My dear Miles,

You’re 75 months old, huh?  That number seems big and small at the same time.  It feels like I’ve known you for hundreds of months, decades…and yet, you’re still a little boy in a lot of ways.

Your dad and I have noticed that you seem to be dropping into another period of disequilibrium, and we’re right about on schedule for that.  We were remembering some of the challenges our family faced last summer, when you were being particularly hard to get along with.  Recently, you’ve been lots of fun, easy-going and sweet.  But as the weather warms and we approach your half-year mark, things seem to be shifting back.  Is it a way to exert some control?  You’ve always had a stubborn streak, but lately you’ve been reminding us even more strongly that you don’t like being bossed around.

I don’t like being bossed around either, but dude, you have to wear your shoes to go to school.  I had a dentist appointment the other morning, so you didn’t have your usual routine.  When I got back from the dentist, your dad looked like he’d aged six months or a year.  He did manage to get your shoes on, but he couldn’t get you to brush your teeth.  What gives?

And there’s this thing you do—oh boy, it drives us crazy.  We’ll ask you to stop doing something (say, kicking the back of the seat in the car), and you have to do it one or two more times before you’ll stop.  It seems  like you’re nonverbally indicating that you recognize that you have to submit to authority, but you have to get one more kick in there to make sure we know you don’t like it.

I don’t mean to be negative.   I just want to be honest.  I think I sometimes lean toward the overly sunshiny in my posts, and that’s just because I don’t figure anyone wants to hear a bunch of complaining.  But we have our struggles.

I’m an optimist, though, so I’m always looking for the best in you.  You often show your best side, and those are my favorite memories.  We had a wonderful time on our vacation, and you accomplished your goal of making an excellent sand castle.  Your best times were in the pool, though.  You showed water bravery you’ve never shown before.  With the help of your water wings, you splashed and dunked and wiggled all over the place.  You made some friends in our condo complex and had a lot of fun with them in the pool.  You ate popsicles and noodles and french fries and were mostly sweet to your brother.

A big event happened in your mouth on vacation.  You lost your first tooth.  You were excited and proud, though the dollar and a quarter the tooth fairy left didn’t interest you too much.  I think cash is not particularly thrilling to you, since you see so little of it exchanged.

Photo by Denny

You reached a major milestone:  we set you a two-pronged goal of good behavior on vacation and reading twenty books all by yourself.  You accomplished it, so you earned a Nintendo Wii U.  We had held off thus far on a major gaming system, although I think your dad has been wanting one for a while.  You played Wii at a friend’s house, and of course you got hooked.  We went out and got a set, as well as a new TV to go with it.  Our family rule that you can only play on weekends (“Wii-kends”), and you count down the days all week.  You’re becoming quite a Mario expert.

Photo by Denny

You have about two more months of kindergarten, then we’ll settle into a more relaxed summer routine.  You’ll be taking some summer classes at your old digs, Willowwind.  You’ll also have some time off.  We plan to go to Lincoln to see your future cousin once he arrives in June, and you should definitely have more swimming lessons.  This winter was so awful, it’s great that spring is finally showing up.  It can be hard to drag you away from your computer and video games, but once you get outside, you always have fun.  You’ve gotten out on your bike a bit lately, and you and your dad and brother have been exploring the tunnels in the park.

Photo by Denny

Let’s try to keep it together and have a good spring and summer, my little Scoop.  I’m looking forward to having more time with you.  We’ll go to the library, play on the playground, eat frozen yogurt, and maybe even play a little extra Wii.

Love,

Mommy