Dear Tucker,

Today you are 4 years old. I am amazed at how you have grown and am so thankful for the time we have had with you. You are the laughter in our days, the twinkle in our eyes, the knowing-looking of an inside joke, and the part that makes us feel like a family.

You have been growing so much lately and keeping us quite entertained. You are so logical and funny. You crack me up. The other day you asked me if I could fix your sock because they were upside-in. Oh how you make me giggle!

A few weeks ago you and Daddy went out and started the car. When you got out Daddy said he was going to leave the car on to get warm. You walked to the front of my car, patted the hood and said "Keep runnin' o'l boy." Daddy sure got a kick out of that!

On the first cold day of the season you went racing out the front door, stopped, sniffed for a second with your "super-smeller" then raced back in and told me is smelled like snow today. On the first snow day of the season you raced into my room to wake me up and say "Look outside Mommy. It's Christmas outside!"

You always tell us that when you grow up you are going to be a Daddy. This is mostly because you think that when you are a Daddy you will be the boss. We have talked about how when you become a Daddy, then Daddy will be and Grandpa and Mama will be a Grandma. The other day you were almost in tears when you told me "Mommy, but if I am a Daddy and you are a Grandma, I'm not going to have a mommy anymore!" I told you that no matter what, you will always be my boy and I will always be your mommy.

Speaking of that, I've noticed little signs that you are growing up. For example, you are starting to call me Mom.
Just Mom.
Not Mommy.
When did this happen? It brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. It has all happened so quickly. Do you think it would be possible to just slow the process down a little bit?

The Christmas season has been so exciting this year as we watch it all unfold through your eyes. You are excited about everything! You asked Daddy the other night if we have a chimney. Daddy wasn't sure what you were asking at first, but I knew right away that you were thinking ahead for Christmas Eve. For Thanksgiving this year we went to Colorado to celebrate with the Farias family. On the day after Thanksgiving we went to Estes Park to the parade of lights. As we were walking down the hill toward downtown Estes as soon as you spotted the Christmas decorations you looked up at me with excitement in your eyes and said "Look Mommy. Christmas is here!"

Christmas has been so exciting for you this year that last week you told me "Mommy, I don't want to be a Daddy when I grow up anymore. I want to be Santa!"

I think you are going to get your wish. Lol.

You have been very specific about what you want for Christmas. Every time we ask you (for the last several weeks) you have said you are going to tell Santa you want a big, fast, green four-wheeler. You have not wavered on that one bit and you are not talking about the toy four-wheeler. You want a real big-fast-green-four-wheeler. We said that we didn't think Santa would be able to fit that in his sleigh, that that was also no deterrent. You saw something in a toy ad a few days ago and said you wanted it. I mentioned that you could ask Santa for that, but you told me "No. Santa is going to get me a big-fast-green-four-wheeler."

Daddy and I are in trouble.

You are obsessed with throwing snow-balls. We went ice-skating in Loveland, CO and you stopped and picked up all the ice shavings as you skated around so that you could throw snow at Daddy. They you just laughed and laughed. After the first snow you went out to "help" Daddy shovel the drive way. I don't know exactly how much help you were since you just danced around Daddy and threw snowballs at him while he cleared the driveway.

You are quite the Tease! You especially like to tease Papa and Nana with your special blankie. You run around the house and hide it when they are coming, then when they get here you tell them "I hid my blankie under my bed so that you can't get it." You also play hide and go seek on the phone with them. You take the phone, go hide while they count on the phone, then they guess where you are. It's so helpful to keep you busy when Mommy is busy. Earlier this year you were chasing Tia through the house saying "Fee Fo Fi Fum." Now that I think about it, we never did set you straight on the typical order.

Tia had her baby, Millie, and you loved meeting her. She has all her little baby grunts in full force. As we were riding in the car Tucker started saying, "Oink, oink, oink." Then he looked at us and said " That's what Millie says." (she does too! lol.)

This year has been a busy one for you. You love to play outside, go swimming and ride your bike, scooter, Gator, tractor and anything else with wheels. In fact, you ever rode your bike this year without training wheels. You still prefer to ride with training wheels so that you can go super fast and then slam on the brakes and skid to a stop. Sometime I have a hard time remembering you were just 3 when I watch you race around on your wheels. This summer was a great one for us since our main goal was to sit by the pool and get a tan and we accomplished that. I am hoping we have many more summers that we can work to have the same goals.

Another summer favorite of yours was going to the dump with Daddy. I joked that the words "Do you want to go to the dump with me" inspire much different responses from you and me. You could hardly wait to go to the dump with Daddy and would try to convince him that he needed make frequent trips. I didn't find out until the summer was almost over that Daddy would let you drive the pickup truck down there and that was all the excitement was about.

This fall Daddy was doing some honey-do projects for me and installing some shelves in your closest. He was measuring and marking the measurements on the wall for the shelves when you started hollering for me to come quickly because Daddy was writing on the walls when he wasn't supposed to. Then you turned to him and told him he was going to be in big trouble with Mommy when she found out.

You have become so social. You have several little friends and you get so excited to get together. I love that you have "best" friends.

Your phrases are adorable. I love hearing you say "Oopsie Daisy," "Stop fooling around," "Are you kidding me?" and "I gotta watch you all the time!" It is so funny to hear all of that coming out of such a little person.

This summer you told me you can't wait until you can play football so you can get a home-run. I am still giggling about that one.

You are amazing to me. I am so thankful to God that he placed you in our family. I can't imagine my life without you, but I know I wouldn't smile or laugh nearly as much. I love you so much.

Love,
Mommy