Friday, January 5, 2018

5-Year-Old Love Letter

My sweet Owen,

With your 5th birthday you are growing into such a kind and thoughtful boy. You love Hazel and are incredibly sweet with her. You like to hold her every morning and know how to calm her down by bouncing her around and singing songs; "Bouncy Pig," which you made up, is my favorite. You've always loved babies and were just as tender with Wes when he was born. My little sister and I had this same kind of bond and my love of babies lead me to my career as a nurse. When you grow up you want to be a forest firefighter pilot and your eyes light up when you talk about it. One night you were talking about being a pilot and how much you would miss Wes if you were flying all over the world. You decided he would make a good co-pilot and he enthusiastically agreed.

We ordered you new shoes recently and when they came in the mail it hit me how grown up you are. They aren't little baby sizes anymore but full on kid shoes. As a parent I go about my day to day and then such moments come and bam, a pair of rain boots remind me how quickly you're growing before me eyes. I can see why kindergarten starts in your 5th year. All of the sudden you know all your letters, numbers and are interested in reading and writing. You academic interest has exploded and I can see your brain working in new and exciting ways. You're also starting to understand friendships and were thrilled that some of your daycare friends came to your birthday party. You consider your cousin, Devin, your best friend and want to know all about Star Wars so you can keep up with him and your friends at school.

At home you're pretty wild and you do a fair a amount of running, jumping and screaming. At school you're quiet and pretty reserved. You still don't love going to daycare but tolerate it and enjoy playing with your friends- Axel, Gavin, TJ and Ethan. You love your teachers Ms. Trish and Ms. Ali and I agree that they are fantastic. You refused to watch TV all summer long- you just wanted to be outside playing. But now that the weather has changed you would sit in front of the TV all day if I let you. Your current favorite shows are "PJ Masks," "Paw Patrol," "Blaze," and "Team Umi Zoomi." You are obsessed with pajamas and want to wear them all day, every day. You're incredibly creative and have the mind of an engineer.

You still don't like to fall asleep by yourself at night but we're working on learning that skill. Mommy and Daddy lay with you for 5 minutes and if you don't fall asleep in that time we leave for a bit. We always end up coming back and staying with you until you doze off. Physical touch is one of your love languages and though it can be a little tough to find the time to be with you at night I know that closeness is something you need. As our family has grown I'm working hard to understand you and your siblings individually and devoting time to the things that are important for you to feel loved and therefore thrive. Laying with you at bedtime is one of yours and though we're working toward phasing it out, I'm happy to lay with you for as long as you need me to.

As your mama my main goal is to teach you to being loving and kind, to be generous and thoughtful an to be grateful for all that you have. I want you to be empathic and respect people who are different from you. Your dad and I have been teaching you things and doing our best to build a foundation for you to stand on. As you grow I see these traits blossoming in you sweet little heart and I couldn't be more proud. I want you to have good behavior but my first priority always has been and always will be our relationship. If you're pushing the limits I try my best to understand why you're acting a certain way and see you rather than just your behavior. I hope you always know that nothing is more important to me than our bond so you can always be honest about your hopes, dreams, fears, failures and successes. I am your biggest fan and love you with all my heart. I am so proud of you and can't wait to see all the ways you learn and grow as a five year old.

xoxo,
Your Loving Mama














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