Sugar and Spice

Dear Avery,

 You are my sweet five year old girl and I love you!

 Now that you have turned five, I can safely say that some things that I may have associated with a phase are truly just aspects of your personality, of who you are: blinding sunshine, booming claps of thunder, intense sweetness and intense fury all wrapped up into one (not so) tiny package.




Your daddy has lots of nicknames for you, the latest being "Cutie Pebbles" and while you complain and resist and stamp your feet, eventually you choose to own and exemplify those names, all in your own time.  Thank goodness we've moved past the nick name "difficult" :)

 Your Grandma Ruth says you feel intensely and she is right.  What she hasn't articulated is how much you are just like your daddy (who has a nickname of Triple E - Easily Excitable Eric). I love that you share his ability to exude passion and joy for even the most simple things - this is a gift.  The flip side of this passion is the thunder that I mentioned.  You can scream and cry and lament and even have a private, yet spoken aloud conversation "Why G-d!" that I actually find quite amusing. As you continue to grow, I hope you learn how to harness this passion and emotion to your benefit.


Most inherent to your personality and amazing to/different from me is your facility to make friends around every corner.  You are so easy with people, you are never shy.  Wherever we go, whether you are being dragged to one of your brother's sporting events or just out for an afternoon you simply find someone to connect with, play with an in an instant, this person is your friend. What a marvel!

 And now the list of "now that you are five":

  • you can (almost) do a perfect cartwheel
  • you can (almost) brush your own hair
  • you can (almost) take a shower by yourself
  • you can get yourself dressed for any occasion with minimal drama
  • you can go downstairs in the morning by yourself, grab a yogurt and spoon and call it breakfast
  • you can navigate a computer and get to your favorite game websites
  • you can write a card: DEAR MOM I LOVE YOU AVERY
Thank you for the love notes. Thank you for your (most of the time) sweetness.


Here's looking forward to an amazing year of kindergarten.

 Happy (belated) birthday!
Love, 
Mama

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