I don’t know why it’s such a surprise to me each time I
write this letter that you are another year older. It is though.
So yet again, I find myself shaking my head saying, “I can’t believe
you’re 6.” Six. The infant years are behind us. The toddler years are behind us. And now the preschool years are behind
us. We’ve entered the grade school
years. If I think of your life in
seasons, I can almost hyperventilate thinking that only the middle school years
and high school years separate us from the empty nest years. What they say about time is true…it keeps
marching on.
I was so anxious about the start of kindergarten. The thought of you being with people who did
not love you unconditionally, who did not give you the benefit of the doubt,
who did not know your idiosyncrasies…it terrified me. When I looked at a list of things you should
know before kindergarten…well, many of them I was unsure about. Ironically, it wasn’t the academic stuff that
panicked me, but the things like “open your capri sun and lunchable by yourself”
“button and unzip your pants by yourself” “wipe by yourself”. These things kept me up at night! Silly mommy.
You’ve done so well. You love
school. You love not only learning, but
all of it…recess, your friends. And from
what I can tell from feedback from your teachers…you’re kind and a good friend
to your classmates. That makes my heart
soar. You can be the best student in the
world, the best athlete, the best everything…but ultimately I want you to be
kind to others. School (heck…life) can
be a hard place…but it’s less so when people are kind to each other. They also say you’re an enthusiastic
learner…I’m so glad about that. There’s
a lot of learning to do (long beyond your school years); enthusiasm will help!
You have mostly passed through your love of trains phase and
have crossed into Lego devotion. You
love to build. You like to build with
instructions, but mostly you like to make your own “inventions”. You’re creative and persistent with your
Legos. You go to a Lego class and love it.
You are a great bike rider and also like riding your
scooter. You aren’t really into sports,
but you do like to hit tennis balls with Daddy.
You like to draw and color (only since kinder started!). You love to read, be read to, sing, and make
up stories (and listen to other people make up stories!).
You are a good big brother.
You and Kate warm my heart together.
Sure, you get frustrated with each other and argue and bicker
sometimes. But…when you’re on, you’re
on. You hug, and say kind things to each
other, and play together well. I
worshipped my older brother and had such a sweet relationship with him when we
lived at home, I love seeing that in you two.
You have such a sweet spirit, Bo. I pray that your heart stays soft. You are eager to please, tender towards
others’ feelings, and just so expressive with your love. You can be hard headed and defiant, too…can’t
we all? But mostly, I would just
describe you as enthusiastic, kind, full of joy, and loving. Our nighttime routine is to sing “I’ve Got
the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart”, pray, tell a story, and sing “Jesus
Loves Me”. Every time you sing about the
joy in your heart, I think how true that song is. You are just joy personified. As a momma who has struggled to embrace joy,
it’s a beautiful thing to witness.
I love you, son. I’m
so glad that of all the little boys in the whole world, God gave me you.
