Dear Mateo,
Buddy, I last wrote you when you turned six. Now that you are almost seven, it seems time for an update.
You are a big first grader now! You started school a few weeks ago and have already gotten comfortable with your new teachers, new building, and new expectations. You generally love school and learning, although you are pretty exhausted by the transition from our lazy summer!
Some of your favorite parts of school: language time, music, woodshop, PE, art, math, and really just about everything. Your teachers say that you are good at paying attention and focusing. You got a chance to learn some Mandarin Chinese at the beginning of the year and were very proud to get to write some characters. You don't always share what your day was like right away, but we are always amazed by all the things you have done when the details start to come out.
Socially, the year started off a bit rockily for you. Your best friend from kindergarten moved away for a few years and then you were put in a class with a bunch of kids you didn't know well. You didn't know who to play with at recess and felt lonely and sad. Luckily, with some support from your teachers, your naturally social personality has come through again and things are starting to go better. You have been involved in a couple of incidents in which you have been accidentally hurt by rough housing kids on the playground, which is probably just part of the process of growing up, but has been tough for you and us.
One new joy in your life is swimming. Early on in the summer, you decided you were ready to put your head underwater and hold your breath. Since then, you have turned into a little fish! You took lessons during the summer and loved them so much that we have continued them this fall. You have swimming twice a week after school and you love it. You have come a long way in a short time, and now you are working on arm strokes and side breathing. As a family, we have been going to a nearby rec center on the weekend and playing in the family pool there. It is pretty cool to watch you confidently motoring around underwater!
Mateo, the highlight of your life continues to be the same thing. Can you guess what it is? Reading! You love books more than anything and will instantly say so if someone asks you what you like to do. You read more books than we can count this summer, from picture books to graphics novels to chapter books to books for much older kids. Some of your favorites have been the first Percy Jackson and the Olympians book, any TinTin book, and any zany graphic novel about a detective or superhero that you can find. You still love to be read to, and you get some Spanish reading time with Mommy every night, too.
You also love reading non-fiction and particularly history books. Grandpa has given you a few books on various topics out of a series he read as a child and you have devoured them. Your favorite and most-talked-about of those was the one on the Wright brothers and the beginning of airplane flight. You have read so much and absorbed so many facts that you come out with unexpected facts all the time. Not too long ago, you spontaneously volunteered that the London Bridge goes over the river Thames. You randomly, and correctly, used the word "pilloried" in a sentence. You seem to have a natural affinity for spelling and love to try kid crossword puzzles. We are excited to see where all this learning will take you someday!
Mateo, you are one snuggly kid and prefer to spend much of each night cuddled up with your moms. You still let me give you a hug and kiss when I leave you at school. You hold hands with us frequently. And when you are upset, you calm down best when we lie down with you for a few minutes.
That being said, you had a tough summer with a lot of temper flare-ups. You had a really short fuse and kept blowing up without much warning. You really gave us a run for our money at our family reunion at the end of the summer. We finally figured out that you kept blowing up when you hadn't eaten enough. Maybe you were growing? We started paying a lot more attention to feeding you frequently! And, luckily, with the start of school and the return of more structure, you have settled down a lot. You have had explosive periods throughout your life and we are working on navigating them when they happen.
In terms of food, you would prefer breakfast for every meal. Your favorite food right now is the raspberry pancakes I make you nearly every morning. You also like toast, bagels, waffles, French toast, and fruit. Basically, if it can be eaten for breakfast, you will go for it. However, you also like veggies pretty well. Your favorite are carrots, bell peppers, and cucumbers. I have started sending bento boxes filled with little bits of various finger foods for your lunches (grated cheese, sliced fruit, nuts, crackers, veggies, etc) and you like that pretty well.
Outside, you love to ride your bike and play on the swings! You became quite a little monkey last year and mastered the monkey bars, which impressed your parents. You also really enjoyed playing under the sprinkler this summer. We have some hilarious photos of you and your siblings standing under the water drops in 80 degree weather with your umbrellas out! We think that means you really are Oregon natives!
Mateo, you are our most favorite boy in the entire world. We are just bursting with pride that you are our son. We love you just exactly the way you are, now and always.
We love you!
Mama and Mommy
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