Happy 8th Birthday, Matilda!

Dear Matilda,

Today you turn 8 years old! Happy Birthday sweet girl! You are going to have such a great birthday today……..I can’t wait to celebrate you! Here are some things that I would like to remember about you when you turned 8 years old and a few things that you might like to know about yourself…….

You love science, space, unicorns and math.
You enjoy playing the piano and really love your piano teacher.
You are involved in Brownies and just did a week long Brownie camp. You love your Brownie friends.
You could spend everyday of your life in the water. You love swimming in pools, at beaches or just taking a super long shower.
You love to give hugs. Sometimes we say you smother people, but it’s just how you show your love. Your love language is absolutely physical touch.
We are having a small birthday party this year. A few friends are coming over for a sleepover and we are going to the pool and out to dinner.
This year for your birthday you are getting a fidget cube, a National Geographic Mega Gem Stone Mine, Snap Circuits and a book about Women in Science. You didn’t tell me that you wanted anything and just said to surprise you. I hope you like the surprises!
You sleep with a TON of stuffed animals. You’ve slept with up to 23 at one time this year, though I think you’ve toned it down a bit recently. You especially love to have your giant giraffe on top of you when you sleep.
Your friends are very important to you. You don’t have a ton, but you really value the ones in your life. Some of your best friends are Quinn, Reese and Maizey.
Your favorite food is still chicken fingers and french fries and you are still our pickiest eater.
You have really enjoyed the ‘Daisy’ book series this year. You just finished ‘Daisy and the Trouble with Sports’.
You are pretty neat and tidy. You clean up after yourself better than any of the other 4 kids. Always carrying your plate to the counter, cleaning up your laundry, etc. I really appreciate that about you.
You have a dry sense of humor and are very funny. I can’t think of many of your ‘one-liners’ right now, but I promise you, you’ve got some good ones. My favorite recently was about your baby sister, JoJo when she was being naughty. You said ‘Goodbye easy baby, hello terrible toddler!’ I don’t know where you come up with these things.
You love to squish things. You just made slim recently with your friend Reese and loved it! You have a squishy lizard that you like to smoosh too.
You are a perfectionist and get frustrated if you can’t do something perfectly. You take your time with art projects and make sure that things look just like you had envisioned.
You still are not riding a 2 wheeler bike. You were doing really great figuring that out last year, but fell and knocked out a tooth, so we are still trying to get you back up on that bike.
Sometimes you have a hard time being a middle child. You’re not the oldest or the youngest. I think you wish you were an only child, but trust me, you’ll appreciate your siblings when you are older. And life wouldn’t be nearly as fun not having another little person(s) to grow up with during your childhood.
You are still extremely quiet at school. You aren’t quiet with friends, but you are around teachers. I find this to be funny because you certainly aren’t quiet at home.
You are a good big sister. When you and JoJo are in the right mood, you play SO well together. Jo says you are her ‘best friend’.
You celebrated your First Holy Communion this year. It was a very special day for you!

Matilda Jane, you keep our family exciting, that’s for sure! You and I are quite different in the way we like to show and receive love, but the older you get the more and more I understand who you are as person and the more and more there is to love about you. You love ferociously, you hug with passion, you talk when you have something important to say not to just hear the sound of your own voice, you look out for others, you’re SO smart, you don’t go along with the crowd and have a good sense of self and last, but not least, you are a truly good friend, sister and daughter. You bring such a special dynamic to our family and I can’t imagine our lives without you!