How are we here? Today my dearest daughter is six years old.
SIX Years with this sweet Doodlebug.
This year, I wanted to memorialize all the ways our family loves this girl, and then hear from her a few fun six year old thoughts.
I asked everyone what their favorite thing to do with Daphne was:
George-I like playing games with her.
Wally-I play legos with Sissy.
Daddy-On my days off work, I love to pick her up on the days George has run club to go get ice cream and play at the park together.
Mommy-I love to go flower shopping with her and picking out our favorite colors.
Here is what everyone said about their favorite trait of Daphne’s:
George-Everything she does makes me happy, but I love the faces she makes.
Wally-She shares.
Daddy-She loves her brothers so much. I never imagined having kids who love their siblings so much.
Mommy-I love how she fills others’ cups up. She is so intentional about paying attention to others’ interests and needs and tries to make people feel seen.
Here is how Daphne feels now as the six year old.
Who is your favorite person in the world? Mommy
What is your favorite color? Magenta
What is your favorite T.V. show? My first favorite was Pokemon, then it switched to Abby Hatcher, then back to Pokemon. Now it is Spidey Friends.
What do you like to wear? Dresses
What is your favorite song? Meghan Trainor, Me Too
What is your favorite food? Pancakes
Who is your best friend? Harrison
What do you want to be when you grow up? A singer, I am good at singing.
What is your favorite book? The rhyming books (the phonic readers from Usborne)
What is something you are good at? Building Legos
Where do you want to go on vacation? Florida, I love it there.
What is your favorite memory? Summer School, I will always remember it.
Who is your hero? Daddy…my family actually.
What is your goal this year? Get better at cartwheels
What is your favorite part of school? Choice time with the little shapes.
What are you scared of? That things will fall and break on me, and the dark.
If you were an animal, what would you be? Allicorn
What is something you are thankful for? My family
What makes you happy when sad? Music and hugs
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas. No one’s birthday is a holiday, except for God and Grandma who have the same birthday.
What is the best thing about being a kid? You don’t have to go to work, and the worst is that you have to do what grown ups say.
What are you excited about being six? That I am going to be taller.
Daphne is such a sweet young lady. She is so smart and kind. She has rocked kindergarten, loves going to school, and knows how to read well above her grade level. She is so observant. She feels her emotions fully, and she interprets others feelings just as deeply. She likes to warm up to new things, but I am so proud of her bravery for trying new things this year even though she is scared. She is one of those people that just warms your heart by just being in her presence.
Every year I have this avoidance to George turning another year older. I mean didn’t we just celebrate one? I ask myself how can this be?
But here we are, six years old.
Not that I am a seasoned parent or by any means an expert at anything with motherhood, however George has taught me a lot by making me a mom.
In honor of his sixth birthday today, here are six things that I have learned from my first born.
Imagination is not to be fooled with.
This kid comes up with the most creative creations. He is really good at coming up with storylines and rethinking how to use things. His room is a total mess, which is something I have to let go of because he had dreamed up that he built a fort, a railway, or channels for a boat system. Things are not always what they seem. He has taught me so much about looking beyond the confines of normalcy and not sticking within the lines. I need to be able to let him loose with his ideas and hold on to his plans for creations because that will serve him well later on in life.
There is always reason to celebrate.
George is always ready to party. He loves ALL holidays and relishes in decorating our house with all the things. He is always asking what the next holiday is, and you can see his eyes just gleam from the excitement. He also is just so excited about the little things. He loves to create opportunities to rejoice in the day to day things. And he is so appreciative of the celebrations. “Treat yo’ self” is his mantra. And celebrations always bring on sugary treats, which are always necessary!
A hug is always a good remedy.
If anyone knows me well, they know that I am not a hugger. These are reserved for very few folks in my life, and I will not usually volunteer to do them. However, this kid has melted me down. He is the best hugger ever. And touch has got to be one of his love languages, because he gives about a million hugs a day. In our embraces we have so many meaningful moments. Sometimes they are breakthroughs from arguments and power struggles. Sometimes they are to comfort us when we are sad to just let someone know we are there. Sometimes they are just to remind each other of our immense love for one another. It is hard to not feel some goodness when you have your arms wrapped around someone else. They have definitely been mood stabilizers for us over the last six years. Hugs are George’s love currency.
Plans are not always what they are cracked up to be.
George has been “lovingly” reminding us lately that “sometimes plans change, and that’s ok.” This is honestly one of the biggest lessons for me as someone who loves to have a plan and a list at hand. Plans are my way to control things. If there is anything about parenthood that is constant is that plans are going to change. Literally from the moment George was conceived, things are not as I planned them. I didn’t imagine finding out that I was pregnant at a fertility specialist. I didn’t plan on delivering my baby 3 weeks early and having to deal with the NICU. I didn’t plan on littering my house with Legos. But things happen, and that’s ok. I have had to learn a lot about acceptance and letting things be as they may instead of trying to predict and control it all. George is also not a kid who is easily controlled for he often has plans of his own that do not align with mine…
Patience
And that leads us to patience. What parent doesn’t say that they have learned patience with parenting? Or better yet, it has showed me how impatient I really am. Along the same lines as the plans, I have to remember that I cannot make George make the decisions that I want him to. He is becoming his own person. And with that he has to make mistakes and make messes of things so he can learn for the next time. It’s these moments that it could be so easy for me to just swoop in and make things happen or to banish him to his room because I just can’t take it anymore. I have to give him opportunities to make his own decisions even if they aren’t the ones that I think are best. It’s the only way he will learn how to work with others, do chores, or clean up his own mistakes. I cannot be a fixer all the time or just yell at him for not putting away his clothes for the millionth time. Patience and prayer my friends.
I have learned the most about love.
I thought I knew a lot about what love should be and could be. But until I had George, I never really knew the magnitude of what love could do to you as a being. I mean I love Tom, but there is something about a kid that changes every piece of who you are. There is more love than I could ever imagine. And a lot of that is because of who George is. He loves so immensely and with his whole little body that it is hard not to want to experience that with him. He has taught me that true love means forgiveness and letting things go. He has taught me that true love sometimes also means tough love and not letting you off the hook when you are wrong. He taught me that I don’t have to be perfect to be loved so fully. He has taught me so much about filling other people’s cups and being thoughtful with my interactions. He has taught me that love is a safe place to snuggle into at the end of the day. George is love through and through. And being loved by him is nothing short of magical.
Y’all this boy is everything that I never knew I needed. He is funny, smart, witty, and just a delight to be around. He is a ray of sunshine that just loves everyone around him so fully. He is confident and unapologetically himself ALL THE TIME. I love how he brings out the goofy in all of us, and the energy he exudes helps you to feel freedom when you are with him.
Although some day I do hope that he stops wearing his clothes inside out and backwards…Just saying.
Yesterday I asked him what he wanted to do on his last day as a five year old. He told me that there wasn’t anything left to do and that he was ready to be six. I responded with asking what he was excited about with being six, and he told me he was ready to go to school. So we have a big year ahead of us with Kindergarten on the horizon, and then becoming a big brother again to our newest little dude. I can’t wait to see what shenanigans he gets us into this year.
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