Happy 10th Birthday, Savannah!

Dear Savannah,

Today you are 10 years old. Yep, that’s right…..double digits!! What an amazing milestone for you sweet girl! It’s hard to believe that you made me a mama a decade ago. How is that possible? It seems like not long ago at all that we brought you home from the hospital not having a clue about parenthood and all that came with having baby. But you helped teach us and show us the ropes. There are many things I would like to remember about you when you turned 10 years old and some things I think you’d like to know about your 10 year old self.

1. Your favorite color is purple. It used to be orange, then it was orange and purple, but now it’s a solid purple.
2. You love dance. It is your passion. You spend 5-6 days per week at the studio and love every single minute of it. You are on competition team and have a competition this next week where you will be competing with your musical theatre solo ‘My New Philosophy’, as well as a tap, lyrical, jazz and production group dances.
3. You started playing clarinet this year and are part of your school band. You are naturally talented at clarinet and I hope you’ll keep it up going forward.
4. Your favorite book is El Deafo by Cece Bell. I think that was your favorite book last year. You have read it a gazillion times. We finally just bought it because you were constantly checking it out from the library.
5. You absolutely love writing. You look forward to that subject everyday during school and get upset if I have to take you to an appointment during that time.
6. Your least favorite subject is math. You are pretty good at it, but you just think it’s sooooooo boring.
7. You still have to be everywhere at least 15 minutes early. ‘On time is late, early is on time’……is your moto. Sometimes it drives me crazy since you start to panic if you think we won’t be early enough, but I guess I’d prefer that rather than being late. I NEVER like being late, so the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree :).
8. You always have to have perfect hair for dance…….no bumps whatsoever. I’m looking forward to you learning to do your own hair. You have some very high standards.
9. You have really surprised me with the role you’ve taken on with our new Golden Doodle puppy, Scarlett. I was sure it would be Matilda that would be the one most involved with her care, but nope……it’s you. You get up early every morning, let her out of her crate, let her out to go potty, feed her and snuggle with her on the couch. All before the rest of the family gets up. It’s really sweet to see the loving relationship you are developing with Scarlett and I’m proud of the responsibility that you are taking with her.
10. You love to be organized. You love to plan things. For your birthday party you had a diagram of exactly how the basement would be set up, what you would be doing and when, the menu, etc. It was very detailed.
11. Speaking of your birthday. You had a small birthday sleepover with your 3 dance besties (Avery, Chloe and Ella). You all are best of friends. You were torn about inviting some school friends as well, but you chose to keep just dance friends so you could do all your choreographing and dancing in the basement. You four are like sisters and I’m so happy you have these special friends in your life. You had tacos for dinner, a Sundae Bar for dessert and donuts for breakfast.
12. There is a boy at school who likes you. His name is Nick. He gave you a pink and black bracelet for Valentine’s Day and a purple and black bracelet for an early birthday present. I’m not loving that there is a boy already interested in you, but at least he made the bracelets that he gifted you…….gotta love a kid who loves crafting!
13. Your favorite food is still cheeseburgers.
14. You absolutely love one on one time with Mama. You get a lot more of that time because of dance. I teach at the studio in the summer and choreograph a few competition pieces, so we are together a lot. We have so much in common and I adore our time together.
15. You are in 4th grade this year. You think it’s a lot more work than 3rd grade.
16. You really enjoy crafts. You are getting a ton of crafting items for your birthday. You like beads, fun paper, glitter, glue, tape, letters, appliques. I think you much prefer crafting over sewing since you can be a little bit messy and do your own thing.
17. You do not like when I travel. You like your routine and like having Mama drive you everywhere and do your dance hair. You say things like ‘how can you leave me?’ It’s always way more dramatic before I leave, but it always turns out fine in the end.
18. You like trying to invent things. You are always mixing up concoctions to make colored glue, lotion potions and who knows what else!
19. You love to give me massages. It’s one of the best things you’ve learned!!!
20. You are so creative, smart, funny, loving, beautiful, talented and so much more!

Savannah Rose you are so, SO special. You are my first born and will always have such an incredibly unique and special place in my heart. You are the one that made me a mommy. I can’t help but think that I only have you for 8 more years. I know that’s not the best way to think about each birthday, but I just love your presence so much that it’s hard for me to ever imagine you out of our house. I love spending time with you. I know you’ll grow up and do amazing things because you are truly amazing. Happy Birthday sweet girl!

I love you from here to the moon and back!

Love,

Mama