Prescott Place

Dear Nolan,

Happy birthday sweet boy. Today you are five and I know you are very excited. You have been counting down for weeks. The day is finally here and I am so happy to share in your joy of turning five. You have been most certain that waking up this morning would mean you have grown taller. In fact, you told the sales person at the sports store that you needed to go ahead and buy a bigger baseball glove because you will be growing overnight. Did it happen? Do you feel different? I know your heart believes things are different for you today. My heart feels different too. When you turned one, two, three, and four I always had such mixed feelings. It is no surprise to you (since I have been saying it for weeks) that I feel those same mixed feelings today too. You just seem SO much bigger and more mature and grown than last year. Something I probably say each year too, but it is so true. You no longer look like a little boy to me. Sometimes when I watch you swinging on the playground, talking with others at the grocery store, or finishing your work at the end of your school day, it seems like I hardly recognize that baby that was born five years ago.

Words cannot describe how much you are loved. Only when you have a child can you understand what it feels like to have your heart bursting with love and happiness. You give me that feeling every single day. Thank you for your unconditional love. Nothing is sweeter than hearing you say “I love you mommy.”

We also could not be more proud of you. We are constantly told by others how well behaved and sweet you are. Thank you for working so hard to make good choices and be a good person. Your Daddy and I will continue to try our best to be good role models for you and teach you what it means to have compassion, understanding, and strive to be the best you can be. We see so much potential in you and cannot wait to see how you use your talents.

Your creative side has really developed over the past year and I love seeing how your imagination works. From building a “Disney World” out of Lego’s to using Tinker Toys to create a candelabra for me, a tool box for Daddy, and an air traffic control tower, we are constantly impressed! You continue to have a love for learning. We hope you always show this enthusiasm.

I must mention what a great big brother you are. You are so loving to Griffin and such a great role model. He adores you and looks up to you. I love to see the two of you interact and play with each other. You are thoughtful with him and considerate of his needs and feelings. You are also such a great helper to Daddy and I too with Griffin. We are so proud of how you have filled the role of big brother so well.

This is going to be a very exciting year for you. You will play on your first sports team. You will say goodbye to the only school you have known to start Kindergarten. You will make a new group of friends. Learn to ride a bike without training wheels? Hopefully! So many things are in store for you and I am so happy to be along for the ride.

I wish you the very best this year. May you continue to flourish and grow inside and out! We are so proud of what you have become over the past five years. We look forward to see what you have in store for us this next year.

We hope it is the best year yet!

Happy birthday Nolan! We love you to the moon and back!

Love,

Mommy (and Daddy)

When James and I made the decision to move in August, as we looked at houses, I was very clear I wanted to stay close to Nolan’s school. Mainly because he is in school three days a week and we are in the car enough without another long drive, but also because I DID NOT want to start the whole preschool registration process over again. (See here and here for a refresher on my experience with this before and why I am still traumatized). When you have a currently enrolled child in said preschool, you have PRIORITY enrollment for siblings. This is huge! Now you can see why I wanted to stay somewhere in the proximity of his school.

Needless to say our search for the perfect home ended up in the exact area I had repeatedly said was way too far from Nolan’s school. Considering there is not an opening for a preschool anywhere once the school year has started, I have made it work. It has not been that bad of a commute, but it would be nice to be at a school closer to home and not have approximately $40 a month in tolls just going to and from Nolan’s school.

So this brings me to my current dilemma and I do mean a MAJOR situation here folks. I am not sure where to register Griffin for preschool. You may be thinking, but he will only be two? What is the big deal? It is a big deal because the older a child gets, the more competitive it is for available spots in preschool. The preschool you chose for a two year old, maps out their future preschool years typically. I know. It sounds ridiculous, but welcome to North Dallas.. I have several options, but it could all be a gamble and a costly one at that.   

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This past Christmas, Nolan finally received a Power Wheels Jeep. He’s been asking for this thing almost as long as he’s been able to talk.

I’m sure you’ll all be shocked that the white-ish Christmas we had didn’t keep Nolan from trying out the Jeep right away.

Here’s some video of the first ride and the first time he took Griffin out with him.

Enjoy! Hopefully YouTube won’t strip the music out of it.

of a mom whose child gets into EVERYTHING!

These pictures are just a small depiction of what Griffin gets into on a daily basis. This means we have to stay on our toes and not leave him alone at all! No wonder I do not usually sit down for “real” until about 8:30 PM when the boys are in bed! It also means I am constantly, and I mean constantly, cleaning up at this little tornado! Sadly he zooms right past a plethora of toys to get into all of these things! Why do we even bother buying him anything??

First up… Well not really first up, because he had already been in the art cabinet. See the paint brush he is holding? He has figured out how to turn on the faucets on the bathtub. He eventually dropped the paint brush and his blankie into the tub. His shirt sleeve became wet and of course he wanted the blankie and paint brush back, of which both were sopping wet! Did not seem to bother him. He put the wet blankie back in his mouth and off he went to the next interesting “find.” Mind you, I am trying to get dressed.

My night stand! Always interesting things in there!

And don’t forget about the bottom drawer. (Side note: See all the UNREAD magazines in there? Joys of motherhood! There is no time!)

Ahh! The dog brush! He decided his hair needs a little combing.

Dresser drawers!!

Oh the toilet!!! This was a quick “save” before his hand went in there. Usually this does not happen since we try really hard to keep the lids down, but when you have a five year old, sometimes he forgets!

Quick diaper change and it is time to explore behind the couch. He did find a sheep from his Fisher Price Barn so that was good!

After lunch and nap, time to explore again. The dishwasher! At least we recently noticed we have an automatic lock feature! Score one for the parents! Don’t let that sort of guilty look on his face fool you. Trust me. He does not feel guilty about any of this! (Like his Christmas PJ bottoms? Hey. They are comfy for sleeping!)

The kitchen cabinets. A favorite of Griffin’s. Oh if only we had locks on the cabinets. HINT! HINT to James!

He was quick to move in to explore the inside of the refrigerator. I was getting something out and he was right there. Notice he is putting his CD player in the crisper. His blankie was already inside.

And about 2.2 seconds later. The drawer is empty. In his defense, he did put everything back when I asked him to do so.

And you can’t forget all the goodies in the trash!!

And sadly this glimpse does not include the pantry, pots and pans cabinet, and the master closet. Griffin must have decided to give me a break today!

But oh, I would not have it any other way! This little guy is the best!

2:58 AM Last Night

I hear ice fall into a cup. Nolan must be awake and thirsty. I am surprised he has not come in to wake me up as he usually does when he needs something in the middle of the night. I anticipate he will hold down too long on the ice button and ice will fall to the floor. Ice continues to fall into the cup and then I hear silence.

A few seconds elapse and then I hear him filling his cup with water. Once again I wait to hear water overflowing and spilling onto the floor. He stops and then resumes filling his cup. He must have stopped to look inside and notice he still has room. He is being so careful. I never hear water spill.

I continue to listen and wait for Nolan to come in and ask me to follow him back upstairs and tuck him back in bed. It is what mothers and fathers do in the middle of the night. They take care of their children in need. I wait until I hear a creak in the stairs and realize he is not coming for me. He is going back to bed by himself.

I am now wide awake and sad. He did not come for me.