Keeping Up with the Joneses

Keeping Up with the Joneses
Photo by Kristin Dunn Photography

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

BLAKE IS SIX!



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

 

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