Sophie at 10

 Dear Lopins, Sofa, Sweet Pea,

I've been talking with you about these letters this week (now you know that they exist, but not where you'd find them) and you're interested in this idea of how I see your life versus your lived experience of it. We talked about when I'd give you these letters, and I had thought about at 18, but after chatting with you, I think I'd like to continue writing them each year till I can't and you get a series of love letters from your dad charting the ups and downs of your life, which I think would be pretty cool.

This has been a big year for you in many ways. While you still use goofy voices and mess around with your friends (Tessa, Harlynn, Anne, Martin and Nacora are the current faves!), you've really started to work out who you are and how you want to be. You've decided that you want to be a therapist when you grow up (though Momma and I feel that you might end up as a teacher/educator too) which plays into your caring and sensitive side. No matter who it is, you know how to make people feel better about themselves, and you love nothing more than snuggling up with Momma (a coodel!) or wrestling with me (you know it's a problem when the glasses come off!). You absolutely adore the Crazies when they come to visit, and you're excellent at getting down to their level and making games happen. You came home recently wanting to go through your clothes, toys and stuffies to give them to the little ones, and this is the perfect Sophie mix of kindness and growing up on purpose. 

You're also working out how to look after yourself. Your piano in your room has become a tool for self soothing, especially now that you can play quite complex pieces from memory (He's A Pirate is a current classic!) and you'll go do that when you get frustrated with Jake or overwhelmed by noise or chaos. You've also got into spa nights with Momma and discovered the joy of a good pedicure and nail painting. You've taken to wanting to wear jewelry, which saw you start your own earring collection in Leeds last year, a jewelry box for all your pieces for Christmas, and a beautiful necklace from Papa with a treble clef on it to connect you to Nana. 

That's been the hardest part of the last year for you and indeed for all of us. Nana passed away in November, and we all still tear up and get sad when things remind us of her. Telling you and Jake about her sickness after keeping it from you while we could was honestly the worst thing that has happened to me as a parent; sharing the understanding that the world can be a shockingly harsh and awful place, and sometimes bad things happen to good people for no reason at all. We feel fortunate that you've got memories of Nana out in the garden or welcoming you to her home with snacks and fruit at any time of day, and just know that we'll still miss her when you finally read this and it's ok to be sad with us. 

One way of keeping Nana's memory alive for me is to tell about all the cool things you get up to as she always reveled in your busy life. Piano continues to be a strength and a source of joy for you. I also think that having Miss Mary as your teacher as well as Nana's keeps it a strong connection, but you're also getting to the level of proficiency where you can play more complex pieces and begin to truly enjoy the music you can create. You've also picked up the clarinet this year at school and you reveled in knowing how to read music and keep time well ahead of everybody else. You're now talking about picking up the Polish woodwind instrument (English horn!) but we think two instruments is enough for now. 

You've also decided that girls only sports are the way to go. After the success of Girls on the Run last year, you decided to try RYSA girls for soccer in the fall, and fell in love with girls soccer. We kept the group together through the winter at the indoor dome, picking up our first draws, and then came out firing in the spring with a few wins even through the crazy rain each weekend. You're willing to play anywhere, but I love seeing you on defense, using your strength to win the ball and then dribble it up. You're building good friends on the team, and got asked to play for the u11 team at a recent tournament. I think you'll play again in the fall, and I can't wait to be your coach to watch you grow and develop more. 

In amongst these main passions, you've tried a bit of everything. Volleyball caught your eye (though that may have to do with Harlynn and other friends playing!) and you tried rugby, but it's a mixed gender sport which has turned you off it, and it's all about individual speed and strength which don't really appeal to you. You enjoyed basketball to the point that you've got a summer camp booked for it, and I think you'll come back to it in the fall - hopefully with Maya's mom as your coach as you'll be in the age range.

This love of being busy certainly comes from me (though you also like quiet time with a book or watching TV with Jake), and it's all part of the bigger exploration of who you are and what you like. You come home telling me tidbits from school, and your teacher raves about how kind and thoughtful you are, and also how you're in the back row of math kids who like to challenge themselves. You've got a good grounding that it's ok to be smart and organized (getting your Lexia and homework done on Tuesdays because it was your only free night!), but you can also be silly (we watched The Holy Grail recently and you keep quoting it back and forth with me much to my delight!), and funny and sweet and all the things me and Momma would hope for you to be. This year will be another year of growth and I can't wait to see what sticks and what changes when I write again next June.

