nine is so fine!

Dear my Martha Kate,

Today you are nine.   And let me tell you, you make nine look fine!  On this very day nine years ago, I looked over at you and instantly fell in love for the third time in my life.  (The first two times were your daddy, then your brother.  I love you just as much if you're wondering).   You were tiny and pink and crying like you had a point to get across.  I think it was that you were cold and wanted your mama because as soon as I held you you stopped and looked straight at me.  I still love to scoop you up and hold you.  I'm so glad God made you little so I can curl you right up in my lap.  It is still one of your favorite places.

You have grown so much this year!  Your big front teeth have grown in and you've lost a couple more too.  Your hair is longer and it makes you look a little older but it sure is pretty.  When the sun shines on it, it looks like a new copper penny.  Your brother once told you that your hair was the color of a chicken nugget!  (He was only three - we'll forgive him).

You are full of adventure and spirit.  You love to go places and see new things and I'm going to have to remind myself of this the older you get and the more I want to keep you right here with me.  This year we went to New York City.  It was a real adventure and we still talk about it.  You loved the Statue of Liberty and climbing on all of the statues in Central Park.  I loved watching the wonder of it all through your eyes.  You loved everything but the time we got caught walking in a thunderstorm and got soaked. You were just plain mad about that!  We had a great time shopping and you and I saw our first Broadway play.  We also ate a lot of sweets.  Your favorite were the macaroons, just like they have in Paris, you said.  I think you loved the hotel as much as anything else.  I like hotels too, so I get it.

You are so much fun to watch, Kate.  Sometimes, I just sit and watch you play or stop at the window
when your outside and watch you swing.  You are always singing, or talking, or imagining while you play.  I love your little world so much.  When you are outside, you are carefree and happy, like that's exactly where you belong.  After you were born, you cried unless we took you outside.  You were trying to tell us that's where you were happiest.  I was thankful you were born in May because at least the weather was nice for sitting outside on the swing.  You love the water as much as swinging.  At the first sign of warm weather, you start talking about swimming pools and oceans and swimsuits.  Sometimes when we go to buy plants at Lowes, you get a little distracted at the water fountains.  I let you play there as long as I can because they are kind of fascinating.  When you were a baby, you used to climb up on the counter and turn the water on to play in it.  We didn't think you could reach the
faucet, but we were wrong.  In the spring, when the flowers start blooming, you get so excited, just like I do.  We passed a field of yellow wildflowers the other day and you said, "Oh, I could stay there all day picking those!"  One of your favorite places to go is the garden at church where there is a brick with Nana's name on it.  You like to pick and blow all the dandelions all the way down the hill to it.  She would love that so much.

You have always been busy, and you sure keep me busy, but I love it.  Just like Olivia's mom says in the book we read - "You really wear me out, but I love you anyway." You have so many good ideas that sometimes it's hard for you to get them all done.  You spend a lot of time cutting paper and making things - really cool things like houses for small critters and cards and pictures.  I spend a lot of time picking sequins and paper out of the carpet, but it makes me think of you when I'm doing it.  You can even make purses from my hosta leaves by sewing them together with monkey grass.  You also love to read and you've gotten really good at writing this year too!  I have always said you use your right brain and that's amazing.  It's hard for some people to sing and dance and to be on stage and think of cool things to make and draw, but not for you.  It all comes so easily for you because you're brain is not thinking of all the rules and the boundaries in life.  Your brain doesn't see limits, it only sees possibility.

I love that you like to try lots of different things like playing soccer, and running, Girl Scouts, being
in plays, and singing at church.  You always do your very best and that makes me so proud.  This was your first year to run track and you did really well!  I didn't know your little legs could move so fast and you came back to the finish line smiling.  You're pretty much always smiling.  It's kind of contagious.  We joke that you are a cross between Olaf the happy snowman and Buddy the elf.  You make the most of everything and can make even the most ordinary things pretty fun - like trying on shoes.  We spent an hour in Target the other day trying on all the heels and using the aisle as a runway.  I just sat and watched you and soaked it up.  You've taught me to sit and watch and soak up more things in life and I am thankful for that.  Besides, it's too hard to hurry you up so I may as well wait until you are ready.  You've also taught me to say yes more especially when I know it's saying yes to something messy.  It's always worth my yes when I see how much fun you have or what you have made.  I even say yes to lipstick sometimes but we made a deal that it's only for inside the house.  After all, you're only nine!

You also know how to get right to the point and size up a situation with pure honesty.  I get a little nervous at what you might say sometimes but whatever it is will be the absolute truth.  You have a wonderful ability to avoid drama and walk away from things that make you uncomfortable. You are not afraid to call somebody out on something either.  You like for people to do the right thing and for people to be treated fairly.  This makes you a good friend and will also help you make wise choices as you grow up.

You are a great helper.  You are really good at looking for ways to help me at home.  You are also really good at noticing when other people need help.  I watched you at your soccer game help a girl from the other team get up when she fell down and I watched you give up your turn to throw the ball in so your friend could have a turn, and give away your gatorade to your friend's little sister because she was crying.  I was more proud of that than the goals your scored.  I always say that I want you and Bailey to be happy and kind and to love God and love people.  You are doing really well at all of those things.

Sometimes things in our lives make us have to be patient and sacrifice and wait your turn.  I am proud of you for how patient you have been when life is not always easy.  God made you strong and tough but sweet and loving.  Oh so loving.  He has given you exactly what you need to be who you are.  I am not the only one who sees it.  Other people see it too.  They see how resilient you are and how full of joy you are and they wonder how you could be so happy.  I tell them it's because you are so loved and because God made you that way.

I used to sing a song at church when I was little called "I am a promise."  You are a promise - a great big bundle of potentiality with a capital "P" and I'm so glad you are mine.  You are my very best girl and I love you very much, my Martha Kate!

You are nine and you are fine!

I love you!

Mommy