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Dear Noah-
Is it possible that you turned 6 years old last month? Is it possible that you are no longer a baby that I can cradle in my arms, a toddler that I can pick up and shift from hip to hip, or smother with a thousand kisses? Time with you has gone by too quickly and I want to freeze each moment when I see your beautiful smile, watch your feet that never touch the ground, or stroke away the hair from your forehead as you sleep a deep slumber.

But you are 6 years old. And I am so proud at the person that God is molding and shaping you to be. You are such a kind boy. You always have nice words about your friends, your teachers, your sister. Your kindness bubbles over into your excited temperament and fills our house with activity, laughter, and most of all fun. This year, I’ve watched you navigate kindergarten with confidence, and with joy for all of the learning, the activities, and the new experiences. At 6 years old you can read just about anything, you have written your numbers well past 3000, you understand fractions, time, money, your know your colors and numbers in Spanish, and you can easily easily beat me in chess. Obviously, I am not a strategist.

Oh, and how you have grown physically in the last couple of months. Your hands your feet are almost the same size as mine. We wear the same size hat…this is because you’ve got such a ginormous brain. You come home from school covered in grime and dirt. Your hands are black and your fingernails dirty. I ask what it is you do to get so dirty and you simply tell me that you are learning to play basketball, and teaming up with friends at recess to play soccer. You are still my bouncing Tigger, never keeping more than one foot on the ground at any one time. Never walking anywhere, but running. Always running. This energy you have, this physicality you have that enables you to run like a gazelle, and play your favorite sports with ease is an amazing gift that you are enjoying.

I watch you now, as you prepare for end of year projects, graduation solos, and performances, needing, wanting everything to be just right. Perfect. Your are a hard worker. At 6 years old you already have a high bar for yourself and for others. I can see sometimes that need for things to be just right, and I wince inside knowing how you feel. But, I just have to say, you will need to learn when it is o.k. to say ‘good enough’ and when it is right to keep trying and to set that bar even higher. I want you to know that it is o.k. to let go and be you. I know you know this, as you are running up and down the hall right now screaming about Star Wars, giggling with your sister. Oy! Balance, my young padawan. It’s all about balance.

With summer just around the corner, I am looking forward to a slower pace. More time with you in the mornings, camps, games, the horsing around, letting go, and being FREE. I love you Boo with all my heart! I love you to the moon and back. I love you this much. And you say, “Momma you love me too much”
“Never!”

Love, Mommy.

Joining me this month, writing personal letters to our childrenn is Elaine Melko of Elaine Melko Photography

this year you had to share your birthday with Easter Sunday. if there was a holiday for you to share it with, this one is a good one.

you are our glue and we love so much.

happy 38th birthday Mr. Franklin

Dear sweet Coley.
You said something the other day that took my breath away. You were asked by your teacher what you wanted to be when you grew up. And with confidence you replied, “A mommy, and a teacher”. Your response of wanting to be a mommy was a surprise to me. Partially because I can’t ever remember as a little girl wanting or saying that I desired to be a mommy when I grew up. I remember telling my mom or teachers the lists of things I wanted to be when I grew up; a karate teacher, a hair dresser, a doctor, or someone that studied the oceans.

Being a mommy wasn’t on the list.

I’ve always wondered why it wasn’t on the list. I guess that is just the way I’m made. But, my mom’s response (your grandma) to what I wanted to be when I grew up was always full of support, she is always my biggest cheerleader, “make sure you are the best at what you do.” This was good advice, advice that brought me through many rigorous years of school. If I was going to be a hair dresser she told me that I would need to go to the best of the best of schools (at the time, she thought that was the Vidal Sassoon School of Beauty, yes this conversation happened, and I remember these silly details), study hard, and work at the best salons in NYC and Paris.

Little did she know I would become scientist, I can’t style my hair to save my life, and I there are days when I wish being a mommy would have been on the list.

Why? Because if it had been on the list, then maybe teacher would have said, “Jayme you will be a great mommy some day”. I know my mom would have said this. Those words may seem ordinary to some, but I think they are powerful. Confidence instilling. Those words would have been like seeds, much like the praise and words of encouragement that pushed me to become a scientist. But it just wasn’t me as a young girl. But, it came when I married your Dad, then I knew I wanted to be Mommy.

And so I come back to how powerful your words were at school the other day. You see me. You see me as your mommy, and it makes you want to be a mommy when you grow up. What. How is that? This humbles me. Your sweet, and innocent words, with your bright smile of love, overwhelmed me with the feeling that maybe, just maybe I’m doing o.k. as a mommy. Does saying those words out loud make it so? So Coley, add being a mommy to your list of things you want to be when you grow up, and know that from the bottom of my heart, I believe you will be an wonderful mommy. An amazing mommy. A mommy that will love her children as much as I love you.

Being your mommy (and Noah’s ) is on my list.

I love you.

-Mommy.

Sharing this journey with me in writing heartfelt letters to our children is Hannah Mayo | Hannah Mayo Photography. She has the most tender heart for her boys and I look forward to reading her sweet letter this month.