You likely will notice that this note is dated well past your birthday. Please accept my apologies but life these days, as you may or may not be aware of, is BUSY. Between your school and my work and daily errands and daddy’s job and all the time I spend wrangling your brother and making sure you both don’t burn the house down every day, things move fast. So fast that I can hardly believe I’m writing you another one of these letters.
They say for stay-at-home moms, the days are long but the years are short, and Babe, this might have been the shortest one yet. You simply can’t be five. Five means official big kid status. Five means you need me for so much less. Five means full-day kindergarten in the fall. Five means my days as Mama are over and I’m now Mom (for you at least - Luke still calls me Mummy, which I hope is what you both settle on. I’ll even take Mum, which is what I called your grandma. Mom just sounds like it’s begging for an extra syllable to accentuate your inevitable annoyance with me - Mo-om).
It’s been another year of firsts. You had your first haircut shortly after your last birthday when washing your down-the-back curls and subsequently yanking the knots out of them became more than you could tolerate without an intolerable deal of whining. Aunt Kimmy did the honors and by the time she was done, you went from a bouncy haired toddler to a 26-year-old grad school student.
We also took our first trip to Disney as a family this year, which, zero surprise here, you LOVED. You got to spend the week meeting princesses, all of whom you treated like your long lost besties, play with Abby and Kaitlyn and swim every day. You did not, however, love the rides. Daddy decided the best way to ease you into the whole ride situation was to toss you onto a roller coaster right out the gate. Also to no one’s surprise (other than Daddy’s) The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train scared the bejesus out of you and guaranteed you wouldn’t step foot on another ride for the rest of the trip. But that just meant more princess time, some of which was spent transforming you into a royal as well. The fairies at the Bippity Boppity Boutique turned you into a Libby-fied version of Rapunzel and if the experience taught me anything, it’s that you are perfectly at home in the makeup chair and in front of a camera. You turned to me after your photoshoot and simply said, “I loved that.” It showed, Kid.
We also went to Ocean City with the fam again this year, and you were much more into the ocean than you were last time. It wasn’t your favorite thing, but it was no Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Your favorite part was playing with your cousins (which is pretty much your favorite part of life in general) and hanging at the minicamp the fam sets up on the sand snacking on treats and getting in touch with your inner Ariel.
The rest of the year was spent with all the aforementioned running around and craziness of day-to-day life and honestly, I couldn’t have done any of it without you. You have become such a big help to me in so many ways, most notably when it comes to your little brother. Luke is...spirited (I think that’s the acceptable way to say “prone to demon possession”) and you really help rein him in. You play with him, sing to him, fetch things for him, and generally help keep both him and me sane as we navigate this at-times tricky stage of life. In turn, he ADORES you. The first thing he asks for in the morning is his “Sissy” and if you happen to be at school, he inquires as to your whereabouts roughly every eight minutes until you come home. He wants to do everything you do and follow you everywhere you go. And 80 to 85 percent of the time, you’re really great about appeasing him. The other 20 to 15 percent accounts for all that screaming you’ll likely remember me doing when you look back on these days.
Basically, the only thing that seems to stay the same from year to year is your amazing kindness, boundless empathy and genuine joy for the life you live and for all those around you. You always have had an innate ability to make everyone feel loved and special, and I absolutely marvel when watching your capacity for love grow as you do from year to year. You make my life more fun and more beautiful every single day, and I love you more than you can imagine.
Xoxo,
Mum
They say for stay-at-home moms, the days are long but the years are short, and Babe, this might have been the shortest one yet. You simply can’t be five. Five means official big kid status. Five means you need me for so much less. Five means full-day kindergarten in the fall. Five means my days as Mama are over and I’m now Mom (for you at least - Luke still calls me Mummy, which I hope is what you both settle on. I’ll even take Mum, which is what I called your grandma. Mom just sounds like it’s begging for an extra syllable to accentuate your inevitable annoyance with me - Mo-om).
It’s been another year of firsts. You had your first haircut shortly after your last birthday when washing your down-the-back curls and subsequently yanking the knots out of them became more than you could tolerate without an intolerable deal of whining. Aunt Kimmy did the honors and by the time she was done, you went from a bouncy haired toddler to a 26-year-old grad school student.
Which way to the quad?
We also went to Ocean City with the fam again this year, and you were much more into the ocean than you were last time. It wasn’t your favorite thing, but it was no Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Your favorite part was playing with your cousins (which is pretty much your favorite part of life in general) and hanging at the minicamp the fam sets up on the sand snacking on treats and getting in touch with your inner Ariel.
The rest of the year was spent with all the aforementioned running around and craziness of day-to-day life and honestly, I couldn’t have done any of it without you. You have become such a big help to me in so many ways, most notably when it comes to your little brother. Luke is...spirited (I think that’s the acceptable way to say “prone to demon possession”) and you really help rein him in. You play with him, sing to him, fetch things for him, and generally help keep both him and me sane as we navigate this at-times tricky stage of life. In turn, he ADORES you. The first thing he asks for in the morning is his “Sissy” and if you happen to be at school, he inquires as to your whereabouts roughly every eight minutes until you come home. He wants to do everything you do and follow you everywhere you go. And 80 to 85 percent of the time, you’re really great about appeasing him. The other 20 to 15 percent accounts for all that screaming you’ll likely remember me doing when you look back on these days.
Basically, the only thing that seems to stay the same from year to year is your amazing kindness, boundless empathy and genuine joy for the life you live and for all those around you. You always have had an innate ability to make everyone feel loved and special, and I absolutely marvel when watching your capacity for love grow as you do from year to year. You make my life more fun and more beautiful every single day, and I love you more than you can imagine.
Xoxo,
Mum