All my love

Dad/Dadda/Haroldson

Jake at 13

 Dear Jake-a/Jakey/Iacoppo,

It seems strange to think of you as a teenager, as you definitely buck the trend of the stereotypical self-isolating grumpy kid. Of course there's still time for this, and looking at you physically, I'm pretty sure puberty has yet to kick in for you (even though you are taller than Molly and Allie, and Momma can't see over your head!). As my brain has started on your appearance, you're still concerned with your external looks, from making sure that your clothes are cool name brands to making sure you have the same haircut as just about every other kid your age. You fractured your wrist recently flipping the go kart on a wet day at Papa's house, and your two main concerns were how your friends were going to perceive you and whether you'd be allowed to play soccer again.

On the soccer front, you've faced some challenges this last year. The fall season saw you step up to an 11 v 11 system, and your coach Lucas tried to turn you into a CDM. This was a change of speed for you, and we even tried some 1:1 coaching sessions to build your skills and confidence. However, the Revs were focused on results which meant you didn't get much playing time, and while you still enjoyed soccer, you felt like the Revs weren't the right home for you. You played some futsal indoors and found some success there, but we completely failed to find a good spring option for you. We've ended up at Northwood again just playing their in-house rec league. While it's not super challenging for you, it's fun and we think it's going to make you want to play soccer again. We're staying home this summer and you've got summer camps and skill sessions with Samba with the goal of playing for the school in the fall, so I feel soccer will continue to be a large part of your life. 

Ok. I sat for 5 minutes working out to approach this part of the last year without crying, and I'm still not sure I'll be able to do it in one shot. The reason we're not going back to England this summer is that Nana passed away last November, and we're staying close to home to look after Papa, help with the celebration of life and continue to grieve together. Her death was expected (for us) but she went from being on vacation to Papa and out for breakfast to dying in a week which felt awful for you. You knew she was sick and I think you must have seen her physical deterioration, but it still the most awful parenting experience I've ever had to tell you and Sophie the whole truth about what was going on. For your whole life, we've (both consciously and subconsciously) tried to protect you from how awful and terrible the world can be, but this was your first exposure to true helplessness in the face of random chance. I feel fortunate in some respects that as the oldest grandchild you will have concrete memories of her ("ola" from the porch every time we visited) but those same memories mean that you still find Momma (and sometimes me) on a weekly basis to talk about her and how much you miss her. Your Lego obsession has been somewhat swallowed by Minecraft, and I watched you make a memorial to her on there the other day. Who know what age you'll be when you read these letters, but you need to know that your mom and I miss her too on a daily basis, and we're just thankful you're emotionally intelligent and open enough to share your thoughts and feelings with us. 

This last year has seen you do the typical middle school student thing of testing boundaries and exploring your relationships. You've had a couple of run ins with the math teacher at school (and found that your mom and I will ALWAYS back the teacher if they say you've been messing around) and we had to put in place your first real consequence of no technology as a way of making our point about making better choices. You accepted this and school reports that you've worked hard to keep yourself out of trouble, even though your goofy friends sometimes try to drag you into things. You got accused of bullying earlier this year (it was weird being on the other side of that conversation!) but it wasn't founded, and I think you learned some lessons about how to handle yourself with students who aren't your best buds. Next year represents your last at Strafford School, so I'm hoping that you make the step up that all my 8th graders seem to do to finish your time with positive memories and finding ways to maintain the strong group of friends who continue to support and encourage you. 

Finally, you're still a home body, and even given the option of arranging play dates, you'd much rather hang out at the house. This means that you continue to want to spend time with your sister, your mother and me (we're still reading the 39 clues series, and you actively request a couple of chapters every night!) and I'll take that as long as I can. The nature of the time we spend together changes, though you and Sophie and I still found a new board game to obsess over in April vacation, and I've just introduced you to Age of Empires (waiting for your brain to click in and start thrashing me!). You're still a thoughtful kid who finds enjoyment in the every day, and you've taken to asking me about my day and asking follow up questions. While you were disappointed that the day of your birthday didn't feel special (it was a rainy Thursday at school!), we talked about it some more and you recognized that there's an awful lot of days that count as "fun" or "good" in your books, ranging from going to see Liverpool at Anfield to a day of board games and soccer in the garden. As the hormones kick in, I hope that this bedrock of optimism and positivity steers you through, and that you continue to come and find me for a game or a chat or a chapter in the coming months and years.

