dear miles, today you are 4. you are the third baby in this loud and busy family. you fill the rare quiet moments with questions and a running commentary on the world that makes us laugh. for some reason, we call you butternut or buttercup or butteranything really. we also call you the family comedian. i know what it's like to be a middle child and so we try to be intentional with you. you are our helper for lots of the everyday tasks we do...many trips to the grocery store, you are my little date. you help in the kitchen and the yard. your imagination is active and you pretend with marit and graham and also tell us about real-to-you kids in the closet, bears in the woods, dinosaurs at large in the community. i think of 4 as the question age, but really you have been in this stage for a while already. you love baby owen and really have not seemed to mind giving up the baby role in the family. you are the youngest in the family to learn to ride your bike and i overestimated your skill recently and took you on a neighborhood ride where you promptly crashed going downhill. sweet boy cried all the way home with blood dripping out of your mouth.
often after such injuries (not uncommon), you suddenly happy up and cry "i'm ok, just kidding!" you take so much joy in the simple things of life and i pray you never grow cynical and jaded. you love to sing and i pray all the hymns and scripture your little mind knows will sink into your heart too. may you know how dearly Jesus loves you, and your parents do too!
