Wednesday, August 18, 2010

To my 4 year old son

Elijah Lou,
I feel as though it was just yesterday that we were smelling your sweet baby cheeks and trying to get back on the train after you caught us off guard by your early arrival.

Here we are 4 years later and I can hardly believe where the time has gone!

You have proved that despite being able to pass as your big brother's twin, you are his polar opposite. You are also continually surprising us and keeping life interesting to say the least.

Your Dad and I have enjoyed watching you reveal more and more of your personality as you face the challenges life presents to you head on. You are an individual and not one to follow the crowd and I pray God is able to use this personality trait to do great things.

You have an amazing imagination and I love that you allow me to see, hear, and live in your world each day. I also love that you let me play along.

Despite your ability to turn anything you see into a weapon, you still are love kittens and butterflies. (I wanted really badly to give you a real kitten for your birthday, but your dad and I very strongly dislike them. So I am glad you loved the stuffed ones we have you instead.)

You adore your big brother and I am so grateful that he is your "bestest friend" in the whole world. You two have a very special relationship and I pray it only grows stronger as the years fly by. I am amazed at how often you are giving him the bigger cookie or simply worried about where he is and when he is coming back if he is gone.

I am also proud of how well you have transitioned to being a big brother and love watching you care for Isaac. I know you prefer to do things on your own time, which makes the moments I do see you loving him (reading him stories, teaching him about superheroes, and singing hims songs or plugging him with his pacifier when he is upset) even more special.

I also love that you are a momma's boy still! It has been hard for me to slowly watch that lessening as I see you more and more at your daddy's side "helping" him out. I cherish the one-on-one time we have together and pray for more of that as your big brother heads off to school this year!

I love that you hate it when I go to work, and that you are stingy with your kisses at times. I love that you inherited my sweet tooth, can smell chocolate from miles away and that you enjoy our Starbucks dates as much as I do.

I love that you don't color in the lines and that the grass isn't always green.

I almost love that you want to wear the same superhero shirts and gym shorts everyday and often change more times than I do a 24 hour period.

I also almost love that you would wear pajamas all the time if I let you. Or that you want to wear long sleeves in 90 degree weather and shorts that are too small when it is 60 degrees outside.

I love that you have a low tolerance for the way your clothes fit (you unfortunately inherited this from your dad) but I love it about him too!

You are quick to tell the truth and have also been very vocal lately when you are unhappy (like ear piercing vocal).

Believe it or not, you have helped me learn to hold my breath and close my eyes when I see you trying things on your own, instead of rushing to your side and doing it with you.

You have helped me see many things in a different light.

You could listen to stories for hours and I think that is fabulous.

You could also tell them for hours too, and I enjoy that as well.

Most of all I am truly blessed that I was chosen to be your Mommy and grateful for all you have taught me in just 4 short years.

I pray God continues to shape you and mold you into the little man He has made you to be and that He continues to instruct and guide me on how to help that happen.

I love you Elijah,

Happy 4th Birthday Lou

Love Your Mommy

1 comment:

Alice DeShane said...

Hi,
Sorry for the intrusion, I was just randomly looking through blogs, and stopped when I saw your last name. Dafoe -- it's just not that common a name where I'm from, and my third grandmother was Olive Dafoe or Defoe. She was born in Quebec, we believe, and married Joseph DeShane 11 Jan 1826 in Belleville, Hastings County, Ontario, Canada. Together they had 14 children: Joseph, Olive, John, Francis, Theodore, Ann Murilla, Thomas, James, Oran, Paul Sylvester (my second great grandfather), Peter, Daniel, Eliza Mary and Regis or Richard. After Joseph DeShane's death in 1851, she married a John Shannon. On this marriage to John Shanon, her name is listed as Alice Dafoe. She died 8 July 1882 in Sheffield Township, Lennox and Addington Counties, Ontario, Canada. I have tried to find something about her family or siblings, and while there were other Dafoes in the area at the time, I have not been able to link her with any of them. I do know that her brother was also named Joseph. The family names that the children married into were Acky, Winters, Richardson, Meeks, Edwards, St. Marie.

Could I trouble you to find out where your Dafoes come from?

Thank you so much,

Alice DeShane
Mesa, Arizona
alice.deshane@gmail.com