Dearest Byron...

To my dearest Byron,

So, little man…it is good bye three and hello four. WOW…four already! Time is whizzing by at a rate of knots.

During the course of the past year any last grimace of toddler hood has all but gone. You are a boy now….a boy well and truly. The minute you became obsessed with ‘construction’ it sealed the deal. Speaking of ‘construction’, I would have to say you’re fanatical. Cement trucks, diggers, traffic cones – any thing for that matter that resembles and/or is relating to building or assembly (especially that relating to dirt), your into it. You love watching the diggers working on the estate directly across from kindy. You watch with gusto every morning. With out fail you will comment “the diggers are working today” or “the workmen aren’t working” if it is raining or a weekend. It seems you have your own little construction site at the moment. You have of late taken to digging up the back yard, so much so that you left a pot hole which Nanna nearly broke her ankle in! In short, buddy, ‘construction’ is your niche.

This past year has seen your very first as a big brother. You are the best big brother around. The love you have for your sister is evident. ‘Lil’ as you call her is your little buddy. You greet her with gusto and glee in the mornings, standing at the side of the cot, laughing and playing with her, chucking every stuffed toy in there with her, including her massive big bear, while you wait for me to struggle out of bed. Lil follows you around like a sick puppy. She loves to wrestle with you, play cars with you and just be in your presence whenever she can and you are more then accommodating most (95%) of the time. You watch out for your sister; you protect her from dangers even at such an early age. I have no doubt that this protection instinct will get stronger as the years pass and that is one of the blessings I can’t wait to observe.

I love that you can dress yourself now. You have learnt to take off your clothes before bath time. It took a while to learn how to get the t-shirt off but with much frustration you finally got there – singlets still pose a little bit of a problem though, but you’re getting there. Over the past few months you now get yourself up and dressed for kindy, albeit leaving a lot to be desired in the fashion stakes. Your take on fashion is ‘serious’. You won’t wear it unless it’s ‘cool’. Yep, you read right…“I’m not wearing that, it’s not cool!” or “this is cool”. I just resort to trying to tell you that everything is cool and hope to god you believe me - although sometimes you just don’t, know matter how hard I try to convince you otherwise.

You have done well at kindy this year. You have learnt a lot. Sometimes though, you do lack concentration which can be frustrating for those on the other end. You don’t like to draw and colour for periods longer then 5 minutes. If you can’t do something straight away you get frustrated and tend to give up. You’re a competitive little thing. You seem to have the ‘if I can’t win I don’t want to play’ mentality of late but I’m sure that will pass with time.

You make me laugh often, everyday in fact with your off the cuff comments and simple innocence…like the other day when you said in a dramatic fashion grasping your forehead, “my temperature is sick”. It’s not just about the things you say so much but the expression that goes with it. Your favourite of late is “what the heck is this” (who knows where you picked that up). You often say it with a tilt of the head and hands held in the air or on the hips – which ever takes your fancy at the time. You are very expressive. .

I often find myself watching the little junior high school boys on the bus in the morning on the way to work thinking that one day, in the not to distant future, that will be you. I try to picture you in your school uniform but the thought just seems too foreign – I can not fathom that one day you will be gone; all grown up. No sooner were you three, you are now four. Next year you will be 5 and close to starting school. For now though, you are my little boy; my precious little boy, the light of my life – my cherub! This past year has been a delight. I have loved watching you develop into a young boy.

I love you more then words can say or if you need an analogy “up to the stars and back”.

Much love and many kisses…
Mummy xxx