Ethan William at Four

Ethan, Ethanbear, Lovebug,

You are such a sweet four year old boy!  You are bursting with love and in turn are loved by so many.

This year I have watched you bring your love, kindness, and empathy further into the world.  At school, with friends, and especially with your brother, you display a patience, generosity and sensitivity to others that is far beyond your years. Just tonight, you thought of getting the pepper from the pantry, but let Lucas get it when he wanted to.  You said, “It’ll make Lucas happy to get the pepper. I’ll be happy if I get the pepper or even if I don’t get the pepper.” 

 

You are so tuned in to how other people are feeling – it is just part of who you are to care about others.  Somehow you have managed to pair that quality with such playfulness and silliness that everyone around you can’t help but smile, which I believe brings you great joy. 

You are full of hugs and kisses, which I LOVE.  You delight in seeing me after a day of school and excitedly greet your friends upon arriving for a play date.

You are such a people person.  You know what makes people happy – telling me that my dinner looks yummy, giving Lucas the first turn at the Ladybug game, and helping a classmate pick a flower that you actually spotted first.  You want us all to laugh, and so you shower us with silliness – crazy faces, sounds, words, stories.  You are such a riot!

Your love for people is only rivaled by your love for dirt and water, preferably in combination with one another.  This year we bought a house with a backyard, or as I think of it, Ethan’s studio.  You just love to be outside, and the messier and dirtier the activity, the happier you are.  A favorite project of yours is to fill something with dirt and rocks and then spray it with water until it is a muddy mess.  Then you scoop it up with a little cup and try to serve it to me as coffee.  Thanks.  Recently, this love of messiness has extended to the craft room.  I love that you now like to experiment with paint, glue, markers and stickers, creating your own works of art.  Somehow you manage to get colors and stickiness all over you, even under your clothes.  You are just a magnet for a mess, but a joyful one for sure.

When presented with the chance to pick your first ever class by yourself, you jumped at the chance to take a dance class.  You have always loved to watch dance and you dance with great joy at home to many different kinds of music.  So when you started your class, you were beaming and so invested, even though you are the only boy in a sea of pink tutus.  The teacher has been so complimentary of you – your attention, effort, awesome coordination and general sweet nature.  No surprise here!

You love to hear about Daddy and I as kids.  In fact, you prefer an anecdote from our childhood over a song or book before bedtime.  You choose whether it will be a silly, nice, sad, scary, or owie story and ask us to delve deep into our memories for the requested story.  We love this idea of yours, as it is just another way to connect with you and offer you a chance to learn a little something about life.

As an avid observer of people and the world, it is not surprising that you have developed a love for photography.  You beautifully document your life through snapping photos of everything that interests you.  Below are some of my faves.

You continue to be energetic and active, forsaking naps this year.  You have quite an adventurous nature, wanting to climb things, balance on things, and generally give me a heart attack every chance you can.  You are rarely silent or still, although you do love a good book or story.  Otherwise, it is constant activity until bedtime, when you fall asleep pretty much as soon as your head hits the pillow.  You certainly live life to the fullest, and therefore, we all do, just to keep up with you!

You have really embraced school and done a wonderful job there.  Your teachers love having you in class, as you are a great listener, participant and friend to other children.  At one point I worried that you were thinking too much about the other kids rather than yourself, but the teacher assured me you assert your needs and speak up for what you want.  A really nice kid, but no pushover!

You are so smart and love to learn, always asking questions like “How is a blanket made?” and “Where does the sun go when it sets?”  It is easy to teach you, as you are such a good listener.  I love our discussions about the world, people, nature, and what you will be doing “when I am a Daddy".”  Last I heard, you were going to be an astronaut and a firefighter.

Some of your favorite things at this age are broccoli (yes, broccoli!), oatmeal, the song “All You Need is Love,” your bike, being tickled, seeing how far and high you can jump, cutting paper, writing your name, eating snow, playing in the ocean waves, swinging, and eating at Red Robin.

My sweet Ethan, someone once said, “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”  You so often make me think of that.  You are all heart in how you approach the world and you have made me love life more for watching how you live it.

Your Daddy and I love you so much! Happy Birthday to our wonderful four year old Ethan!!!