My darling Emmy Lou,
Every night before I go to bed, I lean down and kiss your cheek. Every. Single. Night. Did you know that? I listen to you breathe and I take in all the changes that have happened over the course of the day, the week, the year.
Now you are six.
You waited for this day for months. While you aren’t the last of your friends to turn six, you certainly feel as if you are. Every morning for the last two weeks, you’ve shouted “Eight days until my birthday!” or whatever number it happened to be. Six feels big and grown-up to you. Guess what? It does to me too!
While you have so much time left before you’re truly a “big” kid, six is a big deal, just like kindergarten is a big deal. We’ve entered a new era. Your interests are changing. You’re coming into your own a bit. It’s exciting to watch.
Kindergarten got off to a rocky start. You were bored. You wanted to play, not sit still. And we had to work on forming our first friendships. I’ll admit, I was worried. I struggle sometimes because in so many ways we are similar, but we are also so very different. Shy and reserved is not a way anyone would have described me as a child. You? Absolutely. You need time to warm up to people. You don’t like large crowds.
That’s okay. A few friends is all you need and you finally have your little tribe.
You still love the arts — singing, dancing, drawing. You’re so purposeful in your movements and it can be quite beautiful. I’m actually totally amazed with your artistic ability. That is something that definitely didn’t come from me and I want to encourage you and help foster your love of it. You are constantly coloring, drawing and creating. I have a new picture for the fridge every day.
What tickles me the most right now is your love of science. You currently want to be a scientist (YAY!!) when you grow up and you are always up for some sort of experiment. We’ve made slime, played with food coloring, made volcanoes, clouds and all sorts of fun things. I guess I have YouTube Kids to thank for that.
Speaking of YouTube, you are also obsessed with eating challenges. I finally agreed to let you do one at home with pretzels and got such a kick out of watching you and your brother put all sorts of things as a topping….whipped cream, mustard, crackers. It was entertaining to say the least.
I love that you still want to snuggle. You give hugs and kisses out like candy to me and Daddy and I don’t take that for granted. I can still pick you up and there’s nothing better than having your arms and legs wrapped around me. My heart smiles every time you say “Hey Mommy, I love you.”
Because I love you too, sweetie. So much more than you can even comprehend.
I hope that your year as a six year old is one of the best ones yet.
Big hugs and kisses,
Mommy
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