Love you

Little B/Haroldson/Dada/Plebster

Sophie at 9

 Dear Sofa, Sofa-dofa, Lopins, Mamsie, 

What a year for you! You've changed before our very eyes from a little kid into this confident, tall (!) girl who is comfortable in her own skin. I think the coolest thing to watch this year is your appetite for everything that life will give you. For example, you spent your fall doing archery, soccer, piano and horse back riding (yes it was as crazy after school as it sounds!) and then switched to basketball in the winter and Girls On The Run in the spring. In your own words, you like to be busy (but you also love to lounge around the house with your brother and the chickens!) and you've somehow inherited my energy levels to keep going through a full school day to all of these after school activities. 

You've also got a great appetite for learning. In piano, you've finished the "primer" level books and have progressed to level 1, which you're very proud of. You have moved to in person lessons with Miss Mary which is a much better fit for you instead of Zoom, and Momma sends videos of the two of you playing these complex duets together with a big smile on your face. You've been enjoying horse riding with Savannah, and again Momma (who knows more about these things!) says you're doing great. When we get back from our trip to England, you'll be starting to canter, and we'll support you for as long as you want to ride. In school, you decided for yourself that you wanted to be the first to learn all the states and their capitals, and you finished the official test (with 100% accuracy!) before anyone in the class even started it. It's been incredible to watch your brain absorb all this stuff like a sponge, and listening to you piecing together your world and coming out with little nuggets of information that you heard and remembered from months before continues to put a massive smile on my face. 

You've got a tricky decision coming up for your sporting life. You absolutely fell in love with girls only basketball (and it was cool watching you use your strength and game vision as the season progressed) and this was continued with Girls On The Run. Running the 5K through Concord with you was an absolute highlight of my year; just spending time with you, chatting and running and making little goals for ourselves made me so proud to be your dad. So now we're talking about fall sports and you've told me you want to do soccer again (though there's also an email about archery just popped in my inbox!). Originally, you've talked about wanting to do girls soccer with Rochester, but then your best bud Harlynn isn't sure about it, so I don't know if you'll end up back in Strafford for the fall season. Maybe we'll come back to girls soccer in the spring, but as always, the choice will be yours.

Speaking of best buds, you've got a lovely group of friends around you. Your birthday party this year was a sleepover with Harlynn, Nacora and Norah and you guys had a blast. We used the bouncy house for a while, went over to Nana and Papa's to play with the go-karts and put the tent up in the living room for some fun, as well as playing pie face and eating yourselves silly on chips and candy from your treasure hunt. It was lovely to see you calm and relaxed with your friends, and there was no drama and a lot of giggles for the whole time. You also like to hang out with Anne, and her parents described you as sweet, polite and easy when you went for a sleepover party at her house. You're still naturally friendly with everyone you meet (you're currently pestering us to meet up with kids you met at Jim and Claire's wedding last year!) and your goofy side helps you make friends easily.

It's been another year of watching you become your own person while maintaining your strong relationship with your brother. You asked for a Switch for Christmas to be like him, but have a different taste in games (and to be honest, you rarely use it in favor of your tablet or watching stuff on the TV). You've developed a good strategic brain which you use to get better at Clue (though apparently it's still all about the vibes) and to beat me and Jake at Everbutt more times than not. For your birthday, you had no particlar wishes beyond have $100 in $1 bills so you could make it rain, and even then there was no real thought of what you wanted to buy with it. You're a content kinda kid, and I hope that you stay that way. 

Above all, you're just fun to be around, whether it's endlessly wrestling (with your glasses stored somewhere safe), throwing you around in the lake or trying to outwit you over a board or card game. I can't wait for another summer of hanging out with you, and another year of watching you grow and change some more.

