My dear Miles,

It’s been a good month, I think (except for the puking, but that’s what happens when people start at a new school).  Your brain has really been active lately.  You’re full of ideas you want to bring to fruition, and most of the time, they’re practical enough that I can help you.

Some of your recent ideas and projects include:

• A fruit spring.  I think you got this idea from Curious George.  Your iteration of it is a bunch of rubber bands stretched around a frame so that when you throw things at it, they bounce off.  Maybe in the original it was fruit that one was supposed to toss at the rubber band grid.  We’ve been sticking to small balls and other household objects.
• Your Halloween costume.  I’m going to wait until next month to show pictures of that, but it is super creative and it’s going to be great.  The idea was all yours.  I asked you if you heard about it somewhere, but you said you just thought of it.  I love Halloween, so it’s been lots of fun helping you get yours together.
• Your “creation.”  One day, you told me about this elaborate meal you wanted to make.  It started with freshly-squeezed lemonade.  Next came a fried egg, then chicken sauteed in garlic butter, then spaghetti with tomato sauce, and parsley on top.  You pretty much only at the spaghetti, but you had a lot of fun with the creative process.  I ate the rest of it, and it was good.

I don’t know if it’s kindergarten that’s spurred this blast of inventiveness or if it’s a phase you would have entered regardless, but it’s been a lot of fun.  You continue to enjoy kindergarten a lot.  You tell me your best friend is Anthony, a chatty little fellow I’ve met a couple of times.  I was able to join your class on a field trip to Wilson’s Orchard, which I enjoyed.  You got clingy when I was there, so I didn’t really get to see you interact with your classmates very much, but you’re always in good spirits when I pick you up.

You love all the treats and stickers your teachers give out.  It’s quite a contrast from Montessori preschool, in which children are encouraged to learn for the sake of a love of learning, and there are neither punishments nor rewards. The Montessori experience was great and a good fit for your personality, but the bribery motivations of public school are pretty fun.  It’s also exposing you to a wider variety of people than you had met before, which is largely a good thing.  You told me I need to keep having babies until one has dark skin, as that is your favorite way for a person to look.  I’m sorry to disappoint you, sweetie, but unless we end up adopting, that’s unlikely.

You’ve also come into contact with some attitudes we’ve tried hard to protect you from thus far.  When you chose what some classmates deemed a “girl toy” as one of the aforementioned rewards, you proudly told me that you just ignored them.  That warmed my heart so much, Miles.  I hope you can maintain that sweetness and strength of character.  Kids can be little psychopaths, and you’re a tender guy.  At the very least, I want you to always know that no matter what kind of crap people throw at you, your home base can always be your sanctuary.  That doesn’t mean your dad and I will always give you everything you want (which would be a 100% junk food diet and video games all day).  It does mean that there’s nothing you can do that would make us turn our backs on you.

We went to a special school event a while back, Literacy Night.  You had so much fun showing us around your school.  You also got your own library card, which is something we’d been planning to do for a while, but we hadn’t gotten around to it.  The public library representative who helped you took your picture with your new card, and it turned out so cute that they decided to put it on a brochure.  It hasn’t been printed yet, but I’m excited to see it when it’s available.  You were pretty proud when I told you about it.  I was glad you had that reaction, because you might have gone either way with it.  Sometimes attention freaks you out.  I timed telling you to coincide with a Monster Mash ice cream cone at Heyn’s, and a blood sugar boost always lifts your spirits.

You also got your school pictures back, with the same old classic blue background that has been featured in every public school picture I ever remember seeing.  It’s a rite of passage for you, though you probably don’t see it that way  now.  You’ve entered into the blue-background school picture world, and uninspired though it may be, I look forward to accumulating a big stack of them throughout the years.  Your picture turned out very cute, and it’s sitting in a frame on our mantle now.

Your reading skills are blossoming, too.  You’ve been writing new words and putting them together into sentences.  When we read stories together at night, you look over my shoulder and identify words.  My days of skipping paragraphs to get you to sleep earlier may be limited.  You still have a stubborn streak, and it’s very difficult to get you to do anything if it’s not on your own terms.  Maybe we can find a way to harness that power for good.

I’m glad you’re doing so well, and that your brain is churning with activity.  Have another good month, my sweet boy.  I’m proud of you now and always.

Love,

Mommy