Carter, you're 4!

Dear Carter,

This has been one of the busiest months of my life. Therefore, it's been one of your busiest too. You have done remarkably well with all the change and I am very much looking forward to this next year with you.
2 was a very hard year for us, 3 was almost harder but I have a lot of hope for 4. About 2 months ago, our daily battles began waning and we have been able to overcome a lot of our struggles with each other.

It is so hard as a mom to not know what 'works' with you for so long. My default style of parenting was making your outbursts and tantrums even worse, and it took me awhile to realize it. We have really come a long way since I was able to take a step back and re-evaluate our problems. It's something I recommend every parent of a strong willed child do, from time to time. It has given us a new lease on our relationship and for that, I am forever thankful.

I don't want people to read this and think all I have to say is negative. I have a lot of good to say. I love you, of course I do, you're my son. But because I love you, I want to remember our time how it really was. This blog is my real life journal. My real life feelings and memories. It's not something I do just to waste time on the computer. Since I am not good at keeping mementos, or scrapbooks or baby books, this is it. And I want to write about everything, the wonderful times as well as the hard times. I want you to read this when you have toddlers of your own and realize that it's not easy for ANYONE and that you're not alone, and that you can come to me and your father, because we've been there, and here's the proof.




You are incredibly intelligent and compassionate. For as much of a rule breaker you are, you are such a rule follower. You get so upset when people don't follow the right rules or do things the way you know them to be done. You thrive on schedule and routine. You love your family and your dog very very much. You love spending one on one time with mama and daddy, and you love arguing with your brother. Sometimes you don't even know what y'all are fighting about....but you have to disagree.

You do love Clay and tell him he's your best friend. However, when you don't like something he's doing, you tell him,"You're not my friend anymore!". I'm assuming you learned that at school?
Your last day of PDE at Edwards was on Friday and your teachers were very sad to see you leave. They made you a very special poster of pictures to remember them by. I am also sad to see you leave them. You liked Ms Grace and Ms Amanda very much.
We have been talking about your new school in FL, and you tell me that you won't cry when you go 3 times. That's when you'll get used to it, and you won't need to cry after that. I tried to explain that you don't need to cry on the first time, but you've got it stuck in your head for some reason.

You are very good at identifying letters and numbers and simple words. You believe that you already know how to read because you have memorized lots of books. Therefore, you don't ever let me try to work on it with you. Ugh.

You love anything with dinosaurs and can identify a lot of them. You also really like Star Wars, guns and swords and He-Man.
You are so much....BOY and I am surprised at how much of a KID you are now. There's no baby left in you. You are so coordinated, so articulate and so smart. You are so stubborn, strong willed and I love you.

You love adding and puzzles and 'reading' books. You are very nervous that I have mentioned taking off your training wheels. You do not like to keep trying at things, you want to be good at things the first time.

I love you and you are my special first born. You are my big boy, you are so bright, and you can do anything. Happy 4th Birthday!