January 2017 (6 years and 4 months old)

Dear Patrick,

• This month snow came late on 2/6 Friday night and made a weekend of play. Greenville county closed school that following Monday and Tuesday. Your dad volunteered to take you with him to work and you decided on your own to “suit-up” too. You both looked so great.   
• You created a new animal called a “Cheetah-tang,” which is a obviously a cross between a cheetah and an orangutan.
• During wrestling time, you shout out moves before you perform them. Spikey bolder, super-poison snap dragon and ninja swipe are my favorite.
• Your goals for 2017 are to ride a roller-coaster, eat lasagna,
• On 1/13 it was a teacher workday and we volunteers to keep Rivers at our house. I took you boys to the playground outside the zoo in the morning and then your dad took you both to the Pavilion that afternoon.
• On Monday 1/16 you went to Rivers house to play and your father and I took the morning off from work to watch the ESPN documentary “OJ Made In America,” which was an awesome treat to ourselves.
• This month I’ve been working with the Principal and a small group of parents to bring the “Leader In Me” initiative to Summit Drive Elementary. I know you don’t understand it now, but I hope these effort will be productive in the next few years.
• We picked up Mason and his sister Kate from school for a playdate at our house on Thursday 1/26 and schedule another play date with Mordichi on Friday 1/27.
• On 1/31 it was the 100th day of school and you announced the evening before that you wanted to wear a shirt made of 100 things, so out came the glue gun. 
• On Tuesday 1/3 we left the house at 7:35am with plenty of time to walk to school. The weather wasn’t cold yet and it wasn’t raining. As we got in front of the Howell's house, you said he wanted to spit out your gum out and go home and grab another piece. "You can spit out your gum, but you can't go home - we need to get to school," I said. You whined and complained but we walked on. You were mad, and I probably should've let you be mad, but I wanted to make it better for us both right away. That was my mistake. I wanted to control the situation and so did you. That afternoon you met me with a hug and a big smile - all was forgotten. So I didn’t bring up the morning - even to tell you that I was sorry, so I’m saying it now. Moms can make mistakes too.