A Letter to My Daughter

To my sweet little girl,

I took the pictures above in the afternoon shade.  It was pj day at school and you were twirling and dancing, very seriously, in the backyard.  The neighbor had been over and she had shown you some new moves, which you were happily practicing.  You really wanted me to leave you alone, especially since you were feeling a little shy about those new moves.

I was simply shocked when I downloaded the pictures.  Who is this big girl in these photos?  Whose long legs are those?  Somehow you've simply sprouted, seemingly overnight. I'm sad to see you growing so quickly because I just love your little heart.  I really long to slow you down a bit.  You're so sweet and funny at this age.  Your sense of humor makes us all laugh.  We adore these moments with you when you have that playful twinkle in your eyes.

When you turned five, I made you promise you wouldn't get any bigger.  Sometimes you still bring that up and insist that you've tried to stop growing.  I'm afraid you've inherited some worrywart traits from your mom (and probably Nana too).  You keep it inside mostly, but now and again you'll ask a question that shows how you've been stewing over something.  You worry about Mommy and Daddy when they're alone somewhere.  What if they get lost?  You worry what your teacher will think if you change your reading book or if there's a note you need to give her.  You worry about Ben and what might happen if he decides to play football someday.  Worry, worry, worry.

You love writing.  You write everyone little notes.  You write stories.  You write reports.  You write.  It completely melts my heart.  You love school.  Last week you had no homework and were sad.  You came home and made yourself a page of math problems to answer.  Ben was horrified. :)

You are still as stubborn as the day is long.  You probably always will be.  You probably come by this quite honestly. ;)  We wouldn't have it any other way, though we do fret about what teenage Mia will be like. One of the joys of having you in our lives is your intensity.  I can see threads of this back to the little pictures of your developing personality.  And now it's there too, in everything you do.  Your heart is so big, little one.  We love our baby girl, to the moon and back.

Love always,

Mommy