Dear Connor,

You are such a sweet kid. You have the softest heart. You are always doing things for others, especially your sister. You are constantly worried about doing the right thing and pleasing others. I imagine that one day we may find out you have a bit of your mother's anxiety issues, but for now we're just treating some of your anxious behavior the best way we know. The latest fear you have is choking to death. Daddy was explaining to you that when you chew your food you need to do it really well so that it can fit down your throat and go to your belly. Somewhere along the way you got it into your head that food can go into your throat or into your belly and if it goes into your throat- you die. This has made for the last few meals to be pretty tearful. You will be eating and then all of a sudden you start crying and screaming that food is in your throat and you don't want to die. Then you follow that up with repeated questions about heaven. We've assured you that you are not going to die. That all food goes into your throat before it goes to your belly, but you are just not convinced. So, whenever you start crying during a meal I just hold you and reassure you as best I can and then when  you've calmed down we try again to explain it to you.

You were so fun this Christmas season. You fell in love with Buddy the Elf. You had so many questions about his magic, and how his mouth worked. Could he talk? Could he eat? How does he fly? You got so excited to find him every day. On the last night when we got to hug Buddy good bye you were practically beside yourself with excitement that you got to touch him!

You are really into batman lately. You love super heroes and you love playing good guy vs. bad guy games. You love to be chased and will run and scream no matter who is chasing you, but you do not like to be the chaser (unless you're chasing Daddy!).  Whenever it's your turn to chase and the other kids run away you get sad and come tell me that nobody is playing with you and that they keep running away.

You are so smart! You love to read and you love to practice new skills. You still love to use your scissors and you get a kick out of learning how to write the letters in your name. You say "C for Connor" several times a day when you see a random C around the house.

It was fun taking you to look at Christmas lights this year. You were super excited to give away your prize. The house you chose was really sweet and thanked you a bunch. You puffed up-all excited and proud.

You made the holiday so special and fun this year! Thank you for being such a sweet boy.
I love you,
Mommy