This little boy is so wonderful. Every morning he makes his Mommy’s day when he silently bounds into the bathroom where she’s getting ready and gives her a great big hug.
His favorite activities are preparing family meals with his play kitchen, reading books, chasing Brother or getting chased by Brother, going to Mommy’s physical therapy sessions, wrestling with Daddy, playing with water, being outside and alone time with Mommy or Daddy.
He is overflowing with love and concern for his family.
If Baby starts fussing at home or in the car, Boots immediately tries to cheer him up with fake sneezes or goofy sounds. It works every time and warms Mommy’s heart through and through to hear them playing and giggling away.
When Boots asks for a package of fruit snacks and Mommy unlocks the cupboard for him, he first gets one for Mommy, one for Brother and one for Baby. Then he sets aside one for Daddy to eat when he gets home from work. Finally, after everyone else has been served, Boots will serve himself.
He loves his Brother. And Mommy loves that Boots calls him, “Bwuduh.”
Mommy will never forget the days Boots and Brother spent rolled up in blankets to camp out in the hallway. While working in the kitchen, she heard a sweet voice quietly say, “I love you, Boots.” And as she smiled happily, she heard an adorable little voice reply, “I love you, Bwuduh.”
He and his brother play together all day long, acting out Robin Hood, The Sword in the Stone, Monsters, Inc or some other game they’ve invented. It’s wonderful to see how close they have become and hear their little feet pounding on the floor as they run around gleefully together.
He is incredibly affectionate! He’s always reaching out for a hug, giving unexpected kisses, holding hands, snuggling and giving adoring smiles.
When he hugs Brother right before naps, Boots loves to sneak in a head-bonk-to-Brother’s-chest right at the end to get Brother laughing. Sometimes he gets carried away with his enthusiastic affection, but he is quick to say sorry and be more careful next time. (It’s hard to be a big, strong boy bursting with love!)
He loves to smile for pictures. And he loves to look at pictures and name all of the people he loves in them.
He still considers Dan (Daddy’s carpool buddy) to be part of the family. And anytime you mention a member of the Godhead, he will include the other two. So, if Mommy said, “Jesus really loves you, Boots,” then he would smile and say, “And Heavly Fader. And da Holy Ghost.”
He loves the word “bonk”. And he loves sneaking it into songs or stories and then punctuating it with a silly bonk to his own head.
So, “Old MacDonald had a BONK!”
And, “Sully wif two eyes was leeping in his bed. And den Mikey wif one eye came and goed BONK!”
He is constantly running and he has an astonishing variety of them.
When Mommy asks him to stay close and he has to restrain himself, he pulls out the adorable slow-motion-bounding-in-place kind.
At home, he loves to come tearing around a corner with two-fists-pumping-at-full-speed crying, “I’m gonna diiiieee!” and then plow headlong into a couch, bounce back and then declare with shocked relief, “I’m alive!”
He loves to be the leader in family walks while carrying his “bow and arrow” (two sticks) like Robin Hood. One of the neighbors remarked once, “It’s so funny to watch you guys walk around the neighborhood because Boots is always about ten steps ahead of every one else.”
He is a wonderful little student. Currently, he is decoding two and three letter words, counting, naming planets, tracing letter shapes, matching antonyms and memorizing the first five Articles of Faith during his daily lessons.
His articulation is age appropriate, but Mommy added some low-stress speech therapy practice to his lessons to teach him initial /s/-clusters. After that, she’ll teach initial /h/ and voiceless “th”. So far, he’s doing great! (Though Mommy doesn’t want him to lose his adorable errors too fast…)
He loves animals and would contentedly pet the chickens or neighborhood cats all day long.
He is full of personality and has a phenomenal sense of humor. Right when you least expect it, he will pull an adorably funny face, gesture, stunt or punchline. Combined with his unbelievable cuteness, it makes Mommy just want to squeeze him!
And speaking of squeezing, Mommy LOVES his belly. It’s so big and round! Mommy never wants him to lose it!
He is so wonderful. Every night, Mommy has to make herself walk away from his crib and say good night, when she’d much rather try to crawl in and hold onto him and his radiating sweetness just a little bit longer. She has no idea how she got so lucky to have him and tries so hard to deserve him.
We love you, Boots, with all our hearts!
