Sunday, September 18, 2011

Ten

Dear Sunshine-

Every year I am more and more surprised by how old you are. It is cliche' but it really and truly seems like only a week ago that I brought you home in your little John Lennon outfit, and as exhausted and sore as I was, I just sat and stared at you in your little bassinet.

In the last 12 months you have grown in ways that are awesome to watch. One big one is that you grew 2 inches in about 6 weeks, you were very excited about that. Now when I look at you, you appear to be made up of about 75% legs.

You started to play basketball. And in my humble opinion have a nature talent for it, you are smart and can see the other players on the court and know where to go, or where to pass. At first you were very scared about getting hit by the basketball, (who wouldn't be?) after all it hurts, but as the season progressed you became more assured and more aggressive.


That last sentence definitely fits you to a T, you like to test the waters before you dive in head first, and then once you realize you like it you dive in with full gusto.

You continue with Tae Kwon Do, you just got your second red stripe on your purple belt. You even competed in some tournaments this year in Kata, and this last tournament in weapons. You are enjoying learning Bo Staff and look rather menacing with it when you are practicing! And love to show me how to spin it!


Just last week you got your flute. You have talked non-stop about getting your flute since March or so. You are so excited about learning to play it, and I am excited for you.

You have started to ride your bike when I run, and your excitement when we go faster than the last time is infectious. Your supporting me helps me to say- get off your duff and go run and take Sunshine with you.

You played Tinkerbell in a theater production last Spring and you were a hit. Little kids would come up to you after the show and ask for your autograph. It was great fun to watch your character progress over the rehearsals and through the run of the show, you my dear, developed quite a little attitude toward Wendy when she and Peter were together!


You are this amazing combination of girly girl and tom boy. You love to wear sparkles and high heels and put a little makeup on, but you run around with the boys, and go on ziplines, and trampolines and play flag football with them, and even spar against them in Tae Kwon Do.


Your heart continues to make my heart sing. Your patience for people who are different or need a little extra love is something I can't put into words. Somehow you just know that this person could use a friend or just needs someone to be there with them. And it comes naturally to you, you do it, I suspect, without even thinking about it.

I'm not gonna lie, life isn't always beer and daisies. You and I are both strong and independent and similar in many ways, so there can be some rough days when the two of us are at each other's throats. But they pass and we curl up on the couch and watch some TV or play some Wii together and the world is right again.

We did some fun things together this year, we went to your first ever concert- Taylor Swift at Gillette Stadium. Your birthday party was at Monkey C Monkey Do where we went climbing on ropes and ziplines. We went to North Carolina for a Spring vacation and did lots of hiking in parks here in Maine.

You are starting to know yourself a little better. You get nervous before somethings especially when you are going to be judged. You said to me the other day, I want to cut back on that a bit because I get really nervous and can't think during school the day before. Pretty smart little 10 year old.

My wishes for you over this next year, are that you continue to know yourself and continue to build even more self confidence and know how truly amazing and awesome you are, that you learn this at your age, instead of at my age. That you become just a bit more self motivating. That you continue to find things you love to do, you try new foods and activities and fill your life with things that make you happy!


These last 10 years have been pretty amazing, I can only imagine what the next 10 will hold for us! Thanks for being born Sunshine!