All my love,

Dadda

Jake at 12

 Dear Jako, Jake-a (and now Forbes, apparently your nickname from your friends!),

 I always starting writing these letters by looking back at last years, and this year has definitely seen you continue that journey between being a kid and becoming a teenager. Our favorite example of this was when you decided you wanted a serious haircut (instead of cheap and cheerful at Great Clips) and we found this funky barber with skulls on the wall and a big Man United tattoo. You're still young enough that he offered you a juice box while we waited (you accepted, of course), but you were also able to hold a conversation with him for an hour, and were offered some cologne to finish the haircut. You also have taken to coming food shopping with me, and take a delight in going off on your own shopping mission while I'm getting the "boring" stuff. This drive for independence is great to watch, but it's also coupled with what goes in your cart - as many sugary snacks and cereal as you can get away with. 

I'll always take you on these trips however, because your current favorite tug on my heart strings is "there will be a time when you won't be able to do this with me". Now whether you're thinking long term about you leaving home and going to college, or the idea that in a few years time, you'll want to spend less time with me as friends and jobs and driving around take over, but I'll always take whatever I can get. Me, you and Sophie spend time together every evening when I read stories to you, and you always beg for one more chapter (even coming up with "we're mad, we're sad, this is totally unrad" as your favorite complaint!). We've hoovered most of the Andrew Clements back catalog, the entire Land of Stories and are currently motoring our way through the 39 Clues. I love to read to you, and you're slowly picking up books that aren't Calvin and Hobbes or Big Nate, but to be fair, as long as you're reading and invested in stories, I'm not really bothered what or how you read. 

You decided to switch things up for your birthday this year. Each year, we give you a budget to split between your party and your presents from us, and this year you put 100% of it on an all out day at 6 Flags with 5 of your buddies (you would have done more but the Sienna only holds 7!). It was honestly one of the best days out I've ever had with you (even though we're both exhausted today), and watching you in the thick of it with your friends was glorious to watch. You've surrounded yourself with non-matcho, easy going people, and the day was fun because you're all goofy, but you're all interested in making things work for everyone. For example, you were able to persuade Judah to go on Batman (after we freaked him out on Superman!) but Brandon was an immovable rock, so you decided to find one last ride to go on together. I messaged the parent group chat with how delightful you all are, and that I wasn't ever nervous or worried about taking a group of 12 year old boys out in the wild for a day - in fact I would do it again in a heartbeat.

This is also the group of friends who decided one day that you were going to make a conscious effort to include a boy who doesn't always play basketball with you (Robert?). You came home from school talking about how good it felt to include him, and to cheer him on. I see this side of you more and more, wanting to reach out and make more connections. You've recently told us that you're trying to make more friends at school so that if your normal crew isn't around, you can talk with people about stuff that they like. It's part of that bigger piece of growing up and expanding your horizons, and we love the fact that you've looked around you and decided to make that change for yourself. 

On the subject of making changes, you made a big call just after your birthday last year to try out for the Revs, a travel soccer team where you would end up being towards the bottom of the pile in terms of ability and therefore playing time. It's been a good journey for you, especially as you've made some friends (and invited Michael to come join you!) and you're developing your skills. Recently, you'd found Lucas wasn't giving you much playing time, and you asked about extra training to build your skills. It's now become part of our after school routine to go to the National Guard and work on your first touch and your shooting skills. You were so proud of yourself when you scored a goal in the last game (Lucas said it was a great finish!) and it's given you motivation to do more. You again decided that you didn't want to play basketball with your friends, but it seemed less weird this year as I think they've accepted that you're a soccer kid. You're also talking about doubling up on the Revs and the school team in the fall which will help you figure out how seriously you want to take soccer moving forwards.

At school, you had your first (and hopefully last!) detention this year for being overly chatty in class. We made a big deal about being respectful to your teachers, especially given your parents, and you've pulled yourself back into line. Your grades continue to be spot on,  but you were offered a place on an advanced math program but didn't want to push yourself with it. Given your continued dreams of being an engineer (or an architect, given your ongoing love of Lego and the massive Lego city downstairs!), at some point you'll find the drive to go for these things, but for now stories of school continue to be about the sports at recess and goofy things that you and your friends got up to.

