Today you turn 8 years old. I can hardly believe how quickly the time has gone by, and yet, it's sometimes hard to remember the shy, focused baby or the happy, truck-loving toddler that you once were. Your 8th year of life has been pretty awesome. You traveled to Mexico (and loved it!). You finished 1st grade and started 2nd grade and made a lot of new friends. You learned to write in cursive. You went camping twice. You wore a tuxedo in your cousin Ashley's wedding. You spent lots of time sledding in the snow. You played t-ball and baseball and earned your gold belt in Taekwondo. You went to Sea World, Legoland, and the Kennedy Space Center. You played on the beach and spent time with your cousins and friends. It has been a busy year!
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Daddy and I are so proud of the young man you have become. You continue to soak up information like a sponge. When you're interested in something, all you want to do is learn more about that subject. We love that about you! This year, you have explored lots of different interests, but you are drawn most to the ocean, reptiles, and space. You are reading a lot these days, and with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, you have finally found fiction books that you enjoy reading cover to cover. You still prefer for me to read to you, though, which I am more than happy to do.
You enjoy school and love your 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Plata, as much as you loved Ms. Lightbourne (your 1st grade teacher). You have lots of friends and love nothing more than being silly and making your friends laugh. You are an enthusiastic student and a good friend--you like to include everyone and you have such an easy-going personality. You are a wonderful big brother to Seth. Even though you guys fight a lot, you are so protective of him, and you take him under your wing immediately when you guys are part of a bigger group of kids. I love to listen to you two playing together--making up adventures and staging epic battles. You have a fantastic imagination! As much as you love playing with others, though, you also love retreating to your own world, where it seems you can play endlessly with all kinds of different toys: Legos, Playmobil, army guys, blocks, rockets, airplanes, action figures, and anything else that happens to be lying around.
William--it has been an awesome adventure being your mom and dad. Most of the time, Daddy and I have no idea what we're doing, and we're so lucky that you are our first-born. You are loving and happy and forgiving and you're not afraid to tell us what we're doing wrong. We hope that you feel loved and safe and confident to try new things, to make mistakes, to stand up for yourself, and admit when you're wrong. We hope that we are helping you learn all the important lessons in life, and we hope you know how much we love you. We hope that you can look back on your 8th year of life and remember all the wonderful things you learned and experienced. And we hope that your 9th year is full of more of the same. We will do our best to guide you--to encourage you, support you, and most importantly, to stand back so that you can grow into the independent, responsible, caring, capable, and loving person that you are so obviously on your way to becoming. Happy birthday, William! We love you.
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
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