Marshall in 2016

Dear Marshall,

We celebrated your seventh birthday in 2016. It’s hard to believe that you’ve been with us for seven lucky years! I can still see in my mind’s eye the infant who used to roll around on my bed making adorable raspberry noises at me.

But you’re in second grade now. You still roll around, and you still make fart noises, but you can also read and do math. You build intricate structures out of whatever you have handy, be it LEGOs, cardboard boxes, or disposable plastic cups. You draw interesting, detailed pictures of strange gizmos and TNT. You don’t seem to enjoy coloring as much as Livia does, but when you color with us, you make up stories to explain what you’re doing. For example, as you were coloring a large green section in one picture, you said, “Now green is taking over the world!”

You sound so grown-up sometimes. Do you remember your pet fish Zoulie (aka Senor Fishy Pants)? He died earlier this year, and we all missed his fishy little face. You were particularly sad. I told you that some people believe that there is a Heaven where people and animals go when they die. You said, “I don’t believe it, but I hope it’s true.”

You also eat a lot more than you used to. I would even go so far as to say that sometimes you’re a bottomless pit. I wish you were more consistent about it, though. On one day, you’ll be satisfied with just a bowl of pasta. The next, you’ll wolf down a half dozen eggs, several pieces of buttered toast, some fruit, and a big cup of whole milk, then announce, “I’m still hungry!” I wish I had a dollar for every time you said “More food!” (it would help pay for the groceries!). ๐Ÿ˜‰

During the summer you were suffering from allergies, so we started giving you allergy medicine. Taking the medicine became a ritual that both you and your sister looked forward to, thanks largely to your father. He made a special, silly sign to go along with each dose. I think you still have some of the notes. They’ll probably disappear over time, so I’ve included a photograph of one, just to give you an idea. The notes always made you smile.

Speaking of your smile, you finally have a full one. You had knocked out your top front baby teeth early, so you had a gappy smile for a long time. Your new teeth started coming in during the summer of last year. One of them was growing in crooked. It seems to have straightened itself out this year, and now we see the first gleamings of your adult smile. You’re growing up so fast!

Love,

Mom

 

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