Monthly Newsletter #65

Dear Landon,

This was a growth month I guess. So many life lessons. It was a tough month emotionally.

First of all, after your great grandma died, your Grandpa Wood had a bunch of health issues. And he was in and out of the hospital, but mostly in. Explaining to you why we didn’t think “Grandpa was going to die the way Great Grandma did” was a really hard conversation to have with a 5 year old. You were so worried about that, even your teacher asked me what was going on, because she noticed that you had gotten awfully sensitive.

You and I participated in our first run together. It was called the Color Run and it benefited Habitat for Humanity. It was supposed to be a 5K where at each kilometer they threw a powdered color on you and by the end, you’d be all different colors. Well…it rained…a lot the few days before…and the night before it REALLY stormed and the path was super muddy. We got to the top of the first really muddy part and Miss Catherine and Baby Jack bowed out and I left your scooter with them, because it was clearly not going to work. And you and I started down the hill hand in hand. At this point, it was no longer a run, it was a walk, and a mud walk at that. About 50 feet into it, you said “This is impossible!” And I told you it was NOT impossible, that it was going to be difficult, but you could do it, that you were tough, and I would be right by your side to help you the whole time.

We trudged through ankle deep mud, people were losing shoes, some people dug them out, some people just abandoned them, the color throwers were out of color at every station we passed. We made it to a part in the race where we could cut over and cut some of the race out. I asked you what you wanted to do, knowing full well what I wanted to do. After some discussion about what cutting over meant as far as the length of this journey, you decided it was best to cut it a little shorter if we could.

As soon as we cut over we were faced with a knee deep mud trench, there were at least 3 completely destroyed strollers there. This is the point at which I realized that Catherine had made the right decision to stop when she did. You and I went hand in hand through the mud, we trudged up a 500 yard hill of mud, we didn’t stop when you lost a shoe, other than to dig it out. I lost both of my shoes (I dug them out too), but my feet weren’t liking the rocks in the mud, so we stopped towards the side and haphazardly tried to clean the mud off and put our shoes back on. My encouragement during this part of the trek was “It looks like it will get better when we reach the top of the hill, it’s not too far now.” And after a while you said “You keep saying that you think that’s the top of the hill, but keeps NOT being the TOP!!” We got encouragement from passers by “He’s such a TROOPER!!” They’d say. And you were. I’m proud to say that you didn’t fall down once! And I only took a knee once. And we made it. And I am so proud of you! Not just for finishing it, but also because you didn’t whine or cry, you were tough. And I know now, that I also made the right decision to keep going with you. You said you’d do it again with me if we get the chance, but not if it rains before. I agree, although I’m glad I got to teach you a little something about perseverance.

We made a weekend out of the Color Run and spent a couple nights in a hotel in Austin – we drove by the capitol building, and went and bought a few Austin souvenirs. We stopped to each at a Chick Fil A for dinner, where some bully kid was picking on Jack and you stuck up for him…just when I thought I couldn’t be any prouder of you, you continue to amaze me.

When we left the hotel the next morning, we stopped by the glass bottom boat place in San Marcos – where we got a private boat tour, since we were the only ones there!

You attended a couple birthday parties this month and we got to see Great Aunt Mary Lou again, she came down for a couple weeks for Great Grandma’s memorial service. You also started T-ball again, and you’re on the Astros again this year, but with a different coach and none of the same players.

This month’s request is T-ball related. All I’m asking is that you not be the team clown and that means I need you to pay attention during practice and games and always have your eye on the ball.

Love,

Mommy

Paddle Your Own Canoe

Jane Rowland
June 18, 1916 - January 31, 2012

We've been going through the things at my Grandmother's apartment this week, and one of the things she had was a memory book from grade school through high school. Like an autograph book that her friends signed throughout the years and they generally put a little verse of some sort on the page where they wrote as well. They were WAY more poetic than the "stay cool!" kind of things we wrote in our yearbooks. Anyway, there was one from her friends Florence that really spoke to me:

Love many,
Trust few,
But always paddle your own canoe.

My grandmother is one of the strongest role models I have ever met. She didn’t do it on purpose, she didn’t do it for show, she just did it. I know that, because she never boasted about her accomplishments, as a matter of fact, I only found out about a majority of them in the last five years. She got her pilot’s license through a program to teach civilians to fly planes during the war, and although the program was ultimately canceled, she still flew planes. She got her PhD in education.

