Letter to my 7 year old.

Dear Noey,  

You just turned 7, how did that happen so fast? We just went to Whistler for the weekend of your birthday and just did your 7 year old birthday interview video

Right now, your favorite things are Lego, Playmobil, and playing with stuffed animals with your big sister. You guys just made a sign that says "Fur Salon" and used scissors to trim the hair off your stuffed animals. Your stuffed monkey looks a bit hacked up right now, I think he'll be coming back to the Fur Salon to get a better fur cut. Unless you are building Lego or reading Geronimo Stilton books, you can't stop moving. You love soccer, biking, hiking, and skiing. You are super competitive and you hate losing. You have matured since your epic toddler tantrums but you still have big emotions. That's OK. That is the way God made you. You never feels things just neutrally, when you are happy, you are  ecstatic and cackling with laughter, when you are upset, you are full on gasping sobs and when you don't get your way, it is Defcon 1 of melodramatic devastation. But within minutes, you can recover from your sorrowful sobs and cracking ridiculous jokes that make no sense or are so lame, the whole family is howling with laughter. 

You are an extrovert and don't like being alone. Like ever.  You rather play dolls with your sister than be by yourself. You like having someone around you all the time, even if you are playing by yourself. You won't go to a different floor of the house if everyone else is on a different floor. You don't watch many movies because you are scared of a lot of things and you worry it might give you bad dreams. You ask a million questions a day and your go-to answer when we explain something is "Got it".....unless I am asking you to play piano, then you don't respond with "Got it" and usually melt into a puddle of whiny tears. Hopefully when you're older you will appreciate having musical ability and it is worth this wretched battle. 

You don't sleep in like your sister does. I am glad that after the two years of your existence, you decided to at least sleep through the night. You must of got the memo from me that I didn't wasn't going to make it much longer on 2-3 hour chunks of sleep every night. Thanks for that. I feel much more sane than when you were a toddler. Bedtime still consists of a 101 steps. After we tuck you into bed, it's quiet for about ten minutes and then come the string of other questions and requests ranging from, "I don't know what to do", "I think I have growing pains", "I don't know which stuffy to sleep with" (maybe because there are like bajillion in your bed) and "Can you get my bunny?" You went through this weird phase of needing your beloved stuffed bunny to be ice-cold at bedtime. You would put your bunny in the freezer in the morning and we would have to bring it to you at bedtime holding just the tag so our hands didn't make it too hot on the way upstairs. Seriously. The hoops we jump through just to get you to go to sleep my child.  But on the upside, my favourite part of the last few months during covid and having no schedules is that you can tell time on your Gro Clock and you come over after 7:00 am and we snuggle while your sister sleeps past 9:00 am.

You are sensitive and you care a lot about the people in your life. You give the most affectionate hugs. When you were younger, we would call them 'bowling ball' hugs because you would run to me from across the room and leap into my arms and wrap your legs around me. If I wasn't ready, it would be like a bowling ball clearing a strike and I would collapse from your mighty hugs. 

You would be happy living off just bread and butter. The only vegetables you will eat right now are steamed broccoli and I can hide spinach and zucchini into things without you protesting. Your sister likes salads but your idea of a salad is just eating a pile of croutons. You are also probably one of the rare kids that don't like french fries and you rather have apple slices with your chicken nuggets. You don't really like trying new foods and if we make you eat it, you request to have it with honey. That's why your nickname is Honey Badger. You were so proud of that nickname you put Honey Badger on your bike handle bars but the stickers wore off and now it just says "BAD"

You are strong. You love a good challenge. I love that about you, I pray that you continue to grow and challenge yourself. Keep telling yourself that you can do hard things. You will never know how far you can go until you try. I pray you always keep trying. I will always be your biggest fan. Happy birthday sweet pea.  Love you to the tide and back. 

XOXO Love Mom