Dear Lucas (98 Weeks),

Today instead of our normal morning walk we tried out the YMCA. I left you in Child watch and went and took a water aerobics class and then got in the sauna for a while. At first when I dropped you off you ran right in the room and started to play but as I walked out I could hear you calling for me "mama? mama?" and it was hard to leave you with a bunch of strangers. You are allowed to leave your kids in the child watch for no more than two hours and I came back before then and as soon as you saw me you started to cry again. I'm thinking about transferring my gym membership to the YMCA since they have free childcare and Curves does not but I am a little worried that instead of getting used to it you will hate being left there! The workers said you did fine until another Mom walked in the door and picked up their kid, they said you thought it was me coming to get you.

Once I picked you up you were so happy to see me. You weren't clingy just happy to be near me and we had the best day. On the way home you made me singe the alphabet song and each time I would finish you would clap when I was done and then say "gain!" and want me to start again. After singing the alphabet five times in a row I tried to sing a different song and you protested loudly so I had to go back to singing the alphabet. When we got home it was sprinkling and you held your hand up to try and catch the rain drops. On the way into the house you had a very hard time trying to walk past puddles without splashing in them.

Last week your poor fish died. Your Dad thinks it was my fault because I have a habit of doing things like forgetting to water the plants... or feed the fish. In my circular reasoning though I think it is your Dad's fault. If he knows that I sometimes forget to do these things, why doesn't he do them? I'm not sure if you realized that your fish died or not. Monday we went to the fish store to buy you a new fish. I had plans on just buying another blue fish but wouldn't you know they had every color but blue. I ended up letting you pick out the new fish and you picked out a red one. Hopefully this one will outlive the last one.

Today you ended up falling and getting a pretty nasty bruise on your head. I think you inherited your Daddy's accident proneness. You did let me put an ice pack on the bruise for a little bit and you ended up holding it on there yourself for a pretty good chunk of time. Every once in a while you would call out, "mama, cold!" until you finally gave up and went back to playing.

I can no longer cook a meal without you wanting to help. When your Daddy and I try to cook at the same time it drives me crazy but I love cooking with you. Before we start cooking I always try and get out everything we need before we start so I don't have to leave you on the counter unattended. Now you don't even wait for me to tell you what to do. If I don't watch you closely you just start picking stuff up and dumping it in the bowl. One day I should just let you go and see what you create.

Bugga, I love you to the moon and back,
Mama