Miss T,
Nine. You are NINE years old! How did that happen? Nine years ago, you made me a mommy. Nine years from now, you will be an adult. We are halfway there! Everyone told me when I was in the thick of babies and toddlers and desperate for relief that I would blink and you'd be grown up. Well, I am acutely aware of how true that statement is. We spent some time the past couple of days watching the videos of your birth and first few weeks of life, and it was hard for me to connect the dots from how little you were then to how big you are now. Every cliché is true: you are growing up right before my eyes.
You had a great eighth year of life. You are thriving in school and activities. You have a ton of friends. Your temperament is improving. We still butt heads, but I'd like to think that we are getting along more and more each day (it is a different story with you and your brother Matty, though). You are a very busy little girl, active in two dance classes (contemporary and ballet), Girl Scouts, Awana, chorus, the "Green Team" (a waste reduction club at school), and you are about to start softball. While I worry that you are over-scheduled, you enjoy going to all of these activities and rarely complain. In fact, you complain the most when we have a rare evening at home and I do not have anything for you to do... that is when you want to watch Netflix or play on the iPad, which causes problems with me and your daddy. :)
I interviewed you, as I always do around your birthday, about your favorite things...
- Your best friends are Nicole (Gobal) and Olivia (Burdick).
- Your favorite food is avocado.
- Your favorite TV show is Lab Rats.
- Your favorite movie is The Greatest Showman (we saw it twice in the theater this month).
- When you grow up, you want to be a teacher.
- Your favorite restaurants are Tapatio and The Cheesecake Factory.
- Your favorite color is light blue.
- Your favorite thing to do in your spare time is draw and play with friends.
- Your favorite extracurricular activity is dance.
- Your favorite winter sport is skiing.
When you have friends over to play, you most often play with your American Girl dolls. I know these days are numbered, so I have really enjoyed watching you dress them, feed them, teach them. In fact, you and Lexi opened a café in our playroom called "Best Bakery." You made a huge sign and hung it in our hallway for the grand opening, and I love walking past it.
You are very intelligent. You ask very deep questions and sometimes catch me off-guard. Recently, you said, "Sometimes I can't believe that I get to be me." The fact that you have these thoughts impresses me. We talk a lot about God and our faith. You have a big heart and I know you will do great things. In fact, we recently talked about making blessing bags for the homeless men and women that we see on street corners. You made a list of all the things we could put in the bags, and you ask me daily when we can go shopping for the items.
Despite any grief you give me and your dad at home, you are a model student. Your teacher(s) all adore you - they say you are a good listener and work hard to please them. Now that you have homework, you and Julia typically do your assignments on the bus ride home from school, so I do not have to nag you. In fact, you are the homework "czar" for your class this year, so everyone has to turn their homework in to you. From what I understand, you take your role very seriously. :)
You and your brother Matty still fight often. Way too often. I cannot understand how a girl and a boy with very different interests can find a way to fight about the most ridiculous things. Both of you keep very tight tabs on each other. If one of you eats an extra M&M, I hear about it. If one of you gets to watch an extra minute of television, I hear about it. It is exhausting. When I am not around (or when you think I am not around), you take very good care of each other. Granted, this is usually when you get to assume the "mothering" role and take care of Matty. My prayer for this coming year is that you both stop keeping score.
You and Bray-Bray get along better, but this is largely due to the four-year age gap. Brayden lets you mother him, so there is not as much competition. Phew.
At your nine-year check up, you weighed 54.4 pounds (17th percentile) and are 51.1 inches tall (35th percentile). You grew 2.7 inches in the past year! There are clear signs that your body is starting to change (eek!), but this is not shocking since I was an early bloomer.
On your 9th birthday, Grandma, Mimi and I took you to the American Girl store. You got Lina's ears' pierced and had Charlotte's hair styled. Then, the four of us (six including the dolls) had lunch at the American Girl Café. We then went to watch Matty's basketball game and had plans to go out to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner, but you were not feeling well, so we went home. After a quick rebound, you rallied and we ended up at good 'ole Tapatio for dinner and Zoey Yogurt for dessert on your special day.
The following day, we had an ice skating party for you and 14 girlfriends. It was crazy and chaotic, but what else can you expect with that many 8-9 year olds girls at an ice rink? You got some wonderful presents, and I was super proud at how quickly you wrote all of your thank you notes. You have a grateful heart and made sure to write a heartfelt note to each of your friends. Momma is proud.
Taylor, it is such a joy to watch you grow up. I love watching the ways in which you are following in my footsteps, yet I also love observing how different you are from me. I love you to the moon and back.
Love, Mommy
Despite any grief you give me and your dad at home, you are a model student. Your teacher(s) all adore you - they say you are a good listener and work hard to please them. Now that you have homework, you and Julia typically do your assignments on the bus ride home from school, so I do not have to nag you. In fact, you are the homework "czar" for your class this year, so everyone has to turn their homework in to you. From what I understand, you take your role very seriously. :)
You and your brother Matty still fight often. Way too often. I cannot understand how a girl and a boy with very different interests can find a way to fight about the most ridiculous things. Both of you keep very tight tabs on each other. If one of you eats an extra M&M, I hear about it. If one of you gets to watch an extra minute of television, I hear about it. It is exhausting. When I am not around (or when you think I am not around), you take very good care of each other. Granted, this is usually when you get to assume the "mothering" role and take care of Matty. My prayer for this coming year is that you both stop keeping score.
You and Bray-Bray get along better, but this is largely due to the four-year age gap. Brayden lets you mother him, so there is not as much competition. Phew.
At your nine-year check up, you weighed 54.4 pounds (17th percentile) and are 51.1 inches tall (35th percentile). You grew 2.7 inches in the past year! There are clear signs that your body is starting to change (eek!), but this is not shocking since I was an early bloomer.
On your 9th birthday, Grandma, Mimi and I took you to the American Girl store. You got Lina's ears' pierced and had Charlotte's hair styled. Then, the four of us (six including the dolls) had lunch at the American Girl Café. We then went to watch Matty's basketball game and had plans to go out to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner, but you were not feeling well, so we went home. After a quick rebound, you rallied and we ended up at good 'ole Tapatio for dinner and Zoey Yogurt for dessert on your special day.
 |
| All ready for the American Girl store! |
 |
| Dinner at Tapatio |
The following day, we had an ice skating party for you and 14 girlfriends. It was crazy and chaotic, but what else can you expect with that many 8-9 year olds girls at an ice rink? You got some wonderful presents, and I was super proud at how quickly you wrote all of your thank you notes. You have a grateful heart and made sure to write a heartfelt note to each of your friends. Momma is proud.
Taylor, it is such a joy to watch you grow up. I love watching the ways in which you are following in my footsteps, yet I also love observing how different you are from me. I love you to the moon and back.
Love, Mommy
0 comments:
Post a Comment