Mason is 3!

Dear Mason, Dude, Goldilocks, Shnookums,

You are three years old today. Three! Where did the time go? It feels like just yesterday when we spent that tender moment together in the hospital – our first moment alone – early in the morning before anyone arrived for the day. You probably don’t remember, but it is etched in my mind. You were doing a weird Elvis impersonation thing with your mouth, which I thought was totally cool because I do that too. A few hours later I realized that it just meant you were hungry!

You have done so much this year. You learned to incorporate your sister into your life, you started playing drums, you learned to swim, you started recognizing letters and numbers, you potty trained, and I could go on and on and on.

You know EVERYTHING. You usually tell me intricate parts of your day when I pick you up at school. Or sometimes we have days, like yesterday, where I ask you questions and you say “I don’t want to talk about it right now.” This also can make you a bit of a tattle tale. There are no secrets with you! Like when you wanted to hold your blankey at breakfast and I said no, you told me that Daddy let you at First Watch. And when I wouldn’t let you brush your own teeth, you told me that Grammy does.

You ask questions that I didn’t expect to hear for years. One day I was driving you to school (which Daddy usually does) and you asked me “Why does Joshua (a boy in your class) have two mommies and I only have one mommy and one daddy?” I responded, “Well, God decided that Daddy and I should love each other and have you and Layla, and God also decided that Joshua’s mommies should love each other and have Joshua.” To which you responded, “Who is God?” Really Mason? All this before my morning coffee? When you want to know about sex – go ask Daddy!

You still love music most of all and we spend a lot of time playing band in our house. We have drums that you got for hanukah, a piano that Layla got for her birthday, a real guitar, and many more instruments. We could probably have a full orchestra. You like to use the hearth in the kitchen as your stage and carry your microphone in there. One day you were moving all your instruments into the garage and when I asked what you were doing you said, “I’m taking my show on the road!”

This year we went to visit Aunt Rachel alone – just you and me. We had a great time in Atlanta going to the children’s museum and (your favorite) Stone Mountain. But then the flight home was a disaster because it snowed. We waited in the airport for four hours and we were on the plane for another 10 hours. You were SO good. You behaved better than most of the adults on the plane. I wanted to lose my shit a few times, but you kept me together!

In your room is a collage that Grammy made you of pictures of me at Disney World when I was a kid. One day you were looking at the collage and asked me, “When did I take this picture with Tigger?” I looked at the picture and I had to do a double take. It looks EXACTLY like you. We could be twins, right down to our stupid cowlick on our forehead.

One of our favorite times of the day together is right before bed. We put the pillows up on your bed and we read two or three or five books together. You change favorites often and go through phases. Sometimes you are totally into Diary of a Fly, and then you won’t want to read it for weeks. We just recently went through a On Top of Spaghetti phase. Some of your favorite books are the Child Craft series that Grammy has been bringing you one at a time. We love to read the poems and stories and sing the songs. Although some of it is outdated. You love to point out the old fashioned washing machine in the song book! One of the poems that we read often is one that Grammy read to me all the time when I was young because it was her favorite poem as a kid. It goes:

“The World is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as Kings.”

I hope that you never get sick of me reading to you and that you read this poem to your kids when you are a Daddy. I have so many dreams for you, Mason, but most of all I want you to be happy as a King.

Love forever and always,
Mommy