An Open Letter to London for her 8th Birthday

Dear London,

You are no longer a little kid. You’re now much closer to double digits and your tween years now that you are 8! And I can hardly believe you are 8 already! I see pictures of you when you were little and I realize just how much you have grown over the years. You’re going to be passing me in height in no time! You’re already at my shoulders.

You’re still big into reading. You’re one complaint at Christmas was that you didn’t get as many books as you had hoped for. At the same time, you find a book you like and read it over and over again. These days those books revolve around the Dogman series or Ninjango. You want to be the green Ninjango, Lloyd, for Halloween, though I am trying to convince you to be Uma from Descendents 2 since we already have the costume. You chose it for when we go to Disneyland in November for the Bibbiddi Bobbiddi Boutique.

Now, if I could just get you to read all the other books I have purchased for you in the playroom. That’s my goal with you this summer – to read at least one chapter from a non Dogman or Ninjango book each day. Right now we have you working on Beauty & The Beast – you started it ages ago - and then you will move on to Descendents 2, another book you started shortly after Christmas. Then we will work on the others.

You’re tom boy side has truly come through this year. You’re not into wearing skirts or dresses hardly at all, though you do like a cute pair of shoes. Sounds just like me. You really got into baseball this season, I think from feeding off the boys on your team, since Coach-pitch was co-ed this year. Your dad was the coach while I coached your sister’s T-ball team. Even with the season over, you’re still wanting to practice.

You also recently attended your first 4-H show – the 2018 4-H Spring Fair, where you showed your pygmy goat, Murray Xmas, for the first time. You purchased him almost a year ago. You did a great job and it was a great experience to get you ready for fair at the end of July. Of course, watching other animal showings at Spring Fair has you more interested in horses than ever before. You’ve been asking for horseback riding lessons but the lady down the street doesn’t have a pony that is ready for you yet. I’ll probably be looking elsewhere soon. Luckily, when you head to Tucson later this summer, your grandparents were kind enough to sign you up for a week-long horse riding camp. You’re dad and I are in trouble I think. I’m sure you and your sister will come back wanting horses. We can at least make sure you continue riding lessons.

You still talk about being an artist, teacher and scientist. And you definitely have a talent for drawing at this young age. I hope it continues as it is a great outlet. You are also interested in music, particularly piano and singing. You love to sing with me in the car, always asking me to add songs you hear on the radio to our USB drive and now that we have Grammi’s piano, we are looking into getting you lessons.

You are also showing your older age with the TV shows you are interested in – no more Disney Junior or Nick Junior for you, if your sister lets you, you’re watching Disney Channel, Disney XD and shows I approve of on Nickelodeon.  This has definitely resulted in some squabbles between you and Sydney as she does still appreciate the Disney Junior programming. You also are bit remote control happy. You flip around constantly from one show to the next when commercials happen and pause if you have to get up for even two seconds. We’re all working on taming these habits and making sure everyone is happy when the TV is on. At the same time, you really only get to watch TV on the weekends if I can help it.

Outside the TV habits, you’re a pretty amazing big sister. Just the other night, when your dad and I came in from the garden to tuck you two in for bed, we found you reading to Sydney. And you’re good when we ask you to listen to Sydney read. You’re both still sharing a bedroom, but I’m not sure how much longer this will last. You definitely have a sense of what is yours and what is hers and what is shared. I hope we can squeeze a couple more years out of you.

On Presidents Day this year your Grandma and I took your sister and you to get your ears pierced. Given Black is your favorite color these days, you chose medium sized black “diamond” studs. Honestly, I am a bit surprised you even went through with getting this done. You had really not shown any interest at all until you heard that McKenzie had gotten her ears pierced. Sydney had been asking for months and finally you said you wanted to do it to. At the mall, Sydney went first and I think the initial look on her face scared you. You decided that you wanted to get your hair cut first. The procrastination paid off because when we got back to the store, two people were now working so they could pierce both ears at the same time. You were very proud of yourself once it was all over. And for your birthday Grammi got you what you really desired – Jack Skellington earrings!

Jake still seeks you out for cuddles when he can – we had to install a door knob on your bedroom so he couldn’t keep breaking in at night, letting the dogs out in the process. Gibson is still the dog you prefer to have in bed with you most nights (if he can calm down.)

More and more you are loving living on a farm. I think for the most part it’s the space you given to roam the property now and you do love to head outside to check on all the animals. We’ve added 3 KuneKune pigs to the mixt this year and expect to have piglets in 3-4 months. While we sold Sunny’s babies from last year, she blessed us with 2 more this year. One we traded for one of the pigs, but the other, Cutie, we still have. Roxie also had two girls this year – Sally & Aurora – and we have decided to keep them as well. And instead of saving Pierce for butchering, we said goodbye to Billy on Sunday. Mainly because we couldn’t allow you and Sydney in the back with the goats as Billy was getting to be too aggressive. Even I didn’t like going in to back with him anymore. The final straw was when he kept head butting Moet, one of the pigs. Not that she couldn’t defend herself – she did eat half of his ear, but your dad and I didn’t appreciate waking up to a pig squealing in the middle of the night. It gave of flashbacks of the night a coyote attacked Murray – luckily we got out there quick enough that Murray was more or less unharmed (he had a few puncture wounds in the neck). But that is also why Murray and your sister’s pygmy goat, Jack Jack, live in the backyard with the dogs and are crated up at night (at least until the new pen is complete).

We repeated your birthday party from just after kindergarten this year. Besides having the water slide, per your request we had water balloons as well. We’re still picking up from that mess! And this year you helped with the planning, particularly with all the “water” themed food. The biggest hit were the Sea Snails – little smokies wrapped in crescent roll dough and baked. We held the party the Sunday before school got out which was a week before your birthday. This was partly because we wanted your friends to have a better chance at coming and also because your dad and I had a wedding to attend the day before your actual birthday.

You actually woke up at Grammi’s new house on your birthday. You were very relieved to hear from us that morning – particularly when you found out that your scout elf, Snowie, was waiting for you on  the new mantel. He would have gone to Grammi’s but he wanted to make sure the new mantel was up to Santa’s standards. You were concerned that the new mantel wouldn’t be installed before your birthday – mainly because you were concerned Snowie wouldn’t come without one.

I am also proud to report that you received your first Panther award at school on the last day. Mrs. Miszti, your amazing teacher over this last year, awarded it to you for creative writing – not only do you write great stories full of details, but you also take the time to make sure the words are spelled right! Your dad and I were able to come to the ceremony and you were quite shocked not only to get the award but then to see us there.

This summer should be a little more exciting than last year. You are returning to the Prestige Academy for June & July and they have a ton of field trips planned which I plan on signing you up for as many as possible. We also have one camping trip planned, a day on the lake with friends planned for another weekend and you have those 2 weeks with Grandma and Grandpa in August. Your dad and I will come out at the very end of the trip to fly you and your sister home. And there will be swim lessons of course.

And of course, we have our next Disneyland trip planned for November – you’ve already requested we do the 30-day countdown to Disney activities again. And better yet, I’ve got it all planned out already! By the time Disneyland gets here you may be tall enough to drive the Autopia cars by yourself!

And maybe slow down a little in how quickly you are growing up, please? I still need my kids wanting to cuddle with me.

Love,

Mommy