Sophie at 5

Dear Sofa, Poppins, Popalopa,

I feel that I write this every year, but it feels like this year has been your biggest year of growth yet. The biggest change has been in your language - those ear tubes have made an incredible difference to your ability to speak and pick up new vocabulary. This, combined with your speech and language session at Step by Step (and online with Miss Caty in quarantine!) and your naturally confident self, makes having full conversations with you easy. You are able to explain your ideas clearly, engage in word play jokes (you've certainly got the understanding of swapping nouns out (usually with a potty word!)) and solving problems. The thing that gets me is that we got so used to you not having many words is that I could just listen to you chatter all day, and it amazes me with the language and vocabulary that you've learned along the way.

This language explosion also seems to have increased your academic confidence (there are many other thing to worry about in this world, but from a teacher's point of view, I'll always worry that you're on or above average for what you know!), or maybe it's just that you were always this smart but just couldn't tell us :). You can count up to 39, and I know that you'll practice hard to get those tens numbers right this summer. You can write and name all your letters (think of all those hours we spend playing the ABC game during your homeschool time, with the magic finger dropping down on the wrong letters!), and you for sure know how to write everyone's name in our family. You're fascinated by typing and writing, to the point where we bought you an old school typing machine (not a typewriter, not a computer, but somewhere in between!) so you can indulge your love of letters. You've also decided that you desperately want to learn to read, to the point where if we sneak a look through your door at night, you've always got a book in front of you. You can remember stories well, and you can "read" Dalmation in a Digger" from memory - I love it when you do this, and I can't wait for you to be able to read more and more stories with me!

You continue to be a highly independent kid. This whole quarantine time has put you into a place where Jake is your only play buddy, but you don't mind this at all as the two of you can play for hours either goofing off doing god knows what in your room, or playing "little teds" in the downstairs room (and the new summer location of the basement). On the times when Jake isn't around, you're happy to play quietly by yourself, and your language means you can now chatter to yourself with the different characters. You love to dance and run around; when we can, we'll sign you up for karate (because you want to be a ninja vet right now!) and for dance/gymnastics lessons as you have an innate grace and balance to your movements. 

You LOVE to help out everywhere; much to Nana's delight you're a keen gardener, and I love going on trips around our yard examining all the different plants and looking at what's growing. We've had to train you to tell someone that you're heading outside to hunt for worms or to play with the chickens, but the answer will always be of course. You're a big help in the kitchen too, to the point where we had to buy you a stepladder so you're at the right height. Pizza night is hilarious because while you're great at rolling and decorating, we both know you're really in there to taste everything from the flour to the pepperoni. However, you're a thoughtful helper and this year has seen you be able to take on more jobs around the house, and you love to feel like you're contributing (it was hard to say no when I was building the chicken aviary because you were too short to hold the wood up!).

To our great entertainment, you strike a great balance between being a sterotypical girly girl (you love pink, sparkles and have a box full of hair extensions, fascinators and kid nail polish) and a general outdoors kid (watching you fearlessly scoot down the hill in a party dress makes me laugh every time, and you wanted a water backpack for hiking that was pink and shiny (it exists!)). I hope you always feel that you can be you, that pink can be your favorite color, that you can love hair extensions and hiking boots and that wearing a skirt under your dress is always ok. 

You're meant to start Kindergarten this year, and it will be great to finally be in a place where you can lay down some solid friendships (you racked up 4 different daycares which made it hard to find a set of best friends, but Eliana has been a great buddy and I hope we can continue that even though you'll be in different schools). You're a super friendly kid, full of confidence and smiles, and every adult who works with you describes you as sweet and kind. Combine that with your wicked sense of humor and your ferocious curiosity and ability to learn and the world will be your oyster.

Time to go and check your smooch battery (I've heard it's mountain, but you got to check!)

Daddy 

Jake at 8

Dear Jake-a,

I write this in the first few months of the corona virus pandemic (or the sickness as you and your sister refer to it). I don't know how this will read when I give these letters to you, but I wanted to put it on record just in case :) You have adapted well to the restrictions on your life due to the pandemic; to be honest, you're such a homebody that being told to stay home and not go anywhere is actually a delight for you. Plus, the fact that our house is big enough both inside and out for you and Sophie to spend endless hours playing together also helps, and the the fact that you have incredible powers of concentration and a great ability to keep yourself entertained. That's not to say you don't love it when me and your mom come to join your games, but we're less necessary than we have been in previous years. Again, part of this is that Sophie is growing up to be an excellent playmate - this enforced time in quarantine has really brought you even closer together and there's continuous giggles and chatter wherever you two happen to be.

This year has brought about some changes to our house too. Last June we got Leo, and it's been interesting watching you learn to be around him. You're still not 100% sure about how to play with him, but you certainly love him, and he will follow you wherever you go (especially when you whistle to him!). You don't necessarily go find him to play with, but if he's there and around, you'll pat and kiss him and tell him how handsome he is (as we all do!). We also got 4 chickens last month, and you seem much more at  home with them. We've nicknamed you the chicken whisperer because they always seem to come and sit near (and on!) you whenever we take them out.

After much deliberation, you named your chicken Raichu after one of your favorite Pokemon characters, and that has really been the story of the last year. We can't quite remember when you started to get invested in Pokemon, but you went from being a kid with a few cards in a binder to fit in with your friends at after school care to a full obsession with easily over 1,000 cards in your possession. I think it's neat how much you know and care about the characters, about how they evolve and what their types and powers are. You are much less interested in playing the card game (which is a bummer as I'm very keen to play!) than you are organizing, sorting and drawing the Pokemon. The walls in your room are quickly becoming full of your pictures, and you've got a great talent for copying from the cards onto paper easily. I'm excited to see how this drawing talent develops, and it's allowed me and your mom to talk about how we get better through endless practice rather than just expecting ourselves to be good at something.

This applies to your interest in hockey, which I'm still a little confused by. You are keen to go to every practice, but while you're out on the ice, you seem miserable and like you don't want to be there. It's hard to watch you play without being able to talk to you about what's going on in your head (there was one time when you were skating behind the goal when the puck was at the other end!), but you come out of practice telling me you enjoyed it and that you felt like you were improving. I will always encourage to follow your heart, even if I'm not sure about what your heart is telling you, so assuming we can get back on the ice in the fall, I'm sure we'll be there again. To help you out, we bought you a pair of inline skates (as something you and Momma can both do!) so I'm hoping that will help with your skating skills. You've been out on them regularly so let's see what the summer brings. 

Overall, you continue to be that kind-hearted, thoughtful kid that you've always been. You have a funny sense of humor (that is still potty themed - how much longer?!?) and enjoy teasing people (and by people I mean me - you currently call me Bubbles which I worry will stick). You have a great curiosity about the world and how it works - you love to read non-fiction books and will happily relay facts and stories that you found out when reading in your room during rest time and at night. You love to have stories read to you - we've pretty much covered the entire Andrew Clements back catalog, and we like to talk about what's going to happen next and why characters acted the way they did. You're less sure about reading out loud; you can do it, and you have a fantastic sight vocabulary, but you don't enjoy it very much. That's something I want to help you learn to love, as a favorite part of my day is getting to read to you.

I don't know what the next year will look in terms of school, travel or socializing, but I do know that for now what you have here at home is enough for you, and that will always be enough for me. If we do need to get out, me, you and Sophie have just started geocaching, we started our camping career with a night out at Nana and Papa's, and we're already planning bigger hikes this summer. But for now, a set of Pokemon cards, a pencil and your sister is all you need to be happy; may you always find joy in the small things in life.

Love you, Jakey bear (which we can't call you!)

Dada