And I bet she’s been to any country you ever thought you wanted to go to. She traveled the world extensively after my grandfather died, every year her Christmas cards featured a picture from her travels, I specifically loved the one from Egypt where she was sitting on a camel in front of the pyramids. If I go to a third of the countries she’s been to, I would consider myself well-traveled.

She also had a green thumb. She had a HUGE garden and always had a row of green tomatoes on the window sill waiting for them to ripen. And anytime I don’t know what a plant is, my response is, “Well, I could ask Grandma, she’ll probably know.”

Each summer I spent a week with her, and we ate hot dogs and macaroni and cheese the entire week. I also remember that she had a Tupperware container in the fridge with a bunch of different kinds of cheese in it. It was a glorious week of eating exactly what any kid would want to eat! She’d let me ride my tricycle inside the house until grandpa got upset about it. And we went swimming almost every day, piling into the front seat of her sky blue Dodge Dart with the hot pleather seats. She’d swim laps while I swam in the shallow end. Each summer we’d also do something else during the week besides swimming. One time she took me to Hanna-Barbera Land…where she convinced me to ride the sole rollercoaster in the park. And I screamed like someone was stabbing me in the eye, then steadfastly refused to ride another roller coaster for 4-5 years. The next summer she took me to Astro World – which would have been more cost effective if it hadn’t been during my roller coaster boycott, but we rode several non-roller coaster rides and still had fun. I took ceramic painting classes with her, and a pottery class and I remember her taking me to the Children’s museum once too.

I’ll miss her a lot, but I’m glad I have those good memories to look back on.

Monthly Newsletter #64

Dear Landon,

This month has been kind of hectic, but in a good way. We celebrated our last Christmas of 2011. And you actually fed Aunt Kelly’s horses…it’s the first time you’ve been willing to come within 5 feet of them, and with no fence between you AND fed them carrots. I was completely shocked! And you said “Mom, I’m five NOW, I didn’t do it before because I wasn’t five!” Like, duh, of course I can do it now. I guess five is the magic number.

We also got some books from the library, one of which featured some kids building a time machine out of a cardboard box. So, we built you a time machine. It seems to be a work in progress. The first weekend it really was only a transporter, we had no dials telling when in time we were going, but we did have a map to pick a place. The next time we worked on it we added a month dial and a year dial…apparently day during the month and time of day are of no consequence to you in your time travels. We also added a door, and talked about how it might need a few buttons the next time we work on it.

This morning during a conversation about addition and multiplication I discovered that you are beginning to understand multiplication. Obviously at 5 you don’t have the multiplication tables memorized, but you were able to figure out 2x3, 2x4, and 2x5 pretty easily and show that you get the concept of it…please don’t be so smart that you’re bored and become a trouble maker. I already noticed that on the backs of all your worksheets from school, Ms. Nicole writes some addition and subtraction problems for you to do after you finish the worksheet…I asked if all the kids were doing that and you said “No, she just does that for me, because I finish faster than anyone else.” I hope you will always have teachers who are willing to go out of their way to challenge you like Ms. Nicole does.

This month you also experienced the death of a close relative for the first time. My uncle died when you were less than a year old, but I don’t believe you were really aware of that. Your Great Grandma died at the age of 95. She led a very full life, and I would be ecstatic if you got to do even a third of the things she did in her lifetime. She has a PhD in education (this, by the way, is a HUGE accomplishment for a woman of her generation), she had her pilot’s license, she’s traveled to so many different countries, I don’t think anyone even knows what that number is. I have some great memories of spending a week each summer with her, and I hope that you’re creating similar memories with your grandparents when I send you there for a week at a time. You took the news pretty well when I told you, a few tears and a long snuggly hug.

Now I’m to the part where I tell you to work on something, and I’ve got nothing for you to work on. You’ve been really great for the last month, so just keep it up.

Love,

Mommy

Monthly Newsletter #63

Dear Landon,

Between both of us being sick, and Christmas…well, there’s just not a lot to this month.

You had your annual Christmas program at school…Once again, your class did a song I’d never heard of before. But it was cute. And you were front and center.

