Dear Reddy,
My sketti man, impossibly five years old already.
You did a great job in preschool at St. David's this year making friends (Jeremiah and Pippa as your best friends) and learning your letters. You can write your name and you love to write things as we spell them out to you. You won the Respect Award at the end of the year for having manners and listening and being a good friend and student. You make us so proud, buddy! If I sit down with a children's book, you will drop whatever you were playing to come sit nearby to listen (I love that).
You love to play sports (soccer, football, basketball, baseball) and we can usually find you on the trampoline with Rusty play fighting or throwing the football to each other. You got to play on a 5U AYSO soccer team this year (with Olive and Coach Mom) and you would run a million miles per hour and then crash into the ground with wild boy delight. You had a cast on your fractured arm / dislocated elbow at the beginning of soccer season from a bounce house injury and could care less as you continued to play like a wildling even in a cast!
You have the most contagious laugh in our whole family. It is absolute gold and comes bubbling out from deep down in your belly and no one is immune to smiling when you start going. And as are our resident hambone at the dinner table, this is problematic because you can almost never make it through a meal without almost getting sent to timeout from being too silly and food flying out of your mouth and snot coming out of your nose from laughing so much. Something about having all your siblings sitting front row to the Reddy Sketti dinner comedy show is irresistible to you. And every time I tell you to calm down, it only makes you ham it more and continue with your bubble laughter which makes the big kids sit with shoulders shaking trying so hard not to laugh too so Mom doesn't lose all of her ever loving mind on everyone.
Oh, my baby - you are the perfect fit in this chaotic circus family. Thank you for being exactly the silly, hambone, laughing extraordinaire that you are!
This year you found your love of fishing and could barely control your emotions over wanting to be fishing at camp. You fished and fished until you were so cranky from being tired and hungry; we had to drag you back to a chair and make you eat with your eyes half closing. When everyone else had the rods, you found a long stick - had Uncle Kevin tie a line and a hook to it and sat on the bank fishing with that homemade rod with 'double waxies' on it. If there is an option between swimming or fishing - you pick fishing (very grateful you have a Dad, Grandpas, and brothers who will never tire of taking you fishing as you grow up!)
You finally(!) sleep in your own bed on the bottom bunk of Rusty (in a room with Violet and Olive in another bunk bed). I think having your siblings nearby with their relaxed breathing helps make you feel safe. You would choose fruit, veggies, chippies, gogurt, and bahsekti (spaghetti) as your favorite foods. You are particular about your clothes and socks; you know what you like to wear and will insist on picking them out for yourself. You like watching fishing channels on Youtube and love to sit around with Grey and his friends listening to them talk about fishing or sports.
You remind me so much of your big brother Booboo in the way you move your body when playing sports, the conversations you like to have, and the questions you ask. But there is a softness to your edges because you have older siblings that is unique to just to YOU. You have a gentleness to you from your big sisters who have snuggled and spoiled you, a confidence in you from your older brothers teaching and playing with you, and a loyalty in you from having a little sister so close in age.
You look up to Grey so much and want nothing more to be around him and his friends. Gemma is your soft place to land and she will still baby you if you need a little extra snuggles. You like to be challenged and to laugh with Violet (your weird little humors are just about the same). Rusty is your best friend and the two of you head off into imaginary lands that I will never get the chance to see the heroes that you are - fighting bad guys and saving all the babies. Olive is your other half; the two of you always in sync and aware of each other. You fight occasionally, but mostly just want the other to be okay - only a month shy of Irish twins; you really do act like twins and everyone always mistakes you for them in the way you treat each other and the way you look. I am so grateful that you two will go through school together side by side.
Five years old! That's technically a big kid, but lucky for you as the youngest son in our family - we still look at you like a little kid. I have the wisdom of a momma who already did this age before (4 times before!) and I can see that even though you are bigger and more independent, you are still just a little kid actually. What a blessing that is for both of us; the space to still be little but also get more responsibilities and freedoms. It will probably never be the exact right balance because you are my youngest son and a part of my heart will always want to baby you - but you are gracious with me as I try to figure out how to both push you forward and let you relish being my youngest boy.
You are so easy right now, Sketti. It is so clear to me what makes you happy and what makes you frustrated and what you are thinking all day (because you tell me willingly and freely no matter how insignificant) and how to help you reset if you are upset.
You can do so many things independently and you are very good at finding ways to have fun without needing entertained. You play imaginative games, you ride your bike, you get your own snacks and drinks, you are agreeable when playing with siblings. You like hanging out at home and don't fuss about wanting to go places. You eat almost anything we have for dinners, you don't mind hygiene, and are pretty cool about doing chores too. You just be chillin' and living your best life.
What a glorious age to be your momma; it's probably the easiest stretch right now. It was tough before because you needed me so much and it will get tough again when I will no longer be the one who can fix all your frustrations (and don't know what you are thinking every moment), but for now - it's me and you in the very easy breezy stage of five to eight years old and I plan to soak up every moment as best as I can; my sweet babyiest boy.
love you forever and ever
even when you get bigger than me
even when we get back into the tricky part of being momma & son
forever,
and ever and ever,
momma.
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