Five Year Letter

Dear Foster,

You are FIVE! I can't believe it. You've grown so much in this last year, it's been a ton of fun to watch.

We spent the summer busy! Unfortunately, that meant the second year in a row without camping! Luckily we've already scheduled a few trips in 2018 to try and make up for that. Instead of camping, we upgraded your room so you sleep on the bottom half of a bunk bed now. Your toddler bed was just getting too short for how tall you have grown.

You were such a big help with Shep this year. You two are constant playmates and you get pretty upset if he's not around because you don't want to play by yourself. You even helped him learn when it was time for him to start potty training.

You and I had a special (or it was planned to be special) weekend together going to the Oregon Country Faire. We got to camp with Aunt Amy, Uncle Jeff, and cousin Isela. Unfortunately, the Faire means a LOT of walking long distances to get places, a ton of mosquitoes, and staring at a lot of adult butts because it's so crowded. You and I decided to ditch a little early and head to Portland to spend some time with GastonNation instead which you liked a lot more. There were definitely things you liked about the Faire, but all and all I think you were just a little too young to really enjoy it.

You and Shep spent a lot of Dude Days with daddy going to the lake near our house. You are getting to be a really good swimmer! You pride yourself with being able to hold your breath and swim from one place to another with your face in the water.

In September we had our annual trip with the Western Crew and hit up the coast. You had so much fun with Ruby, Marjorie, and Eloise. You even spent the night outside of our room. One night you spend with Ruby and the next night all the kids slept downstairs after watching a movie together. I'm looking fun to sleepovers (I think).

You started your second year of preschool in the fall and wow, what a difference from last year! Your teacher is amazing, Miss Brenda, and some how you ended up in a class full of great kids. There weren't any of the tears that we had last year and you quickly made some close friends (though it took most of the year to actually remember their names). You really enjoyed whispering poop and butt jokes with Blaydon in the back of the room, and playing with Lucas in your 'HQ' out on the playground. I wish that some of these kids would be in your kindergarten next year, but I have big hopes that you will continue to be a social kid who reaches out to others to make friends.

We had big celebrations this year. Omee turned 70 and Momma and Daddy celebrated 10 years of being married. Part of that celebration meant we were gone on a trip to Australia without you for a couple of weeks. That was the longest I've been away from you since you were born! When we got back from the trip you told me that you had fun staying with Nana, Pa, Omee, ChuChu and the Kuders, but that we had been gone for too many days. We missed you too, but are so proud of you for watching out for Shep and being such a big kid while we were gone.

This winter was the first year you gave skiing a real try. You really liked it when we got you a real helmet and insisted on wearing it everywhere (long before we headed up to a mountain). We started off with cross country skis, but those were a little too floppy for you. We soon bumped you up to real boots and skis and you seemed to like that better. Of course Shep wanted to try too. You still prefer to play in the snow (and eat it) to skiing, but maybe next year you'll want to go down a few more hills.

For Christmas, all you wanted from Santa was a green sparkly hat with lights that you saw at the costume store. You asked for it every time you saw him. Luckily, he pulled through and delivered it on Christmas morning. You had your first Christmas concert for school. I was proud of you for getting up on stage, though you clearly had no interest in singing the songs or doing the dances. Performing isn't really your thing right now. It was funny to watch you lip-sync though. I think you had some people fooled.

In February, you lost your first tooth!! It was so hard to believe that at 4 years old you were losing teeth when so many of our friends at 6 and 7 were still waiting on theirs. You lost your second tooth shortly after. You also took the big step out of pull-ups at night so now you're completely potty trained day and night! You're growing up so fast.

We had our last ski trip of the season in February with the Gaffneys and the Griffiths. You had SO much fun building snow forts and tunnels in the yard, sledding fast down the big hills, and trying out a little more skiing with our friends. Your favorite part was getting all your friends to gang up on daddy and hunt him down and jump on him.

This spring, before your 5th birthday we lost Papa. He was 101!! I was touched by how sad it made you and how much you thought about it. I really wasn't expecting that. You are such an insightful and thoughtful kid. Sometimes it's frustrating because I assume you're not listening, but you almost always surprise me by showing me that you were just deep in thought about something. I'm so grateful that you got to know your Papa. We're very lucky.

Now on to your 6th year! I can't wait to get to know you more.

All my love,
Momma