We both had a cough for most of the month, mine turned into bronchitis and your developed into a double ear infection…which you didn’t complain about at ALL. In fact, the teachers called me and said you were lethargic and running a fever, so I picked you up and took you to the doctor. Everyone asked if your ears hurt and you said no, you just couldn’t hear. And lo and behold, double ear infection. You were VERY upset about not going back to school, but the timing was such that the day you could have gone back was the day that they closed at 2 for the Christmas holidays…so you had almost 2 weeks off of school.

There’s a lot of talk about a particular girl at school. You even call her your girlfriend. She’s the same one you’ve been calling on your play cell phone for a few months…and as it turns out – there have been a couple of kisses between you two. Apparently she tried to kiss you at school and got you both in trouble, and then she succeeded in kissing you at Chick Fil A. You seem a bit young to me for all this kissing and girlfriend talk.

You had a lot of Christmases this year. I’ve only had to attend 2 of them so far, and we’ll have one more in a couple weeks. It seems that you got almost all of what you wanted, except a pogo stick. And I’m going to be quite honest with you…you can barely balance on a 2 wheel scooter, so I only really see the pogo stick idea ending badly. Your favorites are a Nintendo 3DS and an MP3 player. I’m pretty sure limits will be set on those in the near future.

Oh and we went to the dentist and this time you actually sat in the chair all by yourself...like a big boy! Your teeth were deemed perfect!

Anyway, all in all not a bad month, except for the being sick part. So, this month, let’s try to stay healthy.

Love,

Mommy

Landon's School Holiday Program

At least we already did the Christmas Card picture

Monthly Newsletter #62

Dear Landon,

So. This month we didn’t spend a whole lot of time together. Not because I didn’t want to, but because it just happened to be that way. Mike came to visit for the first two weeks of November, and you and he hit it off very well. In fact, the second week he was here, you went to your grandparent’s house for the week and midweek when I talked to you via Skype, you said you missed Mike…and when you got back you told me that you missed me, but you missed Mike more. (Which I find completely understandable, you and he had a blast together.)

We tried to go to the zoo, but I didn’t know they were closing early due to an event and we ended up doing the pedal boats instead, remind me to be the one who steers next time. For some unknown reason you absolutely didn’t want to go on the train. So we left Hermann Park and headed for Chuck E Cheese. Where you absolutely had a blast…and it may be the first time you’ve gone that you didn’t go up in the climby tunnel things. And also, the girl divvying out the prizes? She totally gave you whatever you wanted even though you didn’t have enough tickets to get everything…and not just by a small margin either.

We had an early Thanksgiving with my side of the family. Great aunt Mary Lou (actually I think she’s your great-great-aunt) was in town visiting Great Grandma, so we took the opportunity to get everyone together. You and Zoey had a lot of fun on the swings and playing soccer. I think everyone had a pretty good time.

The next morning we dropped you off at your Daddy’s and he took you to your grandparents who kept you for the week. I don’t know what all you did this time, but you did bring me the cutest little jewelry box for my birthday that you made with your grandpa. And I know you had a play date with your cousins Jordan and Jensen.

The next weekend was Daddy’s weekend, and I ran a 5K race with obstacles. I sent a picture to your daddy of me after I finished and he said your response was “eeeeeeeew.” You do know you’re a boy right? You’re supposed to like mud and getting muddy…maybe by the time you can run one, you’ll come around.

You spent Thanksgiving with your Daddy since that’s our usual plan. And I picked out the tag from the Christmas tree at work, so you helped me go shopping for a little 3 year old boy. I hope he likes all the same stuff you do, because he now had a buttload of that stuff. It took a few reminders while we were in the store that we were shopping for him and not for you, but all in all you did really well.

Things to work on. Um…stop lying. I know of two incidents in the last week or so that you lied and got caught almost immediately. Here’s the thing. Even if you do something wrong it’s better to tell the truth and face your punishment than to lie about it, because then you’re going to get punished for lying as well. Oh and the asking for forgiveness is easier than asking permission theory – that’s not going to fly either. And one more thing…quit piddle farting around when I ask you to do something. If I ask you to do something I want it done then, and if I have to ask more than twice – you’re probably going to get yelled at and we both know how much you care for that, so tis better to just do it to begin with.

I love you (infinity plus infinity plus 2)

Love,

Mommy