My Little 4-year-old Man

Dear Little Man,

You are a joy to parent.  You melt my heart with the sweet things you do daily, in particular regarding your sister.  You also are extremely strong-willed and independent, trying my patience daily.  God made you exactly the way you are, and for that I'm so honored to be your mommy.

Here are some of the adorable, difficult and perfect things you do to make you Reid:

• You still call "breakfast" = "breckstast"  It makes me laugh each and every morning when you walk down the stairs, tell me "good morning" and request your "breckstast".  Yes, son, you read that right, YOU get me up.  I know, I know.  I promise I'm a fun mom the rest of the day, but I have never been the type waiting for you with a full spread of tasty treats waiting.  Maybe someday?  
• You have started having an opinion on clothes, however I haven't really been a good listener.  You may NOT wear a short-sleeved Baylor shirt everyday, especially when it's 19 degrees outside.  However, I love that you're already a BIG Baylor fan
• You are very interested in God and Heaven.  This interest really spurred from church, but also from having two great grandparents pass away this fall.  You knew and loved them both, therefore, you've had a lot of wonderful questions.  They've been hard to explain but you've really done well.
• You are so social.  When I pick you up from your preschool class, you are always surrounded by friends and laughing.  I have learned that you are silly and a leader.  :-)
• You love to laugh and be silly.  You tell jokes...that don't make sense, you do a lot of physical comedy that makes me laugh out loud.  I love your silly streak!
• You love to tell adults that they "are not the boss of you."  Umm, hmm...we've tried to work on this.  Somehow you caught on to this phrase at some point and it's really stuck.  I'm not sure how many adults have told me that you said this to them so far, but I know it's more than I can count on my hands.  In other news, though, you do not say this to your teachers at school.  For that I'm thankful.
• You love books.  Favorites this year have been "The Kissing Hand," "The Foot Book" and "The Little Engine that Could."
• You FINALLY are so into movies.  Toy Story 3 was your first theater film...which was a bit hard for you, but Tangled (your second theater film) was a joy!  You did great.  As a sidenote, you got Toy Story 3 for Christmas and now ADORE it.
• You have the most tender heart and say the absolute sweetest things to me.  You have told me I'm beautiful, you tell me you love me all the time and you also like to correct me if you don't like my tone of voice (ahem).  
• You are so in love with your entire family.  Cousin Callie is probably your best friend, trumping anyone is she's in your presence.  All of your Grandparents are adored, along with Great Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, etc.  We are very blessed to have such a wonderful family.
• You have simmered down a little on your China obsession but are still obsessed with maps, globes, etc.  You are all about going to Tennessee...and point out Madagascar a lot on the map.  Hmm...
• You now know family members telephones numbers and like to call them during the day...much to my surprise and theirs.  I cannot turn my back!
• You are writing your name all alone and can write other people's names if I dictate the spelling.  Sooo cute...and you're getting so big!
• You love wearing your boots on the outside of your pants.  It's so cute and so you.  
• Your teacher continually tells me she can have a full on adult conversation with you.  While this has always been true, you still make me laugh with your serious nature balanced out with moments of pure silliness!

I LOVE you tons and tons.  God made you SO very special.  Always remember what we say each day, "This is the day that the Lord hath made.  Let us REJOICE and be glad in it."  "Let us LOVE the Lord our God with all our HEART, SOUL and STRENGTH!"  While I know I make plenty of mistakes, I hope that your father and I instill in you a love for the Lord that is stronger than any other passion that comes along in your life.  You are prayed over daily and we adore you.

Love,
Mommy