Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Dear Hudson and Brayden,

Wow, it has been over three years since your birth. Time has flown by. You'll be adults in just 15 short years. Kindergarten is little over two years away. What can I say? I've loved watching you both grow and learn new things but it's also sad because my babies are gone.

Brayden, you are still the happiest, smiliest kid I know. Strangers still come up to me and say what a cute, happy, smiley kid you are. You. Are. Always. Smiling. It's infectious! Yes, you have moments of sadness when you fall and get hurt, when Hudson takes something from you, or when I tell you "no," but it's easy to make you happy again. I wish I was more like you in that way. You are a little comedian. You are always doing silly things to get me to laugh. You succeed a lot. You are still obsessed with sports. And when I say "obsessed" that's an understatement. You are always, always, ALWAYS wanting to play either soccer, basketball, football, hockey, golf, baseball, tennis, ping pong, Karate...WHATEVER. If there is a ball used in the sport, you'll play it. And you are really good at sports. You have awesome eye-hand-foot coordination. I think you'll be great at whichever sport you choose to play. I signed you and Hudson up to play soccer this spring. When I turned in the paperwork at work you looked at me that moment and said "I want my jersey. Play soccer now? Let's go!" You were so disappointed when I told you team practice didn't start for another month. You were ready to play that minute. And you are really competitive. You are always "racing" Hudson in one way or the other. Who can get dressed first, who can get up the stairs first, who can finish breakfast first, who can get in the car the fastest, who can get in mom's lap first. You try so hard to win (and so does Hudson). We are working on being a better loser when things don't go your way (Hudson needs to learn this too). ;)

Oh and sports jerseys! Oh boy! You have an obsession with them as well. You'll wear one every single day if I let you. You are ALL BOY. You love cars, motorcycles, guns, tools, bikes, and playing outside. You love to pretend to be a superhero and show me your muscles. But you are still my little lover. You love to give me hugs and kisses. You tell me you love me all the time. You just melt my heart! You are still quite attached to me. You call me "my momma" whenever Hudson tries to get my attention. So of course your favorite word (or word you say the most) is "momma". It's cute but also a bit annoying. Sorry honey. You sleep with a stuffed bunny every night and you MUST hold onto the silk tag on your blanket. If you don't get a hold of that tag you get upset. You've been doing that since you were a baby.

You have awesome dance moves. Whenever you get super excited you start to dance and I can't help but smile and laugh. You still love to be tickled. Not sure where you got that from (not me). You were potty trained in about two days. You surprised me. I thought it was going to be tough to get you to use the potty because you had no interest in it but you caught on real quick. Your favorite color is blue. Favorite food is waffles. You love school! You are always so excited to go and see your friends and teachers. You still nap at school but haven't napped at home since you were about 2-2 1/2 years old. I blame Hudson on that one. ;)

You are an affectionate, caring, and silly kid and I can't wait to see what God has planned for you in the future.

Hudson, you are still a curious child. You must know what everything is, what it does, what it's for, why we have it, where it goes and if you can't figure it out on your own, you'll ask someone. Because of all this you still get into everything. Things/rooms are still locked up because of your curiosity (although childproof locks can't stop you and you can pick regular locks). But I love you for it! You're just too smart for your own good. All it takes is for you to watch me do something just once and you got it. You were potty trained in just five hours. Five hours! You peed in your underwear just once and that was all it took for you to realize you didn't want to do that again.

And you remember EVERYTHING! If I lose something all I have to do is ask you where it is and you usually know where it is. And I can't ever promise you something one day cause you'll remember and remind me the next day (i.e. if you eat your dinner and go to bed without complaining we'll go to the park tomorrow). Don't ever promise him something you have no intention of following through on. He'll remind you! You are very talkative and expressive. Your face lights up when you talk about something that matters to you. Your imagination has taken off over the past 6 months. You love to play "restaurant" and pretending our rug is a pool and Titus is an alligator. You are a huge helper around the house. You love to vacuum, fold laundry, wipe tables, make dinner, and clean up around the house. Which is a good thing because you are usually the one who made the mess to begin with.

The way Brayden is obsessed with his jerseys, you are that way with your cowboy boots. I think the fact that grandpa Widell bought them for you has something to do with that. You wear them everyday...with everything! No. Matter. What. You love tools in an obsessive way too. And you love to use them around the house to "fix" stuff. You even fill up your toolbox with them and "help" daddy work on his car. It's adorable watching you two together working on the cars. You know quite a lot about cars because of this. It makes daddy happy because he's just as obsessive about them as you are. You love your back scratched and I'm more than happy to oblige because you'll lay still with me for a few minutes. Your favorite color is black. Favorite food is honey yogurt. You are incredibly thoughtful of others. Whenever Brayden gets hurt and cries you always ask him if he's okay. And you just started to lean on him or give him hugs and say "I'm loving on you B!"

You sleep with five stuffed puppy dogs each night and I can't remember the last time you took a nap. Maybe a year ago? I don't think you've ever napped at school and because of that I feel for your teachers. But you do love school and that's a big deal. You're just as excited as Brayden to go each day and see your friends. You just started saying you love me. In the past when I asked you if you loved me you always said yes, but you just started to tell me on your own. It's always such a surprise to hear you say it out of the blue.

You are such a sweet, playful, loving kid and I can't wait to see what God has in store for you too.

Love,
Momma

P.S. If you are interested in reading my last "Dear Hudson and Brayden" post I wrote when they were 22 months old, you can find it here. It's amazing to see that not much has changed in their personalities since then.