The Water Bottle

Dear Kasen,

This is going to be a little embarrassing for you, but I had to write it down.  I love picking you up from school.  As all kindergartens are, you're excited and eager for school each day.  When I stand outside of your classroom waiting for you to come out, I love knowing that you'll loudly say "goodbye Ms. A" over and over again until she says bye to you.  I used to try and stop you because you'll do it even if someone else is in the process of saying bye or talking to her and I thought it was rude of you, but then I found out that she specifically told you at the beginning of the year that she would be very sad if you ever left without saying goodbye to her.  I'm so happy that you think about others all the time.  I love how you run to me each day and give me the biggest hugs and are so happy to see me!

Today we had to go to the post office immediately after school and when we pulled up in the parking lot you gritted your teeth and said "ohhhh I have to go to the bathroom". I panicked for a minute because you've been having some issues with the restroom lately- but I asked you if you could hold it, I'd be out super fast.  You told me no.  So I looked around the car for SOMETHING you could use.  I found a water bottle and asked if you could use that.  To be very honest, I thought you'd recoil at the thought of peeing in a cup or bottle and wait until we got home in 5 minutes, but you enthusiastically said OK! And I passed the bottle back telling you to keep your privates INSIDE the bottle and not to pee in the car.  Your older brothers were horrified!  I asked Riley to help you so there wouldn't be a mess and his eyes became wide with fear telling me he was NOT going to help in any manner.   I ran into the post office, hoping I wouldn't come back to a mess, and rushed with the package so I could get you home.  I was in there for all of 2 minutes.

When I opened my door, your two older brothers were coughing and gagging while you sat in the very back seat with a big grin on your face!  I asked if you did it and you handed me a half filled water bottle of....well, you know what it was.  I have to say it was pretty disgusting.  But your giggle as you passed it to me made me smile and think how you are just 100% boy!  You see, you're my only child that has even considered doing that.  The other boys, from as far back as I can remember, would never pee in a cup or bottle.  So on trips where there were no bathrooms around, they'd either hold it or we'd pull to the side of the road.  Your half full water bottle, although disgusting, made me laugh later as I retold the story, and made me laugh even more when I remember the shock and horror on your older brothers faces.   I love you Kasey and never want you to lose that impish grin and fierce sense of adventure.

Love,

Mom

Hello My Lovelies...

Dear Braedon, Riley and Kasen,

I've been wanting to do this for a very long time. Years ago, I read a birthday letter that my friend Danae wrote to one of her children.  I loved it so much that I vowed to write you each a letter on your birthday every year.

I've been ok at that and will post the old letters on this blog, but a few weeks ago, I was reading through some of those old letters and posts and felt the urge to write about all sorts of things that happen in your lives, not just on your birthday's. 

So here they are...I'll be writing my thoughts, memories and feelings to you here. And each year, I'm going to print off those letters in a book, until one day, when you're all grown up, you'll have all these to read and remember times in your life that you may have forgotten.  Most of all, I want you to be able to read about things that happened in your life from my point of view.

 Of course, I'm your mother, so my thoughts of you, and my dialogue will be from me to you, but that's ok. That's how it's meant to be. These letters don't mean that I don't talk and communicate with you daily, but they're a compilation of memories for me too. There's so many things that happen each day, week, and year and over time, I forget about them.   Like just the other day, when Kasen cried about leaving his favorite ball outside and a dog bit it and it popped.  It was such a horrific thing for him, but if I didn't write about those things, pretty soon, we'd forget them.

I wonder, when you're all grown up and adults, what your perception of these things will be and what your perception of my thoughts will be.  Especially as you grow into men and have children of your own.  I love each of you more than I could have ever thought possible...you make me laugh, cry, and sometimes scream, but you also teach me so much about life.  So let's get started...