Dear Connor - 5 Years

Dear Connor,
It’s hard to believe that you are already five years old. To me, five marks the end of the little kid years and the herald of the big boy age. I’m lucky you still fit in my lap. Your attention span is (very) slowly but surely coming online. You are now asking to play games like Candyland and are able to sit down for short periods of time and do puzzles.

I feel like this might be an appropriate place to discuss your contraptions. You love a roll of string and tape. You like to piece things together with tape. It doesn’t matter if it’s fabric, string or old leaves. You like to build things that go high and span great distances. Last month, I walked into the kitchen to find that you had gotten a hold of some string and a roll of tape. You had the entire kitchen taped up and laced with a web that wouldn’t allow me to get to the sick. Unfortunately you are still easily frustrated and led to tantrums so when your brother went running through it like he was playing Red Rover, you went ballistic.

We’ve taken you out of your therapy for the time being, because it’s crazy expensive and because I feel like we can do some of the same things at home to help you. It means we’ll have to work a little bit harder at home, but it frees up some cash for you to do other things like take gymnastics and frees me up to do things on Thursday afternoons like write a blog entry. Last month, we went to the allergist, had a school field trip where you got to pick out a pumpkin and feed a goat, went apple picking in the mountains and actually got to play in the backyard sans mosquitoes, which are the NC state bird. On our trip to the allergist we found out that you are allergic to trees, grasses and weeds. Luckily (for Pippin) you aren’t allergic to cats. You had mild allergies to just about every food except beef and cantaloupe but the allergist said there wasn’t much to worry about.

While we are taking this break from your therapy we are going to embark on a major mission of discovery, elimination testing… your Dad and I are constantly trying to find methods that will help you focus and make you more comfortable in your own skin. Recently there have been several studies done on allergies and their trigger on behavior. We have decided that we are going to start eliminating items from your diet to see if there is a difference in your ability to sit still and focus. First we are going to try apples. Apples are easy enough to eliminate from your diet and after the experience that we had at the apple orchard, where you suddenly felt sick and couldn’t get away from there fast enough, we thought it was worth a try. This method is known as the Feingold diet. We’ll try anything short of shock therapy to help you, so why the hell not. I mean, who can’t live without apples for three weeks? From there we’ll eliminate all artificial flavors and preservatives which may be a slight annoyance to friends, family and the preschool but I just have to know. I mean, what if it’s some random preservative that’s causing you to lose control of yourself? If I waited until you were 12 to try it, I’d be so upset with myself for waiting so long. As your Great Grandfather said to me once, “It can’t hurt and it might help”. Nobody really needs to be eating that crap anyway, right?

This Halloween you are going to be Danny Phantom. Oh, how I cannot wait for the day that I can just go to a store and buy your costume. Every time you tell someone that you are going to be Danny Phantom for Halloween, they say, “Who?” which is why you ended up with a homemade costume again this year. Today you had your party at the preschool and we put you in your costume and even sprayed your hair with silver hair spray. You totally rocked the silver hair, Mister. You weren’t sure about it at first, but I have the feeling in the next twenty minutes an argument is going to occur regarding the shower.

Happy Birthday Danny Phantom. May you always use your ghost powers for good.
I love you,
Mama