You love arts and crafts. Half the time you tell us you're going to be an art teacher when you grow up. You are always creating something with whatever materials you can find. I can't get our online orders out of the box before you are taking it, cutting it up, and making something new out of it. I also can't every have too many sticky notes, because you like to use them to practice your bubble letters and write notes for everyone on them. You do have an eye for beauty though. I am frequently stunned by the perceptiveness of your art pieces. In one case, you had to use small pieces of black, white and blue colored construction paper to make a winter picture. Most kids in your class made snowmen or penguins. You made black trees with one small blue bird on the branch of the tree in the middle with snow falling onto the ground. It was beautiful. You also love creating stories. You're writing skills are coming along, but I don't think that's the part that you love about it (especially not the spelling part). I think you love the way words can be used to paint a picture in other people's minds...I guess that's why if you aren't an art teacher, you're career aspiration is to become an author and illustrator of children's books.
You love of the arts extends into music and the performing arts as well. You've been taking piano lessons and are continuing to improve. You are doing really well with ready the notes and are starting to learn more different rhythms. You do a great job with sight reading, but get really hard on yourself when you have to try multiple times to get a piece right. I guess you inherited a bit of my perfectionist tendencies. You also love dance and are continuing to improve your technique each year. You definitely have the potential and the ability. You've definitely got the attitude and performance part of it down. As you get older, I also expect your focus to improve as well, which I think will make a huge difference in your technique.
You're also not afraid to be a little different, which I love. I can definitely see the peer pressure starting to have its influence at times, but you still aren't afraid to be yourself. And, that you is just a little bit nerdy (much to your father's delight).You love Star Wars. Not many of your friends are big Star Wars fans, but you don't care. You can hold your own talking with the boys about Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren and Rae. You also love Legos, possibly more than your father. You can sit down for several hours and put together Lego sets that were designed for people twice your age. And, you complete them correctly. You also do Lego League at your school, and your group is one of the only all-girl groups. I love that you are breaking stereotypes by just being who you are and doing what you love.
You care about others deeply, and this is coming out more as you learn more about the challenges of the world around you. You are extremely interested in different cultures and are even betting more adventurous about trying foods from different cultures. You always have great ideas for how to help people you see on TV or read about that need help. You also like to do things to help the environment (like frequently reminding me not to keep the water running longer than I need to). More and more, your compassion surprises me by the times and ways it comes to the surface.
Some of your best and worst moments revolve around your interactions with your brothers. You are a great big sister and extremely helpful with Fletcher. Your dad and I joke that you're our 7 (now 8) year old babysitter. Now that Fletcher is mobile, the times you want him out of your way are increasing. You have a lot of little things in your room that he loves to get into. You and Barrett have a lot more ups and downs. The ups come when Barrett is playing exactly the way you want him to. The downs come when he decides to express his own ideas, which are different from yours. He cares so much about what you think and wants to be like you. Secretly, I think you like that, even though you would never admit to it.
You continue to perform well in school, with math as your best subject. Despite your stated career ideas, your dad is still hoping you'll be an engineer. Speaking of your dad, the two of you do have a bond that I love to see, but honestly don't understand. You are both undeniably goofy. In fact, you think he's pretty hilarious. You both get the same unbridled joy when you're excited about something, even if no one else is excited or it isn't popular to be excited about it. It's like you just can't contain the excitement, and it comes out in this contagious crazy, goof-ball sort of way. I guess your goofiness is a good balance for as serious and strong-willed as you can be.
Happy Birthday to my strong, beautiful, intelligent, independent, caring, goof-ball of a daughter. I love you more than you probably realize, and I always will.
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