And Now You Are Nine!

Dear Eden,

You hung around our heals this morning as Dad and I rubbed our eyes and blustered through our morning routine until you finally had to joyfully burst, “It’s my BIRTHDAY!”

And now you are nine.

This has been a hard-won year for you little girl. No wonder you are so proud of achieving the next digit on the number line! Childhood experts say that there are stages of equilibrium and disequilibrium, and this last year for you as has been the latter. You lost your best friend to the school bully; got mired in yucky schoolyard dynamics; developed a queasy tummy to go with your upset heart; and pulled into yourself for awhile like a tiny turtle twice startled.

Your sensitive tummy didn’t indicate your really strength though, and like an unexpected heroine in a story book, you showed yourself to be deeply insightful, full of integrity and very, very strong. I was so proud of you when you ignored Mean Maddie and – in spite of her Rasputin-like control over your best friend Rosie – wisely declined her invitation to put you “on the wait list” for the Mean Girl’s Club. I was inspired by you when you faced bravely into an internal emotional storm front and struggled through to learn how to live within your broad emotional range. (A lot of people – grown ups even—don’t learn how to take care of their emotions and they just stuff them into a hiding places instead. You did real grown-up work this year, and I am so proud!) I was relieved to see you use “Team Eden” to help you find your way back to your healthy, happy self. (Not everyone can learn how to “find containers for big emotions” like you can!) Now, at the end of this hard-won year I often find myself gazing at your clear-eyed beauty as you read in the corner in your new wire-rimmed eyeglasses, or wander through the house and yard touching this and that and making up stories. You are such a self-knowing and winsome creature!

This year when Rosie and you hit a tough patch, you got over your fear that you didn’t know how to make friends and found a whole slew of new companions. This was the first year you’ve had boys-for-friends and you teamed up Noah, Sergio and Grant to be “The Four Amigos.” (Noah says that you are his best friend because you “have a kind heart.”) You also discovered a new friend in Ella, and helped Perrine find a place to belong when she transferred from her school in France mid-year. Not to mention all the kids who are clamoring to get invited to your birthday party! Your kindness has won out over all kinds of icky playground power struggles, and shown you to be a true friend to lots of different types of people. Good job Eden!

In addition to figuring out friendship challenges, you learned a lot of other things at school too this year. You listened to your emotions and your body and figured out that while you like to be active, you don’t like competition. So, you became the referee at four square, the cheering fan at kick ball, and opted for recreational swims over swim team races. Your teacher said you were “systematically making your way through the entire library” at school and you really excelled at writing. Your report about Anne Franks was sensitive and fluid, you showed a real writers “voice” in your lion report, and you wrote volume after volume of cleverly told true family stories in writer’s workshop. You excelled at speaking in public and did a couple of very nice oral presentations in class. You even overcame your nervousness of timed tests and became the only student to complete the entire multiplication sheet in two minutes!

One thing that really surprised and pleased you this year was when you were honored for your leadership skills and were chosen to be the CEO of your class store for Village Days. How exciting to be in charge of Toytropolis! You certainly took those business- building skills to heart when you landed your first Summer jobs — walking Merlin while the neighbors were away, and watering gardens-for-hire. And of course, I’m very proud of you for being so clever and generous as to hold a yard sale with a bunch of your toys to earn money for you sister’s birthday present – the American Girl doll bed she’d longed for but never managed to save enough allowance to buy. I’m so proud of you for being so generous and kind!

One of my favorite things to discover about you this year is how much you love water. You even sigh, “Oh…..water!” when you see someone hosing down a hot sidewalk in front of the local grocery store. You’re the first person in the lake and the last one out, and while other kids are just splashing around in water fights you are out there practicing your strokes and swimming in an underwater world of mermaids that is all your own. I’ll never forget the image of you out in the water at Golden Gardens raising your outstretched hands to the sky and shouting, “I’m up to my waist in the Puget Sound!”

Many times this year I’ve found myself staring at you in one of your many moments of enjoyable solitude, and I admire your extreme beauty. I love watching you unaware so I can drink in the clarity of your eyes, the perky scatter of freckles across your cheeks and the smooth strength building in your body. I love every complicated, insightful, joyful, intense, creative, powerful part of you. I’m so glad you made me a Momma. Happy birthday, baby mine.

Love,

Momma

Posted in Magpie Mama
Tags: eden, Magpie Mama |