Mother-Son Time

Dear Sawyer,

You were ready for bed early yesterday so I told you that we had time to read a book together. You love Dog Man books so I thought you were going to pick one from your collection but you picked a book we'd never actually read together called Mommy's Little Boy. In it, the mom and son do different things together that you and I have done many times: shop for groceries, go to the park, get ice cream. To my surprise, you started crying when I read the page about getting ice cream. When I asked you what was wrong, you said it made you sad because it made you remember when you were little* and you and I used to do things with just the two of us, like get ice cream together. I told you that I know we don't have that much Mama-Sawyer quality time these day but reminded you that we still have our moments, like when we went to Ithaca and you and I went on a hike by ourselves to see Lucifer Falls and now on Fridays, after we drop JieJie off at her swimming class and hang out on Austin Street before we have to pick her up afterward. I love our alone time together and will try to carve out more time for it!

Love,

Mom

*I love how you always refer to yourself as "when I was little" and "when I was younger" because you are still so little and young in my eyes!

Sweet Second Grader

Dear Sawyer,

You are a second grader now! And you started the school year on such a nice note. You told me today that your teacher passed out origami paper for everyone in the class as a reward for behaving but she accidentally skipped the girl who sits next to you. When the girl commented that the teacher hadn't given her origami paper, you told her that she could have yours and gave it to her. When your teacher asked if everyone had paper, you raised your hand and said you didn't because you'd given it to your classmate. Your teacher then called you up to her desk and gave you two extra sheets of origami paper for being so thoughtful. I am so proud of your kindness, baby bear!

Love,

Mom

Master Builder

Dear Sawyer,

It has been a pretty busy summer! In the past two months, you have gone to summer camp and our family has traveled to Ithaca, Legoland, the beach a couple times, Governors Island and Kalahari Resort. We have had so much fun and this morning, you told me, "Thank you for giving me the best summer ever." Awww, you're welcome, sweetie! I'm so happy you are enjoying your summer break!

We have been so active that we actually stayed home today just to chill. I asked you what you wanted to play with me and you said you wanted to build with Keva planks so the two of us ended up making a housing complex with two houses and a large yard with benches, trees and a swimming pool. While we were building the houses, you told me, "Master builders build carefully, not quickly." Wise words! And I had fun playing with you today!

Love,

Mom

Sawyer-O-Lantern

Dear Sawyer,

You lost ANOTHER tooth! It was the other top middle one and it came out when you started eating breakfast yesterday. You now have so many gaps in your mouth! You look so cute!

Love,

Mom

Mind the Gaps

Dear Sawyer,

When you started eating dinner last night, you lost another tooth! It was the front top one this time, so now you have one gap in your upper teeth and two gaps in the bottom, giving you the cutest jack-o-lantern smile ever!

Love,

Mom

Knocked Out

Dear Sawyer,

Noteworthy moments from today:

1) While we were waiting for your camp bus this morning, I looked up at the sky and said, "Sawyer, look at the sky! It's so pretty!" You had been reading your Archie comic book, so you looked up for a second, looked back down at your book and said while reading your book, "Not as pretty as you!"

2) You lost your fourth tooth! At camp! It had been loose for awhile and it finally got knocked out today when you fell off a swing at camp and hit your chin. You said you tasted blood and spit it out and when you did, you spit your tooth out, too. You went to the nurse to get cleaned up and they put your tooth in a little envelope for the "Tooth Fairy."

Love,

Mom

On the Right Track

Dear Sawyer,

You are on the small size for your age and still wear size 5T clothing. GuhGaw wore 5T clothing when he was in pre-K, so a lot of the 5T clothes he passed down to you have characters that are popular with 4-year-olds, including Thomas the Tank Engine. Today, you wore a Thomas bathing suit to camp and when you came home, you told me that the other boys in your group teased you and said Thomas was for babies. I am so sorry that you got teased but I am so proud of how you handled it. You told me that when they made those comments, you just kept saying, "So? So? So?" until the stopped. You also told one of the boys, "You can wear whatever you want." It takes a lot of courage to stand up to a group of kids who are teasing you and I am so proud that you didn't their words get to you. You are a lot stronger than I was at your age and I hope you will always be this confident and self-assured.

Love,

Mom

Younger

Dear Sawyer,

Your charm offensive is still going strong! This morning, I was drinking my coffee at the dining table while you were eating breakfast. You smiled at me and said, "Mama, you look younger than you actually are." Flattered, I said thank you and then asked you why you said that. You replied, "Isn't that a nice thing to say?" I said it was but I was curious what made you think of that. You told me, "I hear your friends tell you that all the time." It's always funny how we don't think you kids are listening when you are!

Love,

Mom

Happy Camper

Dear Sawyer,

Two years ago, you were supposed to start summer camp for the first time. Then Covid hit and you couldn't go to camp (or anywhere else) for awhile. Thankfully, you were finally able to enjoy this age-old childhood experience this year and had your first day of summer camp today! I had signed you up for camp all the way back in March and when I told you, you were so excited that you asked a million questions: What time will the camp bus come pick you up? What will they serve for lunch on the first day? How many kids will be in your group? What kind of ice cream do they offer? I had to tell you to stop asking questions because I had no idea since camp was still four MONTHS away!

And now camp has finally started! You woke up super early today at a little past 6am and were dressed, fed, brushed and sunblocked by 7:30am--a whole 50 minutes before your bus was scheduled to arrive! Starting at 7:40am, you kept looking out the front window and asking me if the bus was here yet! When it did arrive, you weren't nervous at all and just walked right onto it. And when you came home this afternoon and I asked you how camp had been, you replied, "It was a glorious day." Glorious! I am so happy you had such a good start to camp!

Love,

Mom

Loving Words

Dear Sawyer,

Our conversation tonight:

Me: Did you go to the bathroom?

You: Yes.

Me: Did you wash your hands?

You: Yes. Do I love you? Yes.

*melt!*

Love,

Mom

Sweeter Than Cake

Dear Sawyer,

You are always full of the sweetest compliments! Recently, you have been telling me, "Mama, you smell better than a flower, are more beautiful than a pretty dress and are sweeter than a piece of cake." Sometimes, you even add on at the end, "And you are brighter than a lightbulb." I mean, come on! Whenever you say that to me, my day instantly gets better!

Love,

Mom

The One

Dear Sawyer,

When I was brushing your teeth tonight, you told me, "Mama, if anyone else was my mama, I wouldn't be happy. You are the one for me." Awww, thank you, sweetie!

Love,

Mom

Baby Talk

Dear Sawyer,

You may be seven years old now but I do love that you still mispronounce a few words. You often say words like "fallded" instead of "fell" and you still say "waterlemon" instead of "watermelon." I will enjoy the waning baby talk while I still can!

Love,

Mom

You're Seven Years Old!

Dear Sawyer,

This past Sunday, we went bike riding with our neighbors who live across the street. We went on the Forest Park bike trail, which I had never taken you on because it has quite a few challenging hills. Our neighbors' kids have done the trail several times, as has JieJie, so they were able to handle the trail and go much faster than you. I stayed behind with you while they went ahead and while it took you longer to go up the hills and you got tired a few times, your positive attitude never wavered. You never complained that the hills were too hard, you never whined that the other kids were so far ahead of you and you never stopped trying. You pedaled as hard as you could and just kept pushing through all of the challenging sections. I was so incredibly proud of you.

I am so lucky to have you in my life and I can't believe you are now SEVEN! Happy birthday to my baby bear! You are such an amazing person and have so many wonderful qualities. In addition to being determined, you are cheerful, optimistic, enthusiastic, helpful, thoughtful and creative. You have a very curious mind and are constantly asking questions like: why is our bathroom designed in the shape it is, how do birds fly so high in the sky, why do they call it a bridge, are there pools of water that are bottomless? You love to read and I constantly find you reading morning, noon and night. It's a "problem" I have with GuhGaw and JieJie, too--you guys are such voracious readers that you dive into a book every chance you get, even if I have been yelling at you to instead brush your teeth, put on your shoes, go take a shower, put on your pjs and get into bed, etc. Sometimes, you even try to read while simultaneously walking down the street! Your teacher also told me that she often has to talk to you about reading the books from the classroom library before you have finished your assignments. I am probably the only mother who has to constantly yell, "Stop reading!" but I am grateful that you can spend hours engaged in a book and that while other kids are always asking to watch YouTube or play video games, you are asking me to go on Epic.com to read books. Your favorite books right now are ones about dinosaurs and books from the Dog Man and Wimpy Kid series.

Your other interests are (still) dinosaurs, the Octonauts series on Netflix, building things with Legos and PlusPlus puzzle pieces, dancing to BTS songs and drawing comics. I am always impressed with your drawings because you put so many interesting details in them! You have also started getting interested in chess but I'd say your biggest hobby is complimenting me! Here are some gems you have said to me recently:

"Mama, you make everything better."

"I think about you all of the time. Even when I'm at school."

"Sawyer, you look good." "Mama, you always look good."

"Mama, I love you and you always look so beautiful and everything you do makes me so happy."

"I'm sad when I can't see your face and your sweet smile."

"I'm so happy I'm your kid."

And I'm so happy I'm your mama! Happy birthday, sweetheart!

Love,

Mom

Crushing It

Dear Sawyer,

At dinner every night, you talk about all kinds of things: a fun fact you learned in STEM class, an interesting episode of "Wild Kratts" you watched during lunchtime, a plotline from the Wimpy Kid book you read, etc. Last night's dinner topic was a new one, though: You told us all about who has a crush on who in your class! I'd never heard you talk about crushes before and it was super amusing to see you animatedly say with wide eyes and a huge grin, "Riley used to have a crush on me but now she has a crush on Logan! Skye has a crush on Kenneth! Thoon has a crush on me . . . but I am NOT going to marry her!" So cute!

Love,

Mom

Pants Mix-Up

Dear Sawyer,

Impressive things about you at the moment:

1) You love blueberries so much that you can easily polish off an entire pint of them in one sitting.

2) You can fit into your baby sister's pants! After you got dressed this afternoon, you went up to play in the attic. When I came up to say hi, I noticed that your pants were strangely short on you--the hems were a few inches above your ankles. I was so confused and asked you if you'd had a sudden growth spurt while playing in the attic. Then it occurred to me to check the pants size--and they were size 2T! The last time I was putting laundry away, I must have accidentally put a pair of MuiMui's pants in your drawer. They look similar to your pants so you slipped them on today and they fit fine! They were short on you but the waist part wasn't even tight! Oh my gosh, you are so slim! And we couldn't stop laughing when we realized you were wearing MuiMui's pants! Hahaha!

Love,

Mom

Best of the Best

Dear Sawyer,

This morning, you said to me, "Mama, you are my best friend. I have other best friends but you are the BEST of my best friends." Awww, thank you, sweetie!

Love,

Mom

Connecticut Energy

Dear Sawyer,

Instead of "hummus," you say "Bahamas." As in, "Can I  have some Bahamas with my carrot sticks?" You also pronounce "kinetic energy" as "Connecticut energy." I love it!

Love,

Mom