Happy Happy 5th Birthday, my friend.
Five seems like a lot of years. I possibly say this about every age, but seriously, how have you been alive for five years?
This last year has held some of the absolute best moments with you. You have gone from a complete spaz to a reasonable little person that I can have a discussion with and we can finally agree on an acceptable outcome. You have certainly learned to use nice and calm words and you scream at me and Dad a whole lot less. The amount of relief I feel over this cannot be put into words. There were a lot of days where I was not sure how you and I were going to make it out on the other side of this.... but here we are and I am so grateful.
Starting Kindergarten has been one of the proudest and best things you have done. You were so completely ready to go and I was so happy for you. I know for sure that some of your new coping skills have been learned at school. You willingly get ready every morning, you happily ride your bike (almost) every morning with very little complaining and you simply smile, wave and walk into class. It is so amazing to see you thriving in that environment, and I love leaving you without feeling like I need to worry about you at all. I am so proud of you.
You love fruit and vegetables. You would be happy to eat a place of each for every meal. It is so easy to feed you. In fact, your favourite meal right now is spinach salad. Um, I have no idea how this happened, but I will not argue!
Your favourite songs are "You Look Like I Need A Drink" and "Humble and Kind" and "7 Years Old" . You always want to stay in the truck to listen to the end of whatever song is playing. I also like doing that, so I always oblige.
You are still a major tv fan. Its tough to get you to walk away from it, so we kind of have to super limit you. You love PJ Masks and The Lion Guard... actually, you love pretty much every show on Disney Junior. When you aren't watching those shows you love to play some version of them with Maizey. The two of you could play Lion Guard for hours. Its fantastic to see your imagination emerging.
If this doesn't get you right in the heart, I don't know what will. My goodness. This slays me.
Over the last year you have become a lot less lazy and lot more willing to try hard things. Formerly, if it felt like you would have to put in even a little bit of effort, you absolutely would not try. Like, riding a two wheeler for example. You totally did it last summer, but occasionally you would stumble, so you quit trying altogether. This spring, you climbed on and rode away. I am so glad!
You also cannot be tricked into doing things you don't want to do. The age old trick of "I bet you can't even *whatever whatever* anyways...." doesn't work. You just shrug and say "you're right, I can't". It's terribly frustrating to tell you the truth. Sometimes I just want you to be helpful. My hope is this will also evolve over time and one day I will just realize that suddenly, my years of harping at you will have paid off and you are super helpful. Lets see how that goes! haha.
I hear from your teachers that you are a really good friend. You are kind and helpful and nice to be around. I love hearing that so much. I see you interacting on the playground and know it is true.
You really love helping me bake, reading books by yourself and playing games. I try to make sure we do all of those things often.
I love your absolutely genuine smile and your really adorable dimples. I love giving you big hugs that last a super long time and I love hearing your giggle that comes straight from your guts. Its so infectious. You add so much laughter and fun to our family. You also make me border on crazy, but the truth is, without you, my days would be too quiet. I love you so much, my friend. I can't wait to see what this next year brings for us.
Happy 5th birthday Budski. You seem like a grown up now.
Love,
Mom and Dad.
