You are truly my heart's delight. You are sweet and helpful and from the time you were a tiny baby, you have always had the calmest disposition of your siblings. With that calm disposition comes an overwhelming disinterest in anything other than what your focus is upon. Usually, your focus is upon playing with stuffed animals or plastic figurines. So as I'm running around the house, looking for the shoes that you always seem to lose, you are distracted and oblivious to my efforts ON YOUR BEHALF. Not long ago, I decided to just send you out, without your shoes as a lesson to keep better track of your own things and much to my dismay you exclaimed, "Wow, that sounds great! Thanks MOM!"
Since that tactic so royally backfired, I now start the process of getting you ready a day before we have to be anywhere. I recently observed that it took you 25 minutes to put on a single sock. It might have taken even longer if I hadn't finally snapped, "FOR PETE'S SAKE. WILL YOU FOCUS AND PULL ON THAT SOCK?! IT'S A SOCK!" and then I stood over you, breathing fire while you mumbled under your breath, "Geez. I think SOMEONE woke up on the wrong side of the bed..."
You have such a loving heart that you'll hug nearly everyone you meet. I've been trying to stem this behavior because, take for instance the woman who came by to measure our closets? Even though the gesture appeared to be appreciated, she isn't necessarily someone that we need to tightly embrace.
Aside from your random shows of affection, you are actually the most introverted child in our family. You don't run around mingling with all the children on a playground; instead you will often stick to yourself. You love to have quiet time where you sit in your room, flipping through stacks upon