18 months old
1 year old
11 months old
10 months old
9 months old
8 months old
7 months old
6 months old
5 months old
4 months old
3 months old
2 months old
1 month old
2 weeks old
Dear Calvin,
At last the long awaited day has arrived! Your birthday! You are 3, big man!
What does the world hold for you these days?
- You are a delight, my son. You have a huge, beautiful smile, and you share it readily most of the time. I love to see that smile! When I tell you about something happy or fun coming up, you respond with an enthusiastic, "Oh, yay!"
- You love books! We can sit on the couch for an undetermined amount of times, reading and re-reading favorites. You particularly enjoy books about trucks, but you have a long attention span for most any readaloud, and I love it that you will still curl up with me for a long cozy reading time. This year you got to be a part of our new homeschool co-op, and many weeks you sat with us in the literature class for the younger students and listened quietly with the readaloud book and discussion.
- You are good at playing independently, good at playing with your brothers (while still sometimes needing a reminder to "use kind words" instead of screaming when upset), and good at welcoming others when friends come to visit. You also have reached a bit of a reserved stage, when we're in groups, and sometimes you prefer to stick close to me rather than launch out to play with people you're not so familiar with.
- You enjoy the construction site (i.e. big hole designated for digging in the backyard), and you are very busy getting covered with your fill of dirt this summer. It's great fun.
- You are very conversational and have such a vocabulary that sometimes it's hard to remember you're just 3. You love to point out things you see (an airplane! an excavator! a puppy!), and you love to tell stories of your adventures and experiences. FaceTimes with Grammy and Grandad or Grandma Kay are always fun.
- You can be very patient waiting for things that you look forward to. It has certainly been a long season watching all your brothers celebrating their early-in-the-year birthdays and waiting for the day when it will be your turn. But you have kept a happy attitude and generous spirit nonetheless. ("My birthday is June 17, and you'll have to sing happy birthday to you, and I'm going to eat ice cream and drink lemonade!"
- You are a wonderful helper, and you really love to watch and help me... in the kitchen, in my garden, putting clothes away, and so on. You use the sweeper to clean the kitchen floor most days, and you make a good buddy team with Victor to dust or clean the family room. I'm so glad that you are learning to be a good worker!
- You are a great eater, cleaning your plate without complaint most all the time. Sometimes you don't finish your dessert (a curious thing!).
- You are already showing yourself to be a good big brother, gentle with Jemima, whispering when she is eating or sleeping, patient when I can't be available as soon as you'd like. I'm so thankful for God's helping you to enjoy and excel in that new important role in our family.
Lately God has been reminding me just how much we can entrust to Him. Big things and little things, like a day's schedule or a health crisis, the ability to endure through long, quiet suffering and the joyful evidences of grace that pop up in unexpected moments.
Our world does not function on the basis of trust. It is in the air of our culture to act on feelings and experiences, to demand evidence, to reject things that do not feel or appear to be true in our own contextual lens. But God has shown us in the Bible that He actually designs our days so that we have the opportunity to take Him at His word and trust. It pleases Him when we look not to the things that are transient but to the things that are eternal, basing our faith on the solid rock of His word.
I pray that, as you grow and encounter every level of challenge and temptation, you will increasingly practice walking by faith. For He certainly is faithful.
This summer, we as a family are working on memorizing Psalm 91 together, and verse 5 gives us this wonderful picture:
His faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
We can trust God because He is faithful. His faithfulness is like a huge, protective shield ... and by exercising our faith in God's trustworthiness, we have a shield that can extinguish the fiery arrows of the evil one.
There are troubles and trials each day in this world, but they are not given to us to crush us or defeat us. In God's love, those difficulties become opportunities to see God's faithfulness, to receive His mercy and help, and to grow in our reliance on and joy in Him.
One day, we will see Him just as He is. For now, let's keep our eyes of faith fixed on Jesus, for He is faithful.
I love you, sweet son,
Momma
Calvin (6.23.21) 3 years old
1. What is your favorite color? blue
2. What is your favorite toy? truck
3. What is your favorite fruit? orange
4. What is your favorite video to watch? Mighty Machines
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? sandwich
6. What is your favorite thing to wear? my new pjs
7. What is your favorite game? Sequence
8. What is your favorite snack? pretzels
9. What is your favorite animal? rhinoceros
10. What is your favorite song? Jesus Loves Me
11. What is your favorite verse? He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
12. What is your favorite book? cat book
13. Who is your best friend? Isaiah
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play with my new baseball
15. What is your favorite drink? root beer
16. What do you like to sleep with at night? my blankets
17. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? cheese sandwich (?)
18. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? hot dogs
19. What do you want to be when you grow up? a worker
20. What was one of your favorite things that you did this year? swimming in the swimming pool
21. What is your favorite place to go? buy some toy trucks at a toy store
No comments:
Post a Comment