April 2015: 55 months (4 years and seven months old)

Dear Patrick,

• You have a rubber frog that you call “Patricia.” I believe you borrowed this frog from Rivers over a year ago, and now that you've named it, she may be here to stay.
• On nature walks, you bring your foam sword and kill all the dandelions in sight.
• Even though your Easter basket was filled with lots of toys, you only had eyes for the Legos. The bunny hid eggs around the living room, which really just allowed your parents to drink coffee comfortably on the couch as you ran around hunting. Later that morning, we went to Gangie & Biggie’s house for a great lunch and it was a very nice day.
• On April 7th, we received the Stone Lake membership to the pool.  So this year, after Memorial Day, which is the official opening, we are gonna “Rule the Pool,” as you & your Dad say.
• Pollen is really causing trouble this month. On Wednesday April 8th it got so bad that I took you to the doctor, who prescribed a new steroid for your inhaler. And next year she recommends that we start you on a low dose of allergy medicines leading up to pollen season. 
• You love to wrestle with your Dad on the bed. You do this game of jumping over a pillow and then your Dad tries to fall on you (a love bomb) and misses.
• On the evening of 4/14 after dinner, your dad was doing the dishes at the kitchen sink. You decided to run laps around the island and when the dishwasher door was opened suddenly, you stopped in your tracks and whined, “Daaadd! Its in my waaaaay!” And that is when we had a little talk about tone, priorities and who is the real boss of this house.
• I suggested that you go outside to play after school one day and you replied matter-of-factly, “I can’t - I have allergies.” Tough to argue with your convenient truths, but I still pushed you outside.
• Pop came into town on Thursday 4/16 so that he could stay with you while your dad and I went to dinner for our tenth wedding anniversary!  Take care of Pop we instructed and you said you would because “Pop is REALLY old.” That made your (73 year old) Pop laugh so hard.
• You love to make pizza - okay, well, more to the point - you love squishing and spreading the dough into the pan. I would eat pizza everyday just to hear you squeal at "pizza toots" when the air bubbles pop.
• On Saturday 4/18, you & Bodhi went hunting for salamanders in the Suber’s backyard with Judson. You came home covered in mud and no slimy animals for us to keep in jars, which I’d call perfect morning fun.