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
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