Happy 39 months!

Dear Connor,

Tomorrow, you will be 39 months old. It's been a very busy month around here, and you have done an incredible job of not noticing and digging in and helping, when appropriate. It's been a real blessing to everyone near you. The big thing that happened this month is that we sold our home. Yes, your birthplace will soon belong to a young couple who's planning on starting a family soon. And while I'm sad that you will likely have no memories of this home, I'm not sad to avoid the renovation we had planned. That could have been really tough on everyone.

What does this move mean to you? For starters, we had to keep the house super clean for about 10 consecutive days as first realtors and then potential home-buyers trounced through our place. This meant that many of your toys were displaced and we were in a state of near constant vacuuming. Luckily, I got a new vacuum and you pulled out the vacuum we gave you when Helen was born and together, we logged a lot of miles. I think everyone is grateful the home sold so fast. You are already making plans to paint your new room "rainbow" which will be very interesting, I'm sure.

Outside, there were also plenty of jobs to be done, but that didn't mean we didn't take the time to rake up a bunch of leaves just to jump in. I have to admit though, you were probably more enthusiastic about bagging them up than anyone. You've become quite meticulous when it comes to the outdoors. The first week of school, you announced that you were going to keep the path that leads to the playground clean and every week you have kept your word. You probably spend half of your playground time each week cleaning up the path, but it does look mighty good when you're done. More recently, you've started treating the deck this way and since we always have magnolia leaves falling on it, you have plenty to do whenever you choose.

Occasionally, your dad or I will call you Henry to get your attention and this month, without missing a beat when your dad called you "Henry", you responded by calling him Bob. It was as if you had been planning your come-back for a long time. Smooth, Connor. Very Smooth.


I always enjoy seeing my speech tics show up in your speech, if for no other reason than it seems to show you listen to me. Of course, it also points out to me phrases that get a bit overused. This month, I have been trying to say "unfortunately" and "fortunately" less, as they have crept into your vocabulary with amazing zest. Often, you will pose a query such as "Mommy, can we go to the inside park today" and I will respond "unfortunately, Connor, the inside park is not open today". You have taken this speech pattern to a new level proclaiming everything to be either fortunate or unfortunate - often mixing the the two.

Observing you at school brings pleasure to me every week. Once this month, you picked up a rather large board to add to the train station you were building and shouted "I'm carrying an ENORMOUS board" and Mrs. T. looked at me smiling, so proud of how much you've changed since last year. A big Waldorf principle is that children should be able to hold different relative positions - so while you were the youngest in the class last year, this year you are among the older. You do everything at school with vibrancy and a real sense of purpose. One week we were out on the playground and you hopped up on the balance beam and then announced you were going to fly. You started flapping your little arms and then you leapt, and I almost could not catch you because your arms were waving so wildly. When you were safely on the ground, you looked at me and shouted "did I do it, did I fly?". Later that day, you tried flying out of your carseat as you left the car and nobody was there to catch you, and as it turns out, you probably didn't fly earlier in the day, and you certainly didn't fly then.

You and Helen had an incredible month. You celebrate her achievements, engage her constantly, and the two of you laugh uncontrollably at least once each day at and with each other. You very much try to keep her out of harm's way and will pick her up and move her when you deem it necessary. So far, no harm, no foul.

Today, you and your dad spent his day off heading off to the hardware store to take care of a few small issues that came up in the home inspection and then you took Helen with you to the petting farm. I'm told that everyone had a great time, though you and Helen seemed to have a bit more energy than you dad did when I came home from work.

The days are getting cold and short, but this just means we have to dress warmly when we go out each day and that it's dark in the morning, so the odds of you sleeping in increase. This latter thing is a very good thing, indeed.

Love,
Mommy