Finally, one of my favorite things about this last year is your ability to notice and be amazed by the small things in life. You've made numerous comments about how beautiful you find things in nature, from a good snowfall to a gorgeous sunset. You're also finding pleasure in small things at home too, and you'll often get to the end of a weekend with a reflection that we didn't do much (i.e. there were no big exciting outings) but that you still had fun hanging out. You love to be at home with your things, and you also like to be out and about doing stuff with your friends. It's easy work being your dad as you're fun to hang out with, easy to talk with and you've got a lot of different interests to pick from. I hope that you keep this ability to be amazed and amused by everything that life throws at you as the teenage years loom ahead.

All my love,

Dadda aka Web Bolfson

Sophie at 8

 Dear Sofa/Sofa Dofa/Mamsie,

What a year this has been for you. One of the biggest worries I've had watching you grow up is that you're so close to your brother that you take on a lot of his interests as your own. This last year, however, has seen you really start to explore who you are, what you like (and don't like) and how to be Sophie - which is funny, sweet, sensitive, whip-smart and just an overall joy to be around. Don't get me wrong, you're still likely to let Jake pick the TV, but you make sure that you're watching things you both enjoy (Dude Perfect and Mark Rober are the current favorites!) and it's becoming more likely that Jake will want to watch and play with your things than vice versa. For example, you're big into slimes right now (fortunately we're talking pre-made slimes not the do it yourself kits that you and I can never work out!), and Jake is obsessed with playing with them as much as you are, and you're always gracious enough to let him join you. 

This year has seen you develop more robust friendships wherever you go. Your birthday party is always a good gauge for me about your social life, and you had a dozen people you invited who are all good and close friends who you've been talking about all year. It's a testament to your friendship that so many of them made plans on Father's Day to come help you celebrate, though I think the promise of a tie-dye escape room bounce house party was hard to resist! It was another example of you exploring and thinking about what you like and enjoy, and I hope that you see that your mom and I will go to big lengths to help you figure it all out.

On that theme, you've been taking piano lessons now for over a year, to the point where Nana upgraded your keyboard to a weighted keys one just like hers. We do weekly lessons with Miss Mary, and you got to play on a proper baby grand piano at a recital last month which you thought was great fun. You're for sure interested in learning to play and you've got the smarts to learn to read music, but your biggest joy is messing around finding notes that go together (even like last night when you should have been going to bed and you came downstairs to tell me about a melody that you created). This desire to be in charge of your own world and find your own direction is delightful, and I love being your piano buddy and captivated audience. 

One of the hardest parts of this independent journey is when things change that I'm not ready for yet, but that I have to put on my brave face because they're your decisions and I want to support you. Two examples come to mind here. We play a lot of soccer, and I've coached you the last two fall seasons and set up some spring soccer in Northwood with your friends. We talked about fall soccer again this year (which would be a travel team), but you've decided you want to try out flag football as some of your friends from school play and made it sound like fun. There's no reason for me not to support this beyond the fact that I'll miss coaching you, and football is a sport I don't know much about, but you can be sure I'll learn and will be there at every practice and game (and you know we'll have a flag football set up in the yard!). The second example is that you want to get your ears pierced, so we've set up an appointment when we get back from our European adventures. Again, I have no reason to say no, and you have friends that have had their ears pierced for ages, so I've got to get over my hesitation that it feels like you're wanting to grow up quickly, and be supportive to learn as much as I can about ear care and how to match studs and earrings to your ever growing sense of fashion. 

On the flipside to these fatherhood challenges is the sheer joy of spending time with you. You continue to want to keep everyone happy (though your mom and I have changed tack slightly so instead of putting ourselves in competition to you "who do you want to wash your hair tonight?" we take the decision making mental load off you by presenting an opt-out scenario "dadda is going to wash your hair tonight unless you don't want him to") and you came home with the most cooperative award from your second grade teacher. We are highly conscious of avoiding "good girl syndrome" with you, and we always want to make sure that you know you have the right to your own desires, needs and no's and that they will be listened to and respected. 

Your empathic streaks runs as hot as ever. Momma is coming out a few days after us to England, and you're sad about it. What we realized last night is not that you're going to be sad without Momma (let's be honest, you did a week in Florida with Nana and Papa and barely said hello to us!), but that you're worried Momma is going to be sad by herself in the house without you. She's excited to have some quiet time before the travels, so we'll spend today convincing you that everyone wins in this situation! 

