4 years old

Dear Dominic,


You are a sweetheart, loyal to the end. You show compassion and empathy to everyone. You feel bad when your brother or a friend gets in a bad situation,your face says it all. You are a good brother and watch out for Ethan constantly...almost like a second mother haha....You had a great year- started school, made new friends, first real birthday party with friends, started speech therapy with a new therapist and got to grow up with a baby brother...it's been very eventful.

You have grown so much, but in my eyes, you're still my baby....but talks a lot. I love how you talk to me about ANYTHING- nothing is off limits for you....I hope that stays the same as he goes thru high school and beyond. If its one thing I want for all of my babies- is to come to me for ANYTHING. I like our singing in the car and dancing parties. I love hearing about your day. I love how you describe things and you're very technical about everything. You're your own therapist....."um do I want this or that"...." I think I want this today...Oh good job Dominic" haha. Everyone tells me how good you are- Ms. April, Ms. Carmen, all your friends' mothers...and I'm so glad that you are a sweet soul and a good example to your brother. I'm so glad that you march to the beat of your own drum and do not give in to peer pressure easily- you just do your own thing, even if no one is doing it. You are okay with being alone, you do not need peers at all times.

I love that when Daddy leaves for work, you ALWAYS ask me to come to the toy room to play with you, and you somewhat involve Ethan too. I do treasure our moments together- like the time we pretended to be pirates looking for treasure, or wizards with magic wands and you transformed me into a frog....or Blaze the monster truck. Or the time we made Ethan the giant baby and he destroyed our little people town, or the time we played restaurant and you made me hot dog soup lol.
You love your Daddy very much and miss him when he works too many night shifts. You enjoy wrestling and being rougher with him. Mamma just can't keep up. He loves taking you out and hiking or just being outside in the backyard and playing in the tree house he built for you this year. You love the outdoors...almost as much as Daddy- except that one time a fly landed on you and bit you- you didn't go outside for weeks. I don't blame you....they're so ugly. You don't nap and don't sleep thru the night...most of the time. Every now and then you'll have a good week, where you sleep from 9pm to 8am....but mostly, you still wake up at 3 am asking for milk...and sometimes one more time (around 5am) asking to sleep in my bed....which I usually allow. I'm sure it's because you're having bad dreams...nobody should be alone when they have those.

Cool cake man...they had to custom make it, because nobody
makes transformers cakes anymore

You absolutely love transformers! Even though it's hard for you to watch the show...30 min is too long to sit down...I understand. This year, for your birthday, Daddy and I decided to actually pay to have a birthday place for you to enjoy with friends- only about 10 of them. Eight showed up, which was more than we thought, considering it was close to Christmas. You loved having all your friends there. The "party gym" made you so tired...which was kind of the point....and clean up was a breeze haha. We came home to open presents  and you loved everyone one of them. You have really good friends, and an even more awesome Mom...who was able to find all 6 rescue bots for you.  You slept with them and everything.

I want you to remember that on this birthday, your Uncle David bought you all the studio Ghibli films that you love watching with him so much. They are not easy to find, so I truly appreciate he did that for you. One movie would have suffice, but he went ahead and got you several. So, remember that you Uncle David loves you very much.

Transformers cookies for school (3 dozen of them)

Decorations for your party...the dreaded goody bags 

parachute time

snowball fight...even dads got into it

Friends 

Birthday boy wagon

This year, I tried to be crafty and make you some transformers cookies for your school snack and also do the decorations for your party. It took me WAY too long, but you loved everything. It's had to get anything done with you two running around like wild horses. I could only work on anything after 8 pm when Ethan went to bed. I cut out my own stencil with the transformer logo and spray painted the cookies, because I was running out of time to do anything else that was cooler. The goodie bags, for some reason, just took me too long. I couldn't get them to stand up properly and keep adding "goodies" to make them look fuller. And then there was the issue of how to incorporate the rescue bots- the bubbles, a sticker, a tattoo, and the logo in the bag. It's hard to sit at the computer and figure out labels and sizes when you guys are running around me, and Ethan keeps turning off the computer.
I have cool ideas, but when it comes to execution....sometimes I feel overwhelmed. But thank you for acknowledging that it was hard and saying "thank you".

I have enjoyed watching you grow, and I have enjoyed being a part of your life...even if sometimes I don't say it...or I'm too angry to notice....I do love you and your brother, and your Daddy, even on days you all drive me mad. I don't mind saying "I'm sorry" and "I love you" every chance I get....because I know that's what building our good relationship. Keep being awesome baby!

Too many transformers...maybe Santa will bring you
something else

too excited to go to bed

Love,
Your Mother