You have been going to preschool and are getting ready to finish up your first year! As mentioned previously, you are in the 3/4 class at Wesleyan and your class is adorably called the Ladybugs. The school is in North End and your teachers are teacher Gina and teacher Beth. We were worried about you from a social perspective, but you have been doing incredibly well. You are still shy, but once you get into playing you forget we are even gone. Obviously your mom is struggling with not having you around but she is acclimating quickly. You have made friends and go on play dates.
Consistent with the past, your favorite thing to do is color. You color so much that we don’t have places to store all of your drawings. We sit down with you once in a while and ask you to choose the ones you want to keep and the ones that you want to throw away. If this exercise was done by your mom, nothing would ever get thrown away. You on the other hand are incredibly decisive. We will hold them up for you and ask yes or no and you will choose quickly, and are actually about 50/50 on keeping versus tossing. I would expect most children to want to keep everything or not be able to decide, but you are incredibly quick with decision making (pretty sure you got this from me, btw).
In addition to school, you also started dance classes. You do ballet and tap once a week and seem to enjoy it. It is pretty much just an adorable show for the parents every time because, well, you guys are not very good. However, you look freaking adorable in your ballet outfit.
Without getting too far into the post, let’s cover a few firsts over the last 6 months:
- First face-painting
- First time willingly going into the ocean
- First time driving (barbie jeep)
- First dance class
- Potty trained!
I will cover each of these and more, but it is worth mentioning there were a couple pretty big life moments that have occurred.
New House
As you can see it is a bit different from where we were living. Basically, your mom doesn’t like North End because she is not a fan of people in general. There are also a lot of things that are left to be desired in our north end house: alley behind the house, no driveway, your rooms are on a different floor, small backyard, no garage, etc. The location could not be better, but for two young kids it is tough and more city like living than your mom wants.
She found our new house months ago and fell in love with it. Someday you will watch the move Father of the Bride, it is a favorite of hers. In that movie there is this iconic, large, white house with shutters and a lined walkway. This house loosely resembles that one (on a smaller scale) and your mom has been pining over it for some time now.
We had not gone to see the house because it was very overpriced (like $825k or something) and she didn’t think we could get it. We also had not been in our house for that long, and to save you from a bunch of financial and tax related reasons let’s just say it was not a great idea to move that quickly. But she loved the house – and as corny as it sounds, I wanted her to have it. For me it was not in the location I wanted (I like being where everything is happening), but it was near the river and within walking distance to food and activities. She also agreed to let me put in a projector if we got it.
Before moving forward though I wanted to go see the inside (with the secret hope that maybe she would see the outdated interior and fall out of love with it). When we visited it was pure 90’s style: valences over the windows, wallpaper EVERYWHERE, brass sconces, light wood floors with carpet all upstairs – and that is just listing few of the hurdles. We left after seeing it, and she loved it more than ever.
I began negotiating with the owners, and after a few months we picked up the house for $706k. Our house went on the market and we received a full price offer the first day (actually for more, $729k). We took the profit and dumped it into the new house, replacing floors and painting walls among other things. We moved in early December, and so far love it.
New Job
I left Balihoo at the end of the year and began a new job with a company called Vacasa in January. I came on as the Vice President of Digital, and oversee everything about the website, vacasa.com. The site currently produces just under $100 million per year – and I have a team I am growing. The company is over 2,000 people, and I am one of 9 execs. It is a much bigger role than the one I had at Balihoo – much more stress but also more opportunity. Currently, my plan is to see it through to an exit (either IPO or acquisition) and then take it from there. Would like to take a month off after so hopefully that will happen,
Back to you. The last 6 months have treated you well and you continue to grow socially, intellectually, and gain confidence. You have friends in our new neighborhood that you play with frequently and are becoming more assured in your personality. When you began playing with them you were very subservient and accommodating, and while you are still sweet you have become more aggressive with doing what you want to do. We live in a cul-de-sac, so you play quite a bit with them.
We also took a week long trip to San Diego (Encinitas) and had a blast. You and I went on a number of bike rides – you sitting in a seat on the cruiser – to get ice cream or to the park. We went to the beach, and after seeing Ethan make a beeline for the water you finally succumbed to the desire of going into the ocean willingly. Like most things, once you tried it you loved it. We would go at least once a day to let you guys swim and play in the sand. We also went to the San Diego zoo, which left you and Ethan amazed. At the house we rented you played in the front yard and did art projects. Mom’s aunt Joey and Michael came over one day for lunch – and the rest of the trip was a random assortment of activities.
You have also started coming with me to run errands on a very regular basis. On weekends there is a lot to do (especially with the new house), and whether it is Home Depot or the grocery store or whatever else we need to do you love coming with me. We put another car seat in my car and you are now at the age where bringing you places is easy. One of the major pieces that make it easier is…
You are potty trained!!!
We got sick of changing your diapers and decided it was time to stop. I won’t go into the details of how we went about it – but I don’t think there has ever been a faster potty training in history. By the end of the first day you were getting the hang of it. By the end of the second you were enjoying it. By the end of the third you were done having accidents and totally grasped the concept. You also didn’t put up much of a fight. You handled it like a champ and we were both so proud of you.
Your favorite things to do right now are drive your jeep, ride your scooter, color, make cookies with mom and, above all else, play with your brother. You still have the sweetest demeanor in general, but especially with him. You love him and he loves you, and watching you guys interact and grow closer is more than we could ever have asked for in our children. I can’t explain how amazing you are and how proud we are to have you. When I see other kids and the way the act and treat others I sometimes cringe, but that doesn’t happen with you. We are truly lucky.
I will talk to you again in 6 months. I love you more than you will ever know.
Love, Dad