You're still a goofball, and the sheer number of photos that people take of you pulling a silly face or just being goofy is delightful to see. One of your favorite things to do still is to wrestle with me, whether it's being picked up and thrown on the bed as a way of being woken up in the morning, having me lay (carefully!) on top of you on the couch, or being picked up and dropped down at the lake. You're growing big and tall, so I'll continue to do this until you're too big and my muscles are too weak to do it (or until you don't want me to any more, but I don't see that ending any time soon). 

As Nana said to me recently, 8 is the year that you're a bona fide kid; confident, sociable, caring, strong and brave to name just a few of the things I admire about you. This year will be another big year for you in so many ways, and I'll be by your side as you continue your journey of becoming Sophie. 

All my love

Dadda

Jake at 11

 Dear Jake-o, Jake-a, Iacopo,

Your birthday kind of snuck up on us this year. I don't know if it's because you're in that weird "tween" phase where you've hit the big milestone of 10 but haven't started the transition into teenagerhood (though you have the puberty talk coming up at school in a week or two, so I'm intrigued as to what you make of that!). I think it's also that you've been...not less excited about your birthday, but I think it holds less significance as you've started working out how to get your own money, and so your birthday isn't the only time during the year outside Christmas when you get things you want. We set you up with your first bank account so you could have a card to make purchases online and in person, and it's fun to send you electronic money in return for chores and completing Lexia levels. You continue to be a dragon hoarder, and you're very careful with your money (though if you can make someone else spring for something, you'll take that opportunity every time (looking at you, Nana and Papa!).

Your birthday party was a great insight into your friendship group. It was an exact repeat of your 10th party at Hilltop, down to the same guest list. You've made some solid friendships, and they're just a nice group of kids. You were never out of control, and you find joy in the small things, like bringing home an enormous bouncy ball from the arcade, or an exciting Pokemon pull. In a world where I ended up looking after three of your friends' phones, you aren't straining against our wishes for you to connect in person. Yes, you have a phone because you and Sophie have been taking the bus home alone this year, but it's often left around the home, and it's more frustrating for me to try and get hold of you in the afternoon if I need to ask you a question instead of trying to wrestle the phone away from you! Watching a few of your friends become absorbed into their phones at social events recently makes us more certain that we'll wait for as long as we can before turning on any additional features that will make your phone addictive. 

That's not to say you're not immersed in technology. While the weekends will find you playing soccer in various locations or shooting hoops (or trick shot videos!) outside, you'll always default to playing something on your Switch, or watching Dude Perfect or Mark Rober on Youtube. Both of these make your mom and I happy, especially as it's a good overlap between what you want to watch, what Sophie wants to watch, and stuff that me and your mom don't mind watching with you. Indeed, we were inspired by the Dude Perfect Overtime show that we used it to structure our recent April vacation, which was a great success to give us a range of fun activities (Cool Not Cool for $10 in Walmart!) and days out (discovering that mom is insane at laser tag and bowling!).

This year has been frustrating for you in terms of your jaw and your teeth as we found out that you had some long term trauma in the joint between your jaw and your skull. You toughed out a hard surgery and you're still in a recovery period where you can't chew anything more sturdy than a hamburger. Fortunately burritos are still on the menu as your favorite meal (though no doritos!), as well as pancakes and ice cream, so you're not wasting away. It's hard to have conversations with your doctors about the future, however, as it's going to involve some major jaw surgery, and while you're working hard at your jaw exercises, I really hope that you're doing them as well as you can so we can keep that surgery date away as long as possible. 

Coming back to soccer, it's been great to watch you think through what you want out of the sport. Last spring, you played at Rochester and were one of the better players on the team, which was a great confidence boost for you. It also served as a wake up call that you enjoy playing the sport enough to want to get better at it. You played rec in Strafford in the fall and fell in love with being a striker, and even when a whole bunch of your core friends were playing basketball, you asked us to sign you up for indoor soccer even with kids you didn't know. This worked out well, and it's led you to playing soccer in Northwood with 7th and 8th graders. It's hard work, but you're liking the challenge of having to prove yourself against the big kids (as well as learning how to dive when they use their size against you!). I also love that you're becoming interested in the wider world of soccer, and you're getting the hang of how the Premier League works, the intricacies of European soccer, and where Lionel Messi might play next season. I don't know if it's just a way you choose to connect with me, or if you find it as fascinating as I do, but I relish teaching you (informally) about one of my biggest passions. 

