What I Love About You - Wyatt

Wyatt.

Oh, dear me.  You made me a Mommy.  In so many ways you have been SO YOU since the day you were born.  Adorable, active, and able to function with very little sleep (you get that from your Dad)!

Every day you wake up and from the second your feet hit the floor, you are ready to play.  Hockey. Baseball. Legos.  People always say that TV makes kids lazy.  TV makes you active.  You ARE that baseball player on TV.  You keep your eye on the ball. You swing when he does.  You field the ball.  You tell every single member of our family (including your poor sister who just doesn't care) where the play is.  What the count is.  How many outs, hits, and errors there have been in the game.  CC Sabathia just threw that ball 93 miles per hour.  Do I know how fast that is?  I do, but it's more amazing when you tell me!

You LOVE sports, but you also love so many other things.  Dinosaurs are probably number one.  Your teacher told me that you were the "resident expert" during your classes' dinosaur unit last month.  You went last with each day's facts about dinosaurs because you could tell everyone things that were left out.  Or things that no one else knew!  But you are going to be a paleontologist-hockey player-baseball player when you grow up, so that all makes sense!

And animals, you are obsessed. Crocodile babies are boys or girls based on the temperature their eggs are in?  I had no idea.  Bats, bugs, dogs, giraffes...I can't keep up with it all, but it interests you.  You soak it all up.  And Legos.  I had no idea that you would wake up at 3:30 in the morning just to put a truck together.  But it happened.  It actually happened.  

You like school.  You have a talking problem (you get that from me), but you love school.  And I love helping you read.  It starts as sight words, and then sounding out words, and it culminates with you shouting, "Mommy, why does that sign say....?" from the back seat.  I love that!  You have no idea the kinds of adventures that lie ahead of you in books.  I get so excited when I hear you reading in your room at night after tuck ins!

You are the most competitive person I know.  While it's no surprise (let's just say that your Dad and I have the same tendencies), it is a little crazy.  You're mostly just competitive with yourself (can you make that play better the next time, hit the ball farther, finally turn that elusive double play? You did!), and you have been known to throw a glove on the ground when you miss a ball.  And then Daddy just slides you right to the outfield.  Your drive kind of amazes me (but it also totally frustrates me, too).

You are a great big brother.  To Hudson and Finley, anyway :).  Your relationship with Reese has it's ebbs and flows, but we all know you love her!  You know how to irritate the mess out of her, but you also hate to see her sad.  Being a big brother is so complicated!  You love to teach Hudson (your current favorite is hockey), and you adore Finley.  You hate to hear her cry, and you will stop whatever you're doing to help her.  Or play with her.  She just loves you.  You make her whole face light up!

And you are an amazing friend.  Last week when your friend Jack was upset that he didn't get the game ball at baseball, you put your arm around him and told him that he shouldn't be sad, and that you would help him get it at the next game.  I don't know what your plan is to help him get that ball, but I was amazed when his Mommy told me the story.  She said you made him feel so much better.  And because I never get to see that kind of interaction, I think I told you a million times that day how proud I was of you!  And then today you really wanted to buy the last snake at the school store (with money you "earned" yourself) , but you let Alex have it because he wanted it, too.  I love that!

None of this means that we don't have our moments.  You aren't perfect.  I know I'm not.  Neither of us operate with an abundance of patience.  You like to use words you shouldn't use, especially in front of your little brother (Although I secretly love that you told me that the "S" word is the grandfather of all bad words.  And you were talking about "stupid."  That's as bad as it gets around here). You have a tendency to hit your sister. But I can't let the fact that you're a little boy who's just learning how to be a good person get in the way of the fact that you are my sweet little boy, and it's my job to teach you not to do those things!  I am so proud, and so lucky, that I get to be your Mommy.  And I know that your Daddy, who you think is your "best buddy in the whole wide world" feels the exact same way.  You are my favorite six year old in the whole wide world, bubs!  We love you!