A Letter to my Second Daughter on her Fifth Birthday

Dear Grace,

Today you are five! It is your day to be in the spotlight - although you certainly don’t need a spotlight to shine. I have had the absolute pleasure of watching your personality continue to grow over the past year, and let me tell you - nothing can dim your personality! You are kind. You are curious. You are funny. And you are so incredibly thoughtful. Writing your birthday letter always brings me back to the early hours of your birth and those hours in special care - just how little you were then and just how much you’ve grown since then.

Looking back on this year, it has been one of ups and downs, but through it all you’ve managed to grow and excel! You’ve dealt with your first real loss when we lost our golden retriever, Harper - and you’re expecting a big family addition in the spring! Your year also included several transitions. Early in the year, you transitioned from home daycare to our provider’s wonderful new center and have absolutely thrived. You started your own gymnastics class instead of together with Abby and began to develop independently. You moved from the Little Sluggers to tee ball and kept up with many of the bigger kids. And of course, the year was full of some family staples - a fun hotel stay, camping trips, and many, many pizza Fridays!

But these are the big moments. It’s also the little moments that I like to highlight in these birthday letters - the ones I’m scared I’ll forget if I don’t. I loved so many of the little things about your fourth year - like how you ask me to hang nearly every picture you’ve drawn in my office. Or how you love pampering yourself with avocado face masks and bath bombs. How you hoard little trinkets under your pillows and in your treasure box. How your hair curls up at night after the tub and how you proudly came home and read us “Goatilocks,” a book you had memorized at school. I want to remember how parents of other students at your school have reached out to say how kind and helpful you are with their children. How you love to make my bed for me and how you learned to play Uno. How you learned to write your full name and how you memorized your gym show routine to Cher’s “The Shoop Song” - which you played on repeat for months. I want to remember how you sing the days of the week song and how you ask for “five extra back rubs” at night. How much you love to build with Legos and Magnatiles and how much you love Flavor-Blasted Goldfish. I want to remember the little denim jacket that you love to wear (even though it’s too small) and the special little 1:1 trips we’ve taken when you need some Grace and mama time. How you tell me your tummy feels hot and cold when you’re full of emotions and how you leave a trail of clothes and shoes behind you every time you enter the house. How you sneak into my bed some nights without me even realizing, and how I hope you’ll still do that every once in a while.

Year five is going to bring some big and exciting changes, but I want you to know that no matter what - no matter how old you are or how big our family grows - my heart still explodes for you. When we told you we were having twins, you went off to your room in tears. When your dad followed you to check in, you said you weren’t sad about the babies - you were nervous about mama going to the doctor and getting her belly cut open. You were worried about me. This is the kind of girl you are - intensely caring about others. I see it in the way you support your sisters and your classmates. You love to be a helper, but you also know when you need some time for yourself, too. I admire this and sometimes even think that I wish I had a little more Grace in me. I always know where I stand with you - but you can let emotions pass just as quickly as they come. You are truly one who lives in the moment - and that is something I hope you carry with you.

On this fifth birthday, Grace, I hope you feel like the center of our world. I hope you feel like you have a moment in the spotlight - even though you don’t need a birthday for that. I hope you feel as happy as you make me feel every day. I hope you know just how very special you are and how much your energy and zest lifts me up in moments I seem to need it most. I don’t worry about ever losing cuddle time with you as you are my affectionate little one, but I do hope that those moments bring you just as much as they bring me. You light me up, Grace Charlotte. And I hope today you feel the warmth of your glow. I love you more than you can ever know. Happy birthday, little bug.

Love,

Mama

xxx