Lastly, let's just talk about how joyful it is having you at home these days. You have the capacity to be a sassy 11 year old trash talking me as you beat me at Mario Kart or Fifa repeatedly, but you're also a thoughtful kid who spends an hour on their mother's day card to include as many types of plants on there as possible. You are a wonderful brother to Sophie, always engaging with her in your games and play, and you always speak positively to her. The two of you are still very close, which I love to see given some of the relationships that your friends have with their siblings, and I hope that as you go through the upcoming puberty related changes that you always make time for her. 

I'm proud of the kid that you are, the friends that you've chosen, and the conscientious and responsible student we hear about from your school. You always get great reports from parties, sleepovers and playdates, and you're the kind of kid that every parent wants their own child to be friends with. Summer is coming up, and I can't wait to see what adventures we get up to. 

All my love,

Dadda

Sophie at 7

Dear Sofa/Sofa Dofa/Sweet Pea,

I can't believe what a difference a year makes. You have grown in so many different ways in this last year (not only in height, meaning you're no longer the smallest of your friends!). Your confidence has really taken off, and even though your teachers and friends report that you're relatively quiet in the classroom, it couldn't be more different when you're at home or hanging out with your friends. You are a regular sassy first grade with a great sense of humor, and you're as likely to try and play a trick on me when I tuck you up at night (the old close your eyes and open your mouth usually ends up with your stinky toes in my face!) as you are to give me a cuddle. 

I think my favorite change in this last year is to see you really become your own person. While you continue to be close to your brother (and long may that continue), you are finding your own interests and opinions on things. For example, for no reason that we can discern, you are completely obsessed with Stitch, to the point where you spent your shovelling money (thank you for saving my back on that walkway!) on a massive Stitch stuffy at Disney earlier this year. You also decided out of nowhere that you wanted a Leeds United soccer kit, and a fish tank of your own for your birthday. This comes from your increased confidence, and I love watching you step out from your brother's shadow more to become your own person. 

I've also loved you making a good group of friends this year. Covid definitely screwed things up in terms of playdates and birthday parties during your kindergarten year, but you've come home talking about a good range of different kids in your class. It was great to see some of them at your birthday party recently, and you were right in the middle of the action for the whole day. However, the one person you really wanted to see there was Martin. Fortunately you and Momma had been to his birthday the week before, and you're going on a play date tomorrow. You write about him most days in our gratitude cards (when we remember to do them) and Momma says that you're a sweet pair of friends. Long may that continue, and I'm excited to see how your friendship skills develop in this upcoming year. 

Speaking of your birthday party, you have a delightful appreciation for the world around you. As I tucked you up that night, you sighed and said that you wished the day could start all over again because it had been the best day ever. Now, this is a good thing for a parent to hear as you always want birthday parties to go right, but it's not the first time you've declared a day to be the best day ever. Most days at Disney fell into that category, but also our recent hike day with ice cream, and a trip to the trampoline park also makes you feel like the world is a pretty great place. We've got some big ticket trips coming up this summer to continue to fill your bucket, but I hope that you continue to find joy and pleasure in the small things as well as the big. 

Your love affair with Nana and Papa continues unabated (you would go and live there given half a chance!) and this was definitely helped with Papa came to coach your softball team. You showed a grit and determination in all your games and practices, probably helped by another best friend in Tessa. The two of you were hilarious to watch, and you came home from each game and practice with stories from the dugout. I wonder if you'll want to play again next year, as I think you've got your heart set on gymnastics in the fall. 

For all your sassy comments and playful nature, you continue to demonstrate your heart of gold. You always make sure that everything is fair (I called you the best girl kid the other day and you automatically added that Jake is the best boy kid) and that you give equal attention to both me and Momma. You still love to play and hang out with your brother, and I love it when you come and find me when I'm doing garden work or chores and offer to help because it's a fun thing to do. With summer vacation finally here, I'm excited to spend much more time with you and watching you continue to grow in all sorts of new and fascinating ways. 

All my love, 
Dadda