Happy Birthday, Little Brother

(A catch-up post)

November 2015 

Dearest Little Brother,

Well my sweets, you are three-years-old now. Or ‘bee’ as you say. Which of course, I adore.

I wish you could have had the lovely birthday party with your cousin and Grandma and Papa as we had planned, but no, you poor dear. You spent your birthday sick. 

Again.

Last year you had double pneumonia. You were so sick that I didn’t even bother to write you a letter. Instead we were frantically giving doses of medication, interspersed with doses of ibuprofen to the keep the fever down, and washing endless sheets. Because when you cough, you throw up.

Every. Single. Time.

Yes, I’m glad we all survived your two-year-old birthday illness. On to the three-year-old birthday plague which came in the form of the flu. Though we had dutifully taken you in for a flu shot just weeks before.

This birthday brought you temps of 104.4, a visit to urgent care, and more chest x-rays. But hooray for all of us! Just a little puking.

We have high hopes that for your 4^th birthday we might actually be able to follow through on the party we plan!

You’ve had such a year! We have delighted in watching your personality bloom as you grew more comfortable with us and our new surroundings.

You are a really funny boy. Your antics keep us giggling and your little smile is irresistible. 

You are happy and easy going mostly, except when that dratted two-year-old ‘I want it now’ mode kicks in. Then, you are quick to throw whatever is in your hands. We've learned to get out of the way or quickly disarm you.

But fortunately you are easily distracted and move on. You are a loyal little brother, which is befitting someone whose Korean name means ‘merciful friend.’ You love to follow Little Man around (which infuriates him) and attempt to copy everything he does. You adore him, though never miss an opportunity to antagonize him. And even when you are fighting like foes you will do a random act of kindness which melts the bad feelings away.

Gracefulness is not one of your gifts. Somehow you end up bleeding one way or another from crashing into things, falling down the stairs or scratching yourself. But you are tough! Really, your pain threshold is amazing. Even when Daddy had to carry you bleeding from the playground to get your eyebrow glued together, you weren’t crying from pain---you were just angry that the play session was cut short.

With your stocky build, low center of gravity, and high pain tolerance, we joke that you would be a football coach’s dream. Hate to tell you though…Mama isn’t going to let them get you!

What you lack in grace and agility, you make up for in engineering skills. Your favorite thing is to construct, destruct, and reconstruct. Blocks, Legos, Magformers, Rokenbok, Hot Wheels, train sets….if it can be built you will build it. You will stay busy building for over an hour. Mommy really loves that!

Some favorites of yours:

• Activity: Playing with the Hot Wheels track or building train tracks.
• Song: "All about that base" by Megan Trainor (Don't judge us, haha.)
• Color: Blue
• Foods: Strawberries, seaweed, rice, oatmeal
• Book: Anything with Thomas the Train

Well sweet boy, you bring such light and joy into our lives. I know big things are in store for you this year. Just don't lose your sweetness and love of snuggling!

Each day we thank your birth family. There aren’t enough words to tell them how we cherish you. We hope they are safe and at peace.

Love you bunches---

Mama