Sweet Lou–
You are six!! I started to say “I can’t believe you are six”, but thinking back on the last year, seeing how much you’ve grown and watching you learn and learn and learn its actually harder to believe you are ONLY six. Just since your last birthday you’ve learned to tie your shoes, ride a bike, shower on your own and READ! I’m so proud of all the new things you’ve tried and learned I could just burst. And it seems you recognized quite the change in yourself this school year, too. These were your self portraits from the first and last day of school.
And oh my what fun we had celebrating your birthday. We went to see Cinderella at a local theater with a few friends and it was one of my favorite birthday parties ever. If it wasn’t your favorite before, this personal serenade by Cinderella pretty well clinched the deal for you, I’m sure.
If I asked you your very favorite thing about this year, I’m fairly certain you’d say “school”. For several reasons. First- your love for learning came alive this year. You’ve never really cared much for the school part of school, but with your energetic teacher and an awesome group of kindergarteners you changed your mind. When your teacher called you an “enthusiastic learner” in your end of the year evaluation, I wondered if she had any idea how much credit she deserved for that. This year you LOVED calendar time, reading groups, math problems, really ANYTHING. But the learning was only part of the equation.
You also love teaching, so being at school where you might get to interact with younger kids on the playground, or have opportunities to be the “teachers helper” in your classroom just made you think you were in heaven. One time your teacher told me she had to unexpectedly step out and talk to a parent. While she was gone you managed to just keep the class right on going with calendar time so she just let you keep going when she came back in. It was pretty much your favorite day EVER!
And last, but certainly not least…you love school because you LOVE to be social. My word you love people and you also love to be loved by people. All kinds. A sweet friend of mine who knows you well once told me “if there was a Preschool Homecoming Queen, Lou would be on campaign for the title”. No doubt.
You’ve changed this year, too. You are developing opinions and style that are your very own and it’s fun to see how you express them. I (secretly) couldn’t wait to see what you would choose each Friday for free dress Friday to see that style come blazing out. But in everyday things, too. You’ve decided you no longer like hair-bows. WHAT?!?! Instead, you prefer that your hair just “be straight down” or in a pony tail that you do all by yourself. Those are the options (just noticed all the pics I chose for this blog still have you in a bow…maybe your last few, sniff sniff). You still LOVE dresses (especially with “high heels”) but also love to don a good pair of (preferably pink) fast shorts while you run and play and bike ride. While you still LOVE to dress up, take care of your babies, especially Samantha, and play house; you’ll also jump right in for a good water gun fight or nerf war or even fishing. You love to adventure as much as any of your big brothers/cousins and don’t mind a bit getting a little muddy now and then. While I’m shocked by the development of a girly/sporty balance in you I’m also VERY relieved…there might actually be a little bit of me in you afterall. Maybe.
You are my helper at home. I can count on you to head the kitchen if you know I’m there to help me however you can. You have a great knack for just seeing jobs that need to be done and volunteering. You are happy to jump in as a third parent- and truth be told sometimes we need one. You treat Tito especially like he’s part yours. So much so that many times when he says “momma” I just assume he’s talking to you. You’ve even tried to teach him to ride his bike.
This year you’ll head to “big school” with your two brothers and two cousins, what a crew that will make. I think you are equal parts thrilled and nervous about that transition. But I know, if you choose to, you can have the same love for learning and love for people in the bigger place as you did in Preschool and K. You’ll make friends and be a helper and continue to develop opinions and style that make you beautifully unique.
And that, my sweet princess, is my prayer for you this year. May you continue to learn and grow and try new things, but may you also have the confidence to hang on to the opinions and style that make you LOU. May you not be afraid to be different, but may you also have a zeal for appreciating the differences in others. And always always always may the true beauty that is in you be one that bursts forth from a true desire to know Jesus and share his love. Jesus is a friend that walks with you the same in your new big school where you knew few people as He was in a school where every teacher, child and staff member knew your name. He’ll give you strength and confidence and beauty just the same now as he did then. But I’ll let you in on a secret, a secret that you’ll just be in the earliest stages of discovering- you may just come to see Him in a brand new way because of this new adventure. And in that I’m praying you’ll find great joy. I think you’re gonna love being SIX!
I love you to the moon and back times a million!
Love, Momma
