you need to sit down right now; hah!) You love helping me in the kitchen and you are always the first to volunteer to stir or mix ingredients, and lick the spoon (obviously.) You love chips and gum and cookies - but your favorite things to eat are super healthy stuff like fruits and vegetables; you love salads, yogurt parfaits, and sweet potato breakfast hash. You still like to have a "macheet" at bed/naptime which is just chocolate milk but we might always call it macheet now because of you.
Each of your siblings brings out a different shade in you. You idolize Grey and he thinks you are Him and tells everyone so (#teenageboyslang) Gemma is patient and encourages all the YOU in you. Since you like dinosaurs, she'll play dinosaurs. If you want to color, she'll print you pictures. It's the teacher's heart in her and what a blessing you get that kind of support from her. Violet pushes you and expects independence out of you in play and chores. I am grateful that at least one family member in this house does not baby you - it will help you grow and learn! Rust loves having a little shadow to teach and play with. He is such a patient and generous big brother, I am so grateful you have him to watch and imitate. Olive is your little pretend twin (only 1 month over from being Irish twins?!) You play and fight and play and fight - literally over and over again all day long. You have funny little inside jokes together and sometimes you just look at her and giggle because she can be such a silly, bossy, wackadoo.
You're in the rough boy stage; which can last anywhere from 18mo to 18 yrs. It's 1 part curious, 1 part brave, and 2 parts destruction. Luckily for you, we've already done this twice with your brothers so when you were sitting on the back porch breaking a water gun into a million pieces by hitting it with a hammer in an inquisitive and focused way - Dad and I were just like, "huh...look at him go." (hah #bigfamilywisdom) If we've learned anything from being parents to boys, we've figured out that often times it takes breaking something for you all to figure out how it works and why it was important in the first place. That's why we make sure to allow for opportunities to break things that are replaceable like toys and papers and why we try build in a multitude of experiences in being gentle and careful with valuable things like people and animals and hearts.
I think you and I may always have a little special knot - my only c-section baby + covid quarantine newborn closeness and my youngest son; it gives you and I an extra tether between us. You still always prefer me to be close to you; during the day, at bedtime, when we are out and about. You are my kid who get sick the most (finger sucker & c-section baby) so there is always a part of my mind that is reserved for general (unnecessary!) worry about your health.
In a big family, I think it gets tricky to feel singular when so much of life is part of a whole. You are fifth in the group - a solid life so far of being "one of the Studer kids" But, my boy - know that you are uniquely and wonderfully exactly what the world needs. You have your own sweet thoughtfulness with the flowers you pick for me or the whispers at night that you have a surprise for me tomorrow (and the surprise is a hug). You are very silly and funny in a way that no one else in our family is - your comedic timing almost perfect and you leave the whole dinner table laughing so hard we have food flying out of our mouths. I hope you find that being from a big family will always be a blessing to you, but you are just YOU too. And I will forever be grateful that YOU are part of US.
My Reddy,
I love being your momma.
You find a way to make me smile every single day.
You are smart, and strong, and growing so big!
You are funny, and thoughtful, and give the sweets hugs around the neck.
I love you so much
forever and ever
even when you are bigger than me!
momma.
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