Miss Mia Turns 6!

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 Dearest Mia,

On the day after your 6^th birthday I find I know not what to write. This won’t come as a TOTAL shock seeing as I have had writer’s block for close to a year now…but also because it is hard to capture the essence of you on paper.  You are so much bigger than that... You have a spirit and a humour that transcends words and blog entries and I know I won’t be able to do you justice.

Every morning, I have the gift of waking up to you.  The militaristic timing of it at precisely 7:01 is NOT the most joyous part of it, but being greeted by your enthusiastic and excited approach to the day is something I know I will look back on and miss in years to come.  You are a morning person just like your daddy.  As soon as your little eyes open they FILL with excitement for what looms ahead and the minute your clock turns to 7 I hear you skipping down the hall to share the exciting news with me, “MOMMY!  Its MORNING!”  I am so glad I get to be the one with whom you share your JOY ever y morning.

For your birthday this year, Care bought you a GLITTERY shirt that says JOY.  It is just PERFECT for you.  You are pure JOY.  You are my YES girl.  You are an Optimist.  You LOVE life and yes, you still insist that the only proper way to kiss is SMACK DAB on the lips.   Earlier this year you and Toby got a bad case of a stomach bug that had you up all night (you even insisted on sleeping on the bathroom floor).  I told you that there was NO LIP KISSING allowed for 14 days.  It was as if I’d taken away chocolate.  You were immediately on the countdown and regularly announced (Loudly, and often in public.)  “THREE MORE SLEEPS UNTIL WE CAN KISS ON THE LIPS AGAIN!!!!”  I am quite surprised that CAS has not been in touch, yet….

This year you have loved school and learned to read and write.  You regularly leave me love notes and sometimes even write them for Jack Jack, too.  Your reading is incredible and

you have shown that the “Lets just try this and see how it goes” approach to anything unknown really does work well!

Your other love is that of traveling.  When we were in Paris this summer you spent a LOOONG time picking out your souvenir and finally chose a sparkly shirt with the Eiffel Tower on it.  You have INSISTED on wearing it almost DAILY.   Being a mom sometimes entails making up rules that you didn’t realize NEEDED to be made up.  I have had to add to the list of  “Don’t touch your poo” or “Don’t put your toys in the toilet”  a new rule : “You can’t wear the same shirt 3 days in a row”.  You still fight me on it all the time but I think your kindergarten teachers are glad that it now exists.

Just as I love my mornings with you, I also enjoy our nightly chats and snuggles.  You DO like your sleep and there is NO keeping you up past your bedtime if you are tired.  After particularly exhausting days in kindergarten you have been known to slip away from the dinner table only to return a few minutes later dressed in your pyjamas.  You've also done that at parties and on Christmas eve.  Although probably not the pinnacle of polite hosting moves, it certainly gets the message across : You're ready for bed.

Lately, you have been asking me about your bedtime lullaby.  I used to sing you the song "The Water is Wide" when you were just a baby.  I don't know when or how we got out of the habit of me serenading you to sleep but somehow it got replaced by SK gossip or nightly debriefing of Junie B. Jones' latest antic.  I was appalled to realize the other night that I had COMPLETELY forgotten the words.  But I did my homework.  And in preparation for your birthday this year, I relearned them and sang them to you again last night, for the first time in a long time.

Here it is :

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The water is wide, I can’t cross o'er
and Neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row my love and I

There is a ship and she sails the sea
She's loaded deep, as deep can be
But not as deep as the love I'm in
I know not if I sink or swim

Oh, love is gentle, and love is kind
The sweetest flower when first it's new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like the mornin' dew

The water is wide, I cannot get o'er
Neither have I the wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row my love and I

I chose this song for you, six years ago, as I watched you peacefully breastfeeding one night.   As I rocked you in the quiet solitude of the night I heard over and over again the line "For love is gentle and love is kind".    It fit that moment and the depth of my love I felt for you just perfectly.

My great hope in life, Mia, is that we will always share that gentle, kind love that wakes me up every morning and snuggles and laughs you to sleep every night.

Happy Birthday, sweet Mia.  You are loved and we are so blessed to call you ours.

xoxo Mommy