Erin Akin Carroll

my favorite picture of our Hayes from the past year

Dear Hayes,

How is it possible that you are four? Up until two months ago, you were still our little baby. I still saw my tiny little toddler every time I watched you sleep and you would still let me cuddle with you. You have grown up a lot lately.

You’re becoming such a sweet big brother. You know that James Walker is so tiny and you’re so careful with him. But there are also times that you’re a little over-eager and not super careful, so we have to remind you to calm down a little and remember that James Walker is so tiny.

You love life and you are just wide open! You play with full force. You run and jump and laugh and whatever you do, you are all in. I love that about you! We all joke that when you’re grown and on your own and come home for holidays, we’ll all be arguing over who gets to sit next to you at the dinner table. You are so much fun!

You and Hudson started sharing a room around Christmas and it has gone so well. You’ve learned that bed time is bed time and you have to be quiet when the lights go out because you don’t want to keep Hudson awake. Hudson is a lot more of a rule follower than you are, so it’s been a little bit of an adjustment for you, but you’ve done so well. The lights go out and you settle down immediately and drift off to sleep.

With the change of sharing a room, though, you dropped your nap. You were not thrilled about being in your room to take a nap knowing that Hudson was not in there napping, too. You’d just get in there and cry or play or jump on the bed. So we gave up the battle and gave up the nap. But there are a couple days a week where you just drop right where you are and crash. It takes you getting very very still, but you just crash. We have a lot of funny pictures of the places where you’ve napped.

Your vocabulary is huge and your speech has come such a long way! It’s hard to even remember the day when we struggled to understand your speech. You’re so smart, too, Hayes! You don’t sit down and focus on educational things often, but you shock us all the time with what you know. You recognize words and all your letters and numbers. And it’s just something that you seem to have snuck in while you’ve been running and playing so hard.

Our sweet little Hayesie. We’ve actually had to be a lot more mindful of how often and where we call you Hayesie because your classmates were starting to call you that. And while it’s a cute nickname for now, we didn’t want it to be something that you were stuck with your whole life!

You love pancakes and waffles and French fries. But you aren’t the best eater. We know you’ll come around someday. You love ninja turtles, make believe, playing outside, baseball, riding your bike. And you can entertain yourself so well. I’ll hear you having little conversations between your toys and it’s just so cute how much you love to play.

We are so thankful for your sweet little tender heart and your loving spirit. You’re definitely the most fun person in our family and that is a trait that I know you’ll have forever!

I’m so excited to see what God does in your little life over the next year. He has big plans for you, Hayes, and we’re just so thankful for the time that we get to spend with you and watch how He guides your path.

I love you, sweet boy!

Love,

Mommy