In 3 days Q will be 4…. 4. I can still remember the day I gave birth like it was yesterday (this could be due to the fact that every time my husband has 1 too many beers he re-tells Q’s birthing story… in detail). Over the last couple of years I have done a lot of complaining in my blog. In my defense, I had plenty of reason to do so. If you’re a parent and have gone through the 2’s and 3’s, you should be nodding your head in agreement right now. However…. blue skies ahead! Onto the big 4!

We could tell things were changing a few months ago. The whiney voice started to go away (please don’t EVER come back….), his attention span started to extend past 15 minutes, he was going to bed earlier (thank God), eating more… again, and not talking back as much. Reading those examples makes me cringe because I feel like I’ll be re-living this in 10-12 years. But with hormones. As always, Q has many entertaining moments. The kid is smart. I’m not just saying this because I gave birth to him. My mom says this is due to the fact that we’ve always talked to him like an adult. I’ve mentioned before that this is a blessing and a curse. Now, I just think it’s funny. The kid surprises me at least once a day with what comes flying out of his mouth.

For example: He’s into Disney movies about princesses like the old Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. I don’t find anything wrong with this. My husband MIGHT disagree when it comes to Q saying things like, “Pretend I’m Cinderella. Just pretend. And pretend my blanket is a dress. And mommy’s shoes are glass slippers.” I for one think this is adorable/hilarious. So a few weeks back he was with my parents and said, “I want to watch that movie with the walking sisters…” My parents had no idea what he was talking about. My dad asked, “Walking sisters? What movie is that?”. Q finally says, “Cinderella…” and my dad says, “OH! You mean STEP-sisters” – Classic. See? My kid is a genius.

To be fair to my husband, that’s not all he likes. He’s really into anything Avengers (yeah… the adult movie that I don’t think a child of 4 should be that familiar with) and still recites lines from his other favorite movie, “The Sandlot”. Even though he’s not old enough to hunt, being a member of the Wells family makes you a hunter by default, whether you like it or not. Fortunately for Jared and his grandpa, he can’t wait to start hunting. Case in point: I walked into the house one day to them hanging out of our back patio door with a BB gun shooting the dinosaur sized jack-rabbits in our backyard (it’s like the bunny apocalypse out there). Q told me to, “BE QUIET! We’re shooting the rabbits!” We’re Fargo’s version of the Clampett’s. So not to worry Jared… he’s all boy. Despite his random love of princesses.

From the moment he was born, we hoped we produced a kid who loved sports. To watch them and play them. I won’t lie – we’ve tricked him into thinking he’s made decisions on his own (“You LOVE the Gators/Broncos/Peyton Manning/Kevin Garnett!”… if you say it enough it works). But luckily it didn’t take a lot of convincing on our part. The kid wants to play sports. All day, every day. He’s equal opportunity. The only sport he is not encouraged to play is hockey – The day he announced he wanted to play hockey Jared said, “Get a job”. He loves baseball due to “The Sandlot”. He loves football after watching his cousin play. He loves basketball because of his dad. We took him to his first NBA game just in time to see Garnett come home to Minnesota – Q had no idea who Garnett was. All he cared about was Zach LaVine and the $10 cotton candy. But now, his first organized sport has begun – soccer.

Yes that’s right. I am a soccer mom.

Jared and I know little to nothing about soccer. The only thing I associate soccer with is David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo (ME….OWWWWW). Jared wasn’t able to be at his first practice and game last week/weekend but I have to say – that little person made us proud! I was worried he wouldn’t take direction (this still needs improvement), would be shy/nervous around people he didn’t know and would be the first kid to cry. Luckily, none of the above. He scored the only 3 goals for his team, did a super awkward victory dance after each one (it was painful), was NOT the first one to cry and be carried by their parent on the field (Really? Come on… your kid is 5….) and had no problem telling his coach before the game, “I want to win”. In true, “this is 4-5 year old soccer” form, his coach laughed and said, “Well… we’re here to have fun buddy.” and Quinn replied stone-faced, “Well… if we don’t win today then we will next game. Ok?” That’s my boy. Same kid who says, “Look at all of this icky Bison stuff” every time he sees an NDSU shirt or picture – Again, child grooming at its finest. When I called Jared after the game to tell him about it, I led with the comments Q made to his coach. To which he replied, “Yeah it’s important to have fun. But you know what’s fun? Winning.” Apples and tress. To be fair, I’ll more than likely be the mom on the sidelines screaming the entire game (it might have already happened) and drinking wine out of a tumbler. Whatever gets you through.

I’ll end this blog post with how I, the woman who gave him life, feels: Q is a smart, funny and loving little boy. I cherish the moments when he asks to snuggle with me on the couch and watch a movie, or color with him, etc. I know this won’t last forever. There will be a time when all I hear is, “Mom! Get out of my room!” or “Mom! Don’t kiss/hug me in public!” He’s literally the apple of my eye and the reason I take Excedrin as much as I do. I wouldn’t trade him for anything in the world. Happy 4th Birthday Mr. Man – We love you!