Dear Finn,

Dear Finn,

I'm writing this birthday letter to you a week late for the first time since I first started writing birthday letters because we were in Germany for your birthday!  You had a little birthday party with some friends at the beginning of December.  You wanted to have a Jake and the Neverland Pirates party and I think you had a lot of fun having a party with friends and having a day all about you.  On your 4th birthday you woke up to a hotel room covered in crepe paper and said, "Hey, why are there decorations in here?"  Then after a second you said, "Oh, I know!  It's because it's my birthday soon!"  And when we told you that it was actually today, your face lit up and I don't know if you stopped smiling all day.  We had breakfast, let you open your present (you really wanted a Jake and the Neverland Pirates watch...now we gotta work on telling time!) and then we were off to the mountain in Garmisch, Germany where you had ski lessons for the morning.  Finny, babe, you went skiing, in Germany, on your 4th birthday.  You wanted to make sure that your teacher knew that it was your birthday and I think he may have played favorites all day with you, my boy.  Then after resting in the room a bit and watching a movie, we went to dinner with the Berman family and made sure there were brownies with candles for you to blow out.  I hope it was a memorable day for you.  It's hard to believe that this is our life for the moment.  That you turned four in Germany and went skiing on your birthday.

You've handled the transitions of the last year like you've handled most tricky things in life: with a smile on your face.  You absolutely adore your new baby sisters, who arrived right after you turned 3, you didn't seem the least bit bothered by living on Rakah camp.  All the busyness of travel and repat was just another fun adventure to you, and moving back to Saudi to a new home on main camp, while confusing (you kept saying, "Remember when we lived in Saudi Arabia?" and we had to explain that we still did, just in a different house), didn't seem to throw you off too much.  Don't get me wrong, you've had your rough patches.  You can be really stubborn when you want to.  It seems like you go through phases once in a while of testing your boundaries just to see if we mean business when we set them.  When you get in one of your stubborn moods, you don't budge.  For anyone or anything.  There's no treat, no threat, no amount of time out, no early bed time that will make you change your mind once it's made up.  It's hard, but your ability to stick to your guns could be a huge asset when you're a grown up.  As long as it's directed in the right way.  But honestly, those little testing phases don't come around too often and they rarely come in conjunction with a big change in our family.  You take an awful lot in stride for a kid your age.

You adore your siblings.  You're always so excited when Tate comes home for lunch and want to fill him in on what you did every morning.  You love when he plays toys or make-believe with you.  And you love your baby sisters.  And they love you right back.  You can make them smile and giggle bigger and easier than anyone else.  You three have something special going on and it is magic to watch.

Since the babies were born you love to hear stories and see pictures and videos of when you were a baby.  Your little face lights up seeing what a cute baby you were and watching little videos of tiny you.  You also love me to tell you stories about when your Dad and I met, when you were born, and then sometimes you have specific requests like, "Tell me a story about when I was a jedi in star wars and I saved Disneyland!" or, "Tell me a story of when I'm a champion basketball player and Tyler Hawes needs me to help him defeat the evil alien basketball team!"  And, while too often there's a baby to console or a bottle to make or dinner to start, as often as I can I sit down with you and watch your expressive little face come to life as I tell you a story.  Your facial expressions are still deliciously unedited and I cannot get enough of watching your little face work.  Your face shows everything you're thinking and feeling in such an exaggerated way that I just burst out laughing sometimes.  I love that you are, for the most part, a very uninhibited boy.  I know that the days when you care what people think are coming, but I hope you always keep so much of the free little boy you are as you grow and don't let the world smother your light, fun self.

You've started to slow down on what you eat and how much this year.  You take a while to eat your meals and don't eat as much as Tate does.  You still LOVE fruit.  Pretty much any kind.  But the different varieties we get here in Saudi have made you a little more hesitant.  You used to eat your weight in grapes, but now, after getting a few seeds, you're not so sure about them anymore.  The same can be said for oranges and watermelon.  Those seeds throw a wrench in your enthusiasm for those particular fruits.  You would still eat 6 bananas and a few apples every day though if I let you.  You also love yogurt, chunks of cheese, orange juice, and you'll usually try most anything we have for dinner.  You may not love it, but you'll at least give it a go.

You've been taking a nap every afternoon at the same time as your baby sisters which has been a lifesaver for me and your little body has really still needed it.  Even when we've been traveling, you'll just get tired enough that when you have a second in the stroller or a taxi ride you'll just conk out for a while and wake up raring to go again!  I have a feeling that's about to come to an end though.

We signed you up for a little preschool here on main camp and you were supposed to start this fall but it fell through and you were so disappointed.  We've tried to get you in to the other couple of preschools on camp but they're all full in the mornings.  You were so excited to start school and you wore your new backpack all summer, telling everyone you met that you were going to be in preschool.  So you were sad when it didn't work out.  I'm actually really glad that I get one more year of having you with me all the time.  You're so fun and four year old preschool will come soon enough.  We've got a bunch of preschool books and a reading practice book to and you and I do a lot of little preschool practice while your sisters take their morning naps.  You're getting really good at reading and seem to be proud of your new skill.

You have some good little friends here in Saudi.  Abby lives just a couple of houses away and Ryan still lives on Rakah but he's moving soon.  You play well with your friends and there aren't many squabbles when you have buddies over to play.  You switch make-believe games when your friends want to change gears and it doesn't seem to phase you at all.  You share your toys and are always begging to have a friend over.

You're starting to develop a sense of how spiritual things fit in with your life and you ask some pretty fun questions sometimes.  "If I whine again then Jesus will tell Santa not to bring me presents, right?"  "When I get baptized then will all my bad dreams be washed away?"  "Why did Jesus make us talk and words come out of our mouths?"  You have a sweet testimony of the gospel and you always want to be the one to say the prayer.  Usually you say the same few things, but every once in a while you get a little more thoughtful and we hear things like:  "Please bless dad that he will be really strong and lift things!"

You're a very physical little guy. You love to wrestle with anyone at all, but especially your dad.  Your hugs are rough and usually end with a tackle, even sometimes for your little sisters.  You love basketball but you go through phases of playing it all the time, and sometimes you're a little bored with it.  You also love going to parks and swimming.  You took your first swimming lessons this year first from a lifeguard at Rakah and then from a YW in our group and you've just taken off in the pool.  You can stay afloat on your own, though it still looks a little frantic. You love being under the water and using your goggles and you're developing a good little front crawl.  You have a very natural command over your body and seem to feed on learning to make your body do new things.  You had your first little season of soccer on Rakah as well and you loved it.  Having your family come cheer for you, playing goalie or trying to kick goals.  It was all so fun for you!

Time keeps going faster and faster.  It's so bizarre that this is your second birthday since we moved to Saudi Arabia.  Four years since my tiny baby Finn was born.  It's so sad to see you get one year bigger.  One year closer to being a grown up Finn.  But while this watching my babies grow can sometimes be a bitter thing, it's awful sweet too.  Your third year was wonderful.  I loved every second of three year old you.  But I adore 4-year-old you so very much already and I'm so excited to see what you do and learn and how you change now that you're a big 4-year-old.  You're a great four-year-old, Finn.  You're a good boy.  A smart, kind, busy, fun little boy.  We're so so glad you're our little boy.  You're a light in our family.  A reminder to keep things light and happy.  A big help and a sweet friend.  Happy Birthday, my little man.

The world is yours.

Love,

Mom