jaxon: the boy.
Dear future Jaxon,
When you were four years old you came to visit us in Albuquerque. Uncle Lincoln was playing with you on the hammock in the back yard while you were calling Pearl over to you to play. (You loved calling her ‘your’ dog and she surprisingly allowed you to crawl all over her as you try and pretend she’s a horse-dog.) You flipped off the hammock, head first and landed on the dog bone you were holding in your hand. You gave Uncle Lincoln such a fright when he realized that you would need stitches! Your first emergency room visit kept grandpa laughing though. You were insistent on showing off your new gymnastics trick- of all things: the headstand. Grandpa didn’t think that was such a good idea seeing as your head was, after all, wrapped in gauze. Which you responded with, ‘I’m bored.’ You were such a trickster, just like your dad! Fearless of jumping, rolling, running or getting nice and muddy. By the way, you got right back on the hammock a few days later with me. So brave!
Here are some random facts and stories about the four year old you:
Your favorite color is violet. You made it very clear that it’s not purple, it’s violet. You are very specific.
You’ve decided that your going to sell your old grey VW Beetle (you call it ‘Sow-Bug.’) for a yellow Camero. But you want grandpa to save the VW ‘just for now.’ (I think you will change your mind…. and I think you know it too.) You enjoy talking about vehicles and are really good at recognizing the difference between the various types.
You laugh so much when you put pretend rats on grandma Mona’s head. She acts disgusted and you relish in the idea of it. Full on belly laughter. You love making people laugh.
Your eyes get so big when Uncle Lincoln swings his nun-chucks around. And when he let you hold them, you said, ‘Look- I’m just like Uncle Lincoln!’ You always want to know where he is and what he’s doing. You love that he works at a bakery and he even took you to work with him one day- you were in cookie heaven! You admire people.
I was telling you a story in the car and out of no where you said, ‘What the whatie what?!?’ We laughed about that for at least an hour. You’re spontaneously playful.
You have a ‘ninja turtle face’ that you like to show off. (See image below.) Donatello, to be precise. You are SO silly.
One day you were in my kitchen and you saw a photo of your mom holding you. You told me you really missed her and so I offered to let you call her. You said, ‘No, that’s okay. I will see her soon.’ I was impressed by your grown-up approach! You’re very logical.
On a different note, I sent you to time out three times within fifteen minutes. Each time you cried but each time you came out smiling and ready to resume playing. Later that day, you put yourself in time out. When I questioned why you did that, you said you needed to go there for ‘whining.’ Fair enough. (I went to the other room and tried to muffle my laughter.) You’re very aware of yourself.
You wanted to water the garden in my back yard. Which you did. Before long we were both chasing each other around with the hose, both of us drenched until we had wrinkly fingers and toes. You live in the moment!
Watermelon. You love eating watermelon and wanted to race to see who could finish their slice first! If you can make a race out of something, you will!
When we were on a walk we happened to come across a dead bird. You asked me if it was dead. I said yes. You wrinkled your brow. The next day you told me that you were sad that the bird had to die. So, you requested that I take you back so you could look at it again. You have compassion.
You love finding straight sticks and heavy stones. Your pockets usually have dirt in them. You’re such a boy!
You hug almost everyone you meet and wave hi to other children you see. You are extremely friendly.
Your hair. One day you were put off because you said, ‘it’s a bit flat today.’ You LOVE your curly hair.
One day you grabbed the heart shaped pillow off of my bed and said, ‘Look Auntie, I have a really big heart.’ Um, yes Jaxon…. you do. You do have a really big heart.
Jaxon, I love you so much.
Jaxon flew in from Canada-ish (aka Oregon) and stayed two whole weeks. Let me just exclaim that this time, I got my Kodak moment hug!! I’m talkin’ full on running, arms stretched as far as they could go, yelling ‘Auntieeeee!!!!!’ If he wasn’t old enough to read yet, I would swear that he read my post about how Lincoln stole my last moment and decided to give me a momentous hug. (Totally kidding, Lincoln… you know I love you.) And if that wasn’t amazing enough, we just held each other, in silence, for like three whole minutes- which is like eternity in toddler land. (I learned that when I had to put his sweet face in time-out later in the week. Thank you Super Nanny.)
I had the most amazing time with Jaxon, as I always do. Even though I take photographs of him every time I see him…. I take so many more of him with my mind. And seeing as I use this journal to document my photographic journey, I decided to write something to Jaxon so he can one day look back on it when he is able to read. Hence, the letter above.
