eight is great!

Dear my Martha Kate, 

Today you are eight!  And, let me tell you, you make eight look really great!  It has been such a fun year of watching you grow.  You lost a lot of teeth this year (six!), mostly all at the same time, so for a while you couldn’t eat corn or apples, and whistling was a little tricky.  Now that your two big front teeth are in, sometimes you look so grown up!  Your personality has not stopped growing either.  You are a busy bouncing ball of sunshine.  You love to play outside and love to swing - the higher the better.  You like to climb to the top of the fort and swing from the rope to jump on the swing.  

You pick every flower, even if it’s a weed and never leave a dandelion unblown.  They are all beautiful in your eyes and you have made me see how beautiful they are too.  Most of them you give to me and I put in a vase but sometimes when I clean out my car, I find some little wilty ones in the cupholder and I think about you.  

Music makes you so happy.  We love watching you belt it out in the rearview mirror and listening to you sing when daddy plays the guitar.  You like all kinds - pop songs, country songs, daddy’s 80’s hair band songs, church songs, and you know all the words after you hear it one time.  You asked for a microphone for Christmas and sang for a solid hour while dancing on the kitchen chairs on Christmas morning.  You sang your first little solo in church this year, “This Little Light of Mine.”  It was perfect for you because we watch your little light shine all the time.  Your G-Daddy even built you a stage for your room and made it extra big so you wouldn’t fall off if the music made you move a lot. 

Your creative little mind never stops turning.  You make things and paint things and draw things constantly.  You came home from school with a Kleenex box and turned it into a guitar.  I am always looking for my stapler or my tape but it is usually gone because you have used it all with your creations.  That’s ok, I can just buy more tape!  You also like to write stories and song lyrics, and they are really good because you also draw pictures to go with them.  You love to make cards because you are so thoughtful.  I have them on little pieces of paper all over the house and they remind me of how deeply you love and how giving you are.  I love how you always make my hair look extra good in your drawings.  You are even giving to your brother and bought him a gift with your own money for his birthday.  He’s lucky to have you.  

You wrote this about yourself! "
"I also love to color and love life."

We never thought you were the athletic type, but you tried soccer this year and you were really fast!  It was really exciting to watch you fly across that field and score goals.  I think you were excited too - almost as excited as you were about the pink cleats you got to wear.  You definitely have your own sense of fashion and the soccer field proved to be no exception.  

You have loved school this year, mostly because you have learned to read really well.   You love books and most nights after you go to sleep, I come in and move all of the books off of your bed.  I enjoy reviewing your graded papers with you because you always have a good explanation for your answers, like when you wrote, “slippery” for how an object would move more easily and went on to demonstrate how if you poured sunscreen on the floor, the object would slide.  I made perfect sense to me, but school sometimes likes for you to get the answers from the paragraph instead of making up your own.  You also got a little worried about testing this year because you might not be able to out of your seat to change pencils or walk around, but the extra recess and snacks made it better.  You teach me not to take things in life so seriously and to look for the positive when you have to do hard things.  

You are also my good helper.  You are never far from my side, so you just help me with my work.  You also help me find my keys and help me to remember the snacks when we go on a trip.  I love to hear your little voice chattering away when I’m holding your hand and we are walking together.  You are overflowing with ideas and questions.  I try to answer them all because I know that’s how you learn.  Last night, we looked at the pictures from when you were born and you loved hearing stories of what you were like as a baby.  You were so tiny and feisty and so loved.  That has not changed.  

Martha Kate, you bring us such joy!  Your free spirit is so contagious and you make people around you so happy - that is such a gift!  There is so much love and life in your little forty pound body that it’s hard to contain sometimes.  It is a pleasure to watch you grow.  You are a girl with purpose and an opinion who is not afraid to make it known.  I admire your contentment and your confidence.  

You are eight.  You are great. 

I love you so very much!

Mommy