Let’s start with the important facts about Alan.  He’s a cool 3-and-a-half year old who’s a big fan of Disney, the Cleveland Indians, and cars/trains/trucks/planes/anything-that-moves.  He loves story time at the library, and he can recite his ABCs with the best of ’em.  He can count to 20…in two languages.  He plays ball in the house, with his own, new glove, and wears his baseball hat everywhere he goes.

He’s also not a baby anymore.  In recent months, he’s been doing some big kid-type things.

In December he traveled downtown to my office to meet my team and pass out Christmas gifts.  Going in, I thought he might be too shy to interact with adults.  However, to my surprise, he put his brave tiger face on and met ‘Daddy’s friends’ one at a time.  It helped that some of my friends gave him gifts too.  I wasn’t joking about the tiger part though — he did roar in our aisle at one point. 🙂

In January he interviewed for preschool…without his parents present in the room (I was probably more scared than he was).  And in February he started going to the [indoor] community swimming pool every Sunday.

He might not be a student yet, but he does go to the library for “class” every Wednesday night in Mayfield and Thursday afternoon in Solon, where he learns, listens, sings, dances, and…yes, even shares.

He’s an all-around great kid who makes me proud everyday.