S E V E N

* Four months late, but full of all of the love *

My sweet darling, you are seven. Seven freaking years old. More than ever I want the clock to slow down. I want time to stop for a moment. I want you to remain just as you are a little bit longer.

You truly are the light in our lives. Sweet and kind. Sassy and full of energy. Honest and vulnerable. High emotion and big love. You test your boundaries and you immediately understand the emotions in the room. It is an incredible combination of all the feelings.

Frankly, I simply think you are the best. You probably don’t feel that way though because I am your constant coach, your forever mentor, the one that creates and enforces all of the rules. I am team Avery constantly, but sometimes that must feel like team Mommy more.

Your sweet demeanor is second to none. You are simple – you don’t like to be hungry, you do not do well when tired, but you are all for a great adventure and have more fun than most doing simple things.

Right now you are an explorer. You are often times introspective about every experience. Even in the aisles of Target, you can slow time down and investigate all the details of one small toy. This is something that I do not honor enough. I need to allow you to go at your pace more. Slow time down for you. I rush about and I think this is one of your biggest frustrations.

What I love most about you is your willingness to beat to your own drum. You don’t do what is cool. You don’t wear what is hip. Heck, you don’t care if it all matches. You don’t jump into that which everyone else is doing (maybe with Shopkins and Jumbo Squishies). You are you and you are truer than true to yourself. If it feels right for you you go for it. If it’s not your vibe, we can forget it. Frankly, I love this about you. I love that you beat to your own drum and are a-ok with that.

You are kind hearted to a fault. And we are all working on toughening you up a bit. It has lent to a little following versus leading in your friend groups at school, which has caused heartache at times. For now, I simply reinforce; be kind, be brave.

You have developed a love for all things activity in the past year. Gymnastics. Swimming. Bike riding. Walking the pups. Dancing. Prancing. Just about anything that keeps you on the move. You are also very creative. In play. In arts. In crafts. In playing with dolls. You get lost in creative activity and it is beautifully wonderful. The kicker, you don’t much like school work. I wonder why, your heart and mind are in the clouds. I love it. You and I are two peas in a pod in this regard. We love doing what we love doing. The rest, we can leave undone.

You still don’t like to eat much of anything of substance. You still love chocolate, mac and cheese, eggs, chicken, chips and oranges. But, really, the rest hasn’t inspired you to date.

All things considered our reality is that you are at a cool age and pretty great. We have had our heartache this year. From being diagnosed with mild dyslexia (which has posed all the challenges in school you could imagine), to facing death for the first time and then for the second time. In little ways you have shown the cracks in your demeanor that were caused from both of those deaths. Your papa. Your Zoe dog. And yet, you have also shown just how loving and brave you are as well.

Still, to this day, you would rather be at home relaxing than anywhere else. You are learning how to travel well (flights can be long for littles) and you love experiencing different places. I love that experiences fill you. Chicago tops your list still, but DC is right behind it along with St. Thomas. I love that you love travel as much as I do.

Through it all you are my little love. My favorite little human. A part of my heart and soul beyond what you will ever believe. I cannot believe you are seven. I cannot believe we are closer to double digits than not. I have been nostalgic as of late, not because I cannot handle you growing up, but rather because that silly old saying “it goes so fast” is oh so true. So very true.

Doodle bug, I love you infinitely. Thank you for being youer than you and truer than true.