This has been a fun year! In my opinion, you are the perfect age: big enough for adventures but small enough that everything is new and interesting and fun. Last year, we took you on your first international trip to Canada and it was so much fun. The only downside was that you came home and told your new kindergarten class that you are fluent in French! But, seeing you roll with it and explore a new country was great to see. I can't wait to go on more adventures with you!
This photo pretty much sums what you are all about: up for anything! You are the foil to your sister's antics. You will pretty much do anything for a laugh. And you have this joyful enthusiasm that is just infectious. (By the way, how can you look so blissed-out with a pile of snow heading straight for your face?!)
Your sense of humor is quite advanced. I don't know how many six-year-olds have a sense of the absurd like you do. There are many times when your dad and I are mad at you, but then you make us laugh and we just can't be mad anymore. (Probably a strategy you are using deliberately, but points to you for using your smarts!)
Maybe you are so funny because you are so creative. You are at your most happiest when you are making something. When your teacher sent home a note about making a Valentine's Box, you had very distinct ideas about what you wanted. It needed a peep hole AND it needed to be the best box in your class. (Did I mention how competitive you are?)
Kidding aside though, you love to draw and paint. Your teachers tell me that you love to make your own books and read them to the class. Speaking of kindergarten, you are having a great first year of school! You love going to school and you are doing so well. Within the past few weeks you actually started reading! It happened one night when we were reading a Piggy and Gerald book and you wanted to give it a try, and before I knew it, you had read the whole book! You were SO proud of yourself and immediately announced that our family has four readers now.
While you love to learn, the real reason is that you love school is your friends. You are definitely an extrovert, and I need to remember to respect that. You are also just a really good friend, even to (or maybe, especially to) kids with different abilities, like your buddy Nicholas who's non-verbal. His mom is always telling me what a good friend you are and it makes me so proud. I often worry that it is a little unfair that you have a older sister that requires so much more of our attention than you get. But maybe the benefit of having a sister who needs extra help is that you have developed a tremendous amount of empathy for others who aren't typical. As far as you're concerned, someone who speaks with an iPad can be as ordinary as someone who likes the color blue, and the world is better for it.
I think the fact is, you have a really big heart. You became a big cousin this year and you love your new "big kid" role. You are so sweet with baby Thomas. It might be because he's the same size as your stuffed animals but you take care of him very seriously! And you can't seem to get enough of holding him.
Speaking of being a "big kid", you are so excited to finally get to be a Girl Scout like your big sister.
Unfortunately that meant I had to step up to be a troop leader, but I'm (kind of) glad you forced me out of my own comfort zone. It's been fun so far, and I do love all the lessons that the Girl Scouts are teaching you. Last week you earned your "Courageous and Strong" petal and goodness knows we need more of that in the world!
I just want to soak up your easy smile (with the missing teeth that makes you lisp), your energy and your humor so that I never forget what a precious age this is. I know how fleeting this all is, and I don't want to forget a second of it.
Happy Birthday Audrey!
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