Atti.
No, I most definitely DID NOT almost forget to write this.
I definitely just completely forgot until Ashley reminded me.
And I could blame the insane weather the past week. Or the crazy world for the past year.
It's probably some combination of everything.
Your birthday sneaked up on me real good this year. Anything I've planned has been interrupted.
Including this blog post, as you're calling me from the other room instead of sleeping. Like we fed you birthday cake two hours ago or something.
Switching back to talking to an audience instead of Atti... HI everyone.
I think I usually start these with general life updates. Last year's post I had zero idea what was coming the world's way. Sure, there were grumblings of a new virus heading around China. I was trying to be optimistic - hopefully something like SARS or MERS that could be easily contained.
Oh, naive me.
Well, first we got Buttercup, our lovely little sheltie/golden retriever/lab mix. She's sweet, and the most loving thing. Usually too much love. But she's the gentlest dog and the boys love her.
We were all home starting mid-March. All of us. Both boys home. Michael home. Michael trying to teach. Me trying to work. Both of us trying to do some form of school for the boys. Neither really went virtual, it was just... done for the year. Insert image of me pretending I could juggle all it at once. Turns out, I couldn't.
We tried, though. I made masks. We perfected grocery pickup. And we made it through the spring (close encounter with a tornado warning that had us sleeping in Michael's office because no basements here). Then the summer. We made a calculated risk gathering with my family in middle of nowhere Oklahoma in July, and it was worth it. We've been VERY lucky that the four of us, plus our immediate families have all been spared COVID. In August we made the very difficult decision to send Atti back to school, with precautions in place. Michael went back to teaching (very small) classes on campus. Thad and I settled into a nice flow with his virtual schooling, and got insanely lucky with his amazing teacher.
Then, at the end of August, a hurricane hit.
We fled to Mississippi ahead of it, seeing how it was looking. We will forever be thankful to Craig and Amy (and Rye Allen) for letting us crash with them for days while our house was without power and water. Schools were out for days. Got through that. Finally paid for and replaced the fence that got knocked out from that a couple months ago. A second tropical storm hit in... September? Got through that. Spent our first Christmas not in Kansas. That was especially hard for me, but better safe than sorry.
We've kept riding things out. There was an ice/snow storm here last week.
Basically, I think Louisiana has it out for us.
Anyway, back to focusing on Atti. Especially since Christmas, he seems to be taking more an interest in letters, numbers, learning. His close friends at school are a couple years older, and I think that makes him really want to be like them and learn. He keeps wanting to be "big". No, thanks, kid. With all the mask wearing and staying home, we've really been lucky to not have had any sicknesses besides the sinus and allergy crud we all get. Looking back at videos from when they were little... don't miss those daycare coughs.
Atti is still something else. He's shy, but talkative. Anytime we pick up groceries from the store I hear him trying to say "HI!" from his seat while the poor workers unload into the trunk. Any time we're on a zoom call, or Marco Polo, he runs and grabs his toys to show off like he's on a YouTube video. Action figures. We are the house of action figures. He LOVES them. He pretend plays with them, fights them. Builds caves and houses out of LEGO and Duplo for them. It's kind of amazing, actually.
He still loves cuddling. He randomly comes up to give snuggles and says, "I love you", or "Huggie!". It's adorable, and I love it. He's a sweet boy. He also is a super great whiner. We're working on listening and following directions the first time. He and Thad have really grown closer over our time at home, which I am so thankful for. They pretend play Star Wars, tickle each other, have their favorite LEGO shows, YT channels, etc. They are still VERY different children, but they complement each other well.
Sleep. We're almost there. Bought a weighted blanket recently. He's started this sneaky thing where he'll run to our room in the middle of the night and climb our bed from the bottom so we don't wake up, and just snuggles between us. I don't even realize until he's kicked me in the stomach. But he IS sleeping better and through the night more. BLESS.
Okay. Enough talk.
Thad vs Atti at 4.
They still look completely different. Makes me always wonder if we'd decided to have a third, what they would have looked like.
* Between 40 and 42 inches... no idea his weight. We'll go to the doctor next week
* 4T pants, 4T-XS shirts. Size 10-ish shoe.
* THIS CHILD AND HIS FOOD. Does not like most meat. I keep offering forever though. Same with vegetables. Favorite meals are hot dogs, pasta, mac and cheese. He does love fruit. And all sugar.
* Can write 85-90% of his letters. Will write his name, though it ends up backwards a lot.
* Definitely a lefty with writing. To be seen kicking, though.
* Love all the LEGO Batman, Marvel, Star Wars shows. Plus a few YouTube channels (just4fun290 - a dude just playing with action figures)
* Loves playing outside, being more adventurous than I'm comfortable with. He plays with his Batcave for long periods of time.
* Mumbles and a lisp. Makes him hard to understand sometimes, but we're working on it.
Atticus. Sweet, funny boy. I can't wait to see what he does as he grows up. If he keeps his determination and love towards life... he's going to do great things.
Happy Birthday, buddy.
