Thursday, February 14, 2013

Letters From My Son

My son is almost eight and loves to read and write. As soon as he was able to read on his own I started to leave him notes in his lunchbox every so often; at first, he would just read them, but then he started writing back, and now, we've gotten into full fledged correspondence.

Each phase of parenthood brings joy, challenges, and plenty of unexpected developments. I did not expect note-writing to be part of the relationship between my son and I, but I'm so glad it is. I hope it continues well into adolescence and adulthood. Following are some of his more memorable expressions in writing.

This is one of the first notes he wrote to me. Things I love about this:
a) It's clear and to the point.
b) It's a run-on sentence.
c) It's all one word.


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This is from Kindergarten. The spelling is atrocious and part of the whole "sound words out" approach of the NY school system, whether they be spelled correctly or not (which I hate, but that's another blog post), so it's translated below.


"I called out 2 times I got out of my seat 1 time I talked 2 times" This means he knows he's going to be in trouble...


"But you are still the best mommy ever and I still love you." So basically, I still rule. Or, he just wants to avoid the trouble.

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Ok, technically this isn't a note; it's a drawing. But I enjoy the fact that his love for me is so strong it demanded its own exclamation point.


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I hate migraines. But I love the fact that they produce this:


 (I love you mommy I hope you feel better I love you so much)

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That's right. He gets to go on vacation, all. Because. Of. ME.



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Yup, you heard it here. My kid thinks I should be President, y'all! Cunningham 2016!

Also, I organize things very nicely.


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I just love his use of the slash in this one.

Adorable/hysterical.


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This made me laugh so hard. I had to really hold it in when I had to give him the note back.


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Lest you thought it was all fun and games around here, I am apparently not perfect. Clearly, my humor is lost on my child.

He will be a very good supervisor some day. He already knows to start with the positive feedback and then politely give some constructive criticism.


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"Green all day" means that he was good in school (they have a color system--green, yellow, orange, red). 

Also, I am a number one mom. You know, in case there was every any doubt.


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I intend to keep all the notes and turn them into a scrapbook. It's amazing to see my son's writing develop over the last couple of years. When he gets older I'd like to get us a correspondence notebook where we can communicate on a regular basis through writing; it really is a wonderful thing. I read an article once where a mother was discussing all the things she and her daughter shared through writing that she doesn't know would have been communicated otherwise.

Dear Alex, I love you.



1 comments:

Renee :) said... [Reply to comment]

Fantastic idea! I plan to read it when Ember can read. Maybe I will leave her pictures till then. I can't draw, but she doesn't mind! :)

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