Below is my annual birthday letter and slideshow. I did the slideshow a little different this time, using pictures from the past year instead of from when he was first born, but there are still a few gems nestled in between. My very favorite comes at the end!
Dear Blake,
I know I say this sort of thing every year, but seriously
dude, how are you already 6?! My
emotions are so all over the place, I’ll be honest. For a momma, it’s hard watching your baby
grow up. There will be no more days I
get to experience you as you are today, right now. The days of you being a five year old are
over. And soon my love, the days of you
even living under the same roof as me will be over. It’s a hard thing for my heart to come to
terms with! I want to keep you young and
innocent and protected and mine for always.
But I guess that would be a little creepy, huh? So I have to come to terms with the fact that
you are growing up, albeit way too fast.
There is another part of me though that absolutely loves watching you
get older. I think one of the greatest
gifts of being a parent is seeing your child learn and start connecting the
dots of the how’s and the why’s of the world.
I love watching you grow into the man you will one day become. I am so insanely proud of who you are,
Blake. Your heart, your loving heart,
has always been part of you and that has not changed. I was a little worried that perhaps starting
kindergarten this year, entering the world of “real school” might somehow
harden that sweet heart, but thankfully it has not. I truly hope that attribute of yours never
changes. I always tell you, “You don’t
have to be friends with everyone, but you have to be friendly to everyone.” I think you have taken that to heart and I’m
so proud. A good friend of mine told me
once that it would blow my mind to see how much you change and have learned
from the start of kindergarten to the end.
Oh, how true that is. At the
beginning of the school year, you could write your name and some words. You could read “hot words” but not an actual
book. Now you are reading at a SECOND
GRADE LEVEL. You can write so well and
have come so far with that. And of
course with the math and science, you were already crazy smart with that and
that has not changed. You were accepted
into the gifted and talented program at school and I’m excited to see how that
will challenge you over the years. You
have continued your piano lessons and over the last few months have really
started excelling even more. Your teacher
is a tough one, but he pushes you and you listen and he tells me after every
lesson how much you blow him away with your listening and your skill level for
being as young as you are. The listening
doesn’t happen quite as well with me at home, ha! But that has also improved so much more this
year. We have our moments, but you seem
to really listen to what I ask of you more so now. You help out at home and clean up your messes
without me always having to yell at you to do so. Your maturity level just seems so much higher now than at the start of the school year. You seem like such a big kid. You have continued your love of soccer and
continue to play both at the park all the time and in a league. Your dad still hung the moon in your
eyes. I don’t blame you, he’s a pretty
awesome dad, who always has the time for you and helps you pursue your
passions. You adore your brother and it
makes me the happiest that you two are the best of friends. Sometimes I’ll over hear you from the other
room talking to Brady, explaining how something works, talking to him like a
teacher or parent would with a small child.
It’s pretty adorable. You hung
the moon in Brady’s eyes and it’s a pretty big responsibility to have someone
look up to you so much and follow your every move, but you do it so well and
I’m so proud of you for that. You love
playing outside and eating tacos and watching cartoons and playing with your
action figures or playing FIFA on the xbox.
You are so funny and silly and smart and just such an amazing kid. You are a boy through and through and
something I didn’t think would be the case, I LOVE being a boy mom. I LOVE being your mom. I’m so grateful for you. I hope your year as a six year old is your best
year yet. I know one thing for sure, I
am going to LOVE watching how you continue to grow and blossom as a six year
old and seeing what great and amazing things are in store for you!
I love you love you Blake!
Momma
