Dear William (78 months): "So, Einstein was right."

Dear William,
Today you are 78 months old. That is 6 AND A HALF YEARS! Happy half birthday!

So many things happened this month.  But first, you and Daddy made vegan baby donuts.

I just never know what you two will be up to.

Then, you had to update all your maps of the solar system when astronomers announced Planet X-- a theoretical 9th planet (Neptune sized and far beyond the Kuiper Belt).

I think that Planet X is the Oort Cloud's baby.

— Will RS (@Fig_Ragfield) February 4, 2016

Also related to outer space and theoretical physics, scientists detected a gravitational wave that resulted when two black holes collided approximately 1.3 billion years ago.  This was big news.  I heard about it while you were at school.  As soon as you got home, we studied some graphs.

And you said:

So, Einstein was right.

— Will RS (@Fig_Ragfield) February 11, 2016

Also this month: you figured out how to play "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" on some kind of bath toy that you hadn't played with in forever.

You continued with ice skating lessons.

Parents can skate with you after the lesson. It was up to Daddy, because Mommy does not like ice.

Your school had an event called the "Sock Hop."  You hula-hooped for about 2 seconds. Then you spent the rest of the night with your friends, running back and forth in the hallway.  I'm not sure why you and your friends ran so much. I was happy seeing you have so much fun though.

William, it seemed like we just kept having more and more snow this month.  You and your dad didn't mind.  We even went to RMNP to sled.  I don't share your enthusiasm about snow and cold weather.

We had such a big snow storm that you had school canceled one day.

"It's Mount Everest," you said. But really, that was just the snow we shoveled off the driveway.

On the bright side, just before the storm hit, our neighbors (Girl Scouts) sold us some Thin Mints.

William, an amazing thing happened this month.  You lost your first tooth!!  You have been so eager for this to happen.  Many of your classmates have been losing teeth since kindergarten and you were wondering why you hadn't lost one yet.  I guess your tooth had been wiggly for a few days, but you didn't tell us.  Then one Sunday night we were having sandwiches for dinner and watching one of the less-scary Harry Potter movies (the first one probably).  Just as you took a bite of your sandwich, your tooth fell out!  You were frantic.  We couldn't find the tooth anywhere.  You were terrified that you'd swallowed it.  I told you that would be fine. The tooth was tiny, and that's probably what baby monkeys do when they lose teeth.  But still, you wondered whether the tooth fairy would come if there was no tooth for her to collect.  I told you I would see what I could do.  Eventually, you calmed enough to brush your remaining 19 teeth and go to bed.

Then, as I was cleaning up the kitchen, I FOUND YOUR TOOTH!! It had been on your plate all along.  I almost woke you up to tell you, but when I peeked at you, you were at last sleeping peacefully, so I decided to wait until morning.

I put the tooth and 42 cents (the exact amount of change that had been in my wallet) on the kitchen table.  When you came down in the morning and saw that, you were thrilled.  You looked at me and said, "You're the tooth fairy, aren't you, mama?"  I nodded.

William "19 Teeth" R-S

Between snow storms, you ran with me every once and a while.

William "1 Mile" R-S

You invited your friend Milo over to play.  He was so impressed by your Legos.  He even came upstairs to tell me how impressed he was at the sheer magnitude of Legos you owned.  He said, "My mommy would never buy me that many Legos."  You looked at him knowingly and replied, "Ask your daddy."

William, you are the best.  Every night I tell you to have sweet dreams, but sometimes you have a bad dream, such as a wolf chasing you. You come running to my bed and want me to hold you and then for the rest of the night I don't sleep, but I don't mind.  I will hold you forever and ever.

Love always,
Mama