dear tyson...

Dear Tyson,

You are seven years old today.  I have loved every minute of these seven years with you.  I fell in love the second I laid eyes on you.  You surprised us by coming 2 weeks early and I'm so thankful for that extra 2 weeks we had together.

You are a precious little man.  Your heart is so tender and you love your family deeply.  You constantly tell me I'm beautiful and all kinds of other things that make my heart happy.  You are quite the encourager in our family, in school, and on the ball field.  You make us so proud with your big heart and kind soul.

You do not like change.  You cried when we remodeled our kitchen this past year.  You still talk about the old floor because you miss "jumping on the squares".  You don't like it when we change things up in your room or when we even mention getting rid of a toy that you haven't played with in years.  However, you will go into any classroom at any church with a smile and act like the first day of school is no big deal.  You are confident in new situations and handle them like a pro but your sentimental heart can't handle new kitchen appliances.

You're a funny guy.  You make us laugh and you love that.  You like making people happy.  You have been known to give up the last bag of fruit snacks so your sisters can have it instead.  You are an incredibly special brother.

You love helping your Daddy work on just about anything.  You love your bike rides with Daddy as he runs.  You and Daddy are buddies and it is so sweet.  You both love adventure and especially an adventure together.   You finally got to ride big kid water slides this year with him at the water park and you thought it was awesome.

You love to be read to and can remember just about everything you hear.  When we picked you up from church while we were visiting Aunt Stephanie & Uncle Dave, the teacher said you were very smart and knew your Bible stories well!  That was music to my ears.

Legos are your favorite toy right now which is no change from last year.  You can create some pretty impressive things with Legos.  You want the sets as gifts but except for a few select ones, you usually take them apart and build your own thing.  You love trading Legos with your big cousin Shane and he is still your favorite person in the world.

Chips & salsa continues to be your favorite snack although I am not even sure you taste the chips due to the extreme amount of salsa you put on them.  You can clean a chicken leg and corn on the cob better than anyone and strawberries are by far your favorite fruit.

When you are mad, you get a crazy look on your face.  You sometimes say, "I am so mad, I don't know what to do, I just want to hit something."  I totally know what you mean.  You try so hard to do the right things but nobody can be perfect.  I love watching you grow into a big kid and practice that self-control we have been working on since you were tiny.

You fall asleep pretty quick at night and you're my earliest riser.  We have a rule for you to stay in bed until 7:00 or else we would see you at 6 and that is much too early for anyone of us to be awake.

You are close to reading independently and if you cared a little more about it, you would be.  But math continues to be your thing and comes more naturally to you.  You don't mind practicing math and love to ask us crazy math questions.  In fact, you love to ask questions period.  Your favorite is when you show us two Lego guys and ask us which is the good and bad guy and who we think would win the battle.

You are such a neat little man and we are constantly in awe of you and the way you are growing into such a big and incredibly special kid.

My favorite thing about you is the way you seem to grasp how amazing God is and you truly have a heart for Him.  That is our biggest prayer for you buddy, that you will forever have a heart for God.

Thank you for loving the way you do, thank you for treasuring time with your family, and for all the sweet things you say to me as I tuck you in at night.  You are so quick to forgive my parenting fails and make me feel like the best mommy in the world.  Thank you for being you Tyson Carter.  I love, love, love being your Mommy.

And of course, I love you WAY more than you love me no matter what you say!

Mommy
XOXO