My Letter To Quinn

August 8, 2012

Dear Quinn-

This summer has flown by.  I thought 12 weeks would drag on, but boy have we had a lot of fun.   We’ve been playing with Doo-Dah and Hadley, going to Jump Zone to jump in the bounce houses, playing in the creeks, going for walks, playing at the parks, going to the Splash Park, and just having fun together.  I have LOVED almost every second of this summer.  You know I’d be lying if I said everything was perfect, right?!?!?

We started to wind down our summer with a week at the beach in Long Boat Key, Florida.  For the first time ever, you slept in a big boy bed and you thought you were just the coolest thing.  You crawled right in and smiled because you were so big!  You are quite the little beach bum too.  I enjoyed playing in the sand and probably washing your hands in the waves even more.  You were so independent…back and forth from the water whether Mommy and Daddy were with you or not.  Daddy, being so white, didn’t spend too much daytime out on the beach so you and I hung out quite a bit.  We visited the marina, the pier, and of course the beach.  You enjoyed picking up sea shells and chasing the birds.   Your vocabulary grew like crazy!  Every evening about 6, Daddy would come out and we’d hang out as a family on the beach.  You turn yourself inside out whenever you see Daddy…he’s your buddy.

What I’ve noticed most about these past 4 weeks is how smart you are!  Granted I try to expose you to as much learning as possible by reading books, going to new places, and talking to you all the time, but honestly, you learn so much on your own.  You really LOVE to play on the Kindle (an e-reader) and while Angry Birds was once your favorite game, you are spending much more time playing educational games right now – games that focus on phonics, letter recognition, puzzles, and more.  I was amazed when you started counting to 29 (you get upset because it’s not 20-10 after 29, it’s 30…so we’ll stop at 29 for now) and even more amazed when you started counting backwards from 10 (you skip 3).  You know all your letters, upper case and lower case, can identify a few sight words (though T-A-M-P-A-X still spells Mommy to you), know about 90% of your letter sounds, and are constantly singing your ABCs and counting.  Other favorite songs are “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” “Clap Your Hands” (known to the rest of us as “If You’re Happy and You Know It”), and “Animals” (aka… “Old MacDonald”).  You also LOVE books – every night Daddy and I have to go into your room and take books away from you because you’d rather be reading than sleeping.  Your favorite is Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?  You know almost all of the words and recite it on your own.

We started potty training this past weekend, not because I think you’re ready to be fully potty-trained, but because I want you to be used to going on the potty.  On Saturday morning we set out to read some books on the potty.  We made it through 3 and you started reading on your own.  I decided to leave the room for a few moments when I hear footsteps coming down the hall and your little voice saying “Mommy, Uh Oh.  Mommy…Uh Oh!”  I went into the bathroom to find poop all over the floor.  “Oh no Quinn, poop goes in the potty.”  “Skittles?”  “No Quinn, no Skittles unless you go poo poo in the potty.”  “No Skittles?”  “No…sorry buddy.”  You proceeded to sit down and squeeze out the tiniest little turd I’ve ever seen, stand up, point to it with a huge smile on your face and say “Skittles!?!?!?”  Of course I had to give you a few, but I also have not stopped laughing about it.  You have had a few successes, but they’re not as fun to talk about J

I’m looking forward to challenging you more, getting you potty trained, and to spending lots more time with you this year.  I’m excited to be going back to work only part time so we can learn and play together every day!

Love you Little Man!
Mommy

Such a little heartbreaker!

All in a busy day's work