Five

You’re the first one there. Five years old. As a matter of fact, you’ll be the first one to hit all the milestones.

You were the first one to make me feel a thousand new emotions I had never felt before. How can one little human make you weep, smile, laugh, gasp, come alive, weep again, and smile some more all in a matter of 60 seconds? That was at 9:05pm on March 24, 2005.

And we haven’t stopped smiling.

(Ok, maybe for a little while during your 3 months of colic when you screamed. A. LOT. And maybe a little more during year 2 when you learned the definition of “No” and used it against us…but other than that…)

I told your Daddy last night when we were talking about your birthday presents that I wished I could buy you the world because you absolutely deserve the world. Every bit of it. But since we can’t buy you the world, we decided to buy you your dream.

Every Tuesday night we let you and Buster Boy stay up an extra hour to watch American Idol. We started this tradition 2 years ago when your Daddy had grad school on those nights and Mommy here got a bit lonely. So it became our thing. Now, you like to watch it and critique each singer as if you were an honorary judge. Then you make us press “mute” during commercials so we can talk about what outfits we would all wear when we get on the show. (And I think it’s funny that you tell us, “I know you’re too old to be on the show, but if you were young like me, what would you wear?”) We also discuss what songs would best fit our voice and would gain us a ticket to Hollywood during try-outs.

Don’t you know your Daddy and me think these conversations are hysterical to have with a near 5 year old? We’ve been so used to having babies around our house, sometimes we forget you’re just a little adult. And you make us laugh.

We are continually amazed at how quickly you pick up things, but not only that, how hard you try to master whatever has been given to you.

If it’s soccer, you’re in the backyard every day practicing your dribbling and step-ups and goal kicks.

If it’s math, you take what I give you and add another digit or two to make it harder.

If it’s music, you will sit and hum a song and try every note on the piano until you find what’s right. Then you’ll start over until you can play the entire song. You tell us how much you want to play the piano when you get older. How much you want to be on American Idol. How many different songs you want to learn. How badly you want to play on a tuned piano.

So, Big Sis, happy birthday. We believe in you. We believe in every one of your dreams, the ones you know now, and the ones you haven’t dreamt yet. And every step of the way, we want to give you every tool we can to help you reach your dreams.

For your 5th birthday, your sweet Daddy set up his full-size keyboard with a brand new speaker to go with it. A speaker that has volume control so you’ll never have to stop playing just because the babies are sleeping. There are also 2 piano books to go along. And the coolest part about these books? Your Daddy is going to give you lessons once a week for as long as you wish to teach you everything in these books.

So if you’re done with piano by age 5 ½, that’s ok. If you stick with it until you’re 18, that’s ok too.

But today, March 24, 2010, your dream to play the piano as best as you can is coming true. Hope you enjoy your gift of music.

I cannot wait to see what dreams are coming…

I love you.

Mommy