7-Year-Old Love Letter

My sweet Wessy bug,

As you transition into your seventh year, you are looking taller, leaner, and more grown-up every day. You are excelling in first grade and have a fantastic teacher. You like to practice the week's spelling words on Sunday nights so that you can ace the pretest, which you do regularly. You follow the rules and strive to do the right thing. This is your first year riding the bus to school, which you adore.

You love playing games, and Monopoly has logged many hours in your sixth year. You have a strategy that I find incredibly impressive. You only buy the railroads, utilities, Boardwalk, and Park Place. Once you secure Boardwalk and Park Place, you buy houses and then hotels. It was news to me that if you have a hotel on Boardwalk, the rent due is $2,000—enough to bankrupt your opponent every time. You love all things Seahawks. You want to wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts no matter the weather. You had a fantastic soccer season and loved being on a team with some of your besties—Will and Miles. You are on the shy side, and your teacher reports that you're quiet at school. You're signed up for a season of basketball this winter. You love art, and your drawings continue to bring me joy.

You are incredibly modest, and privacy is very important to you. You've recently gone through a phase where you claim to dislike everything I cook (besides rice, of course). You are still accident-prone and always have a bump or bruise from this or that, although I'm happy to report that the falling and landing with your head seems to have ceased. Your adorable smile and big blue eyes shine.

Your sweetness remains, making you so, so easy to love. Your kind and easy-to-get-along-with nature draws people to you. I am so grateful for all that you are and the balance that you bring to our family. I recently watched a documentary where they talked about how children are like seeds and parents are their gardeners, helping them grow into exactly who they're intended to be, nurturing and watering them along the way. You are full of beauty, and I love watching you blossom into your destiny. You are deeply cherished for exactly who you are.

Happy birthday to my sweet seven-year-old. I love you with all that I have and all that I am.

xoxo,

Your loving mama