Dear Emma Grace,
It has been yet another incredible year. Just about six years ago, exactly to the minute (figuring in the central coast – west coast time change) my water broke and we really knew that you were on your way at last. We ran, well I more or less “lumbered,” downstairs at 4:30am on that April 9th and I still remember Daddy saying to the night doorman who was standing watch, “Well, looks like a good day to have a baby!”
And then that dumb doorman, instead of finding a cab for us like he was supposed to be doing, thought he would be funny and said, “Oh, but it is a Wednesday. Wednesday’s child is full of woe!” Come on! Who says that to a woman in labor? At any rate, a few minutes later we were cruising to the hospital and the doorman (and his stupidity) was forgotten.
But occasionally, that line will pop up into my mind, and at the oddest times – usually when you are wailing or having a dramatic meltdown over some inconsequential thing. But no matter how “woeful” that moment may be, I will never, ever agree with that man. You are anything but full of woe!
I see an insane physical growth in you nearly every week – usually when yet another pair of jeans gets passed down to Addie because your legs have decided to sprout at least an inch overnight. But I also see the growth you are making as a person, on the inside. I went back to read your five-year old letter and just kept nodding my head and thinking, “Yep, she is still like that, she still does all of those things, only with ten times the force and intensity.” Your heart, and your capacity to show love to all of your friends and family, seems to be growing as much as those long legs of yours.
And I marvel at how your mind is growing and how much you have accomplished in your first seven “official” months of school. You are full-on reading (Everything. You even read over my shoulder as I try to type blog posts.), you are becoming a very prolific writer (Keeping several different journals of your own, even ones not prompted as schoolwork.), and you love all things nature and outdoors. Science experiments and getting things to grow have opened your mind to a whole new and exciting world of knowledge. You just continue to soak it all up.
And your learning has only meant that I get to relive my childhood again. I get to explore all of the wonders of the world with you, and just see them as you do – all new and shiny. It has given me a chance to take a second look and really see the beauty in so many things that I may have otherwise overlooked. Whether it is an interesting new bug, a fun new park, a new sprout in the garden or a new book about the planets we haven’t read yet, they all seem much more exciting when I can learn it through you.
Emma Grace, you truly are the perfect mix of joyful, serious, sweet, excited, and curious. (Ok, maybe a hint of woe sprinkled in every once in awhile, just to keep Mama on her toes!) And I don’t think anyone who knows you can imagine life without you.
The happiest 6th birthday and year to you, Gracie Girl.
I love you,
Mommy
