Dear Miss Rose,
At 8:25am this morning, you are officially 7 years old. You have a lot of expectations for this birthday, but you aren't quite sure what they should be. You just know birthdays are special and you want your day to feel special. Which is kind of hard when your birthday falls in the middle of the week! But I'm going to do the best I can.
You continue to grow tall and strong. Your head almost reaches my armpit and I'm pretty sure you'll be taller than me by the time you are a teenager. But you still love to cuddle and be hugged. You want to be carried to bed like your younger sisters, and we indulge sometimes. Every morning when you wake up, you hug me. When I get home from work or I pick you up from school, you still greet me with an excited "mommy!" and a big hug. I love that.
I'm not going to lie, this last year has been challenging with you. Your attitude has been in full swing. You are so strong-willed and too intelligent for your own good. There has been more crying, yelling and discipline then I would like. But we are responsible to raise you right, and we'll fight for it when necessary.
I'm really hoping that age 7 is much easier for you. In fact, the past few weeks have been markedly better. I'd like for age 7 to be like heaven!
You have taken more of an interest in pop music and you learned to look up videos on You-Tube this year (with supervision of course). You and your cousin love to have dance parties and put on dance shows. You continue to experiment more with your feminine side.
You love to read and write and play school. You are an amazing big sister, always willing to help your sisters and they love you in return. You love outdoor activities. You are rarely cold and many nights (even though I'm usually freezing) you take off all your pajamas and sleep in your underwear.
Speaking of underwear, you think it's hilarious to run around the house naked before your shower and when I point out the huge windows in the living room, you do a little jig in front of them. I'm just waiting for the day someone walks up at just that moment!
Miss Rose, we love you so much and we are so proud of you. Yes, we have our difficult days, but your performance and behavior at school is so exemplary that we know you have incredible potential to be the same way at home. You are such a unique individual and my prayer is that God guides us in raising you to be who he created you to be. We don't want to break your spirit or force you into a mold. We do want you to be submitted to Christ and live in the fulness of his grace.
We love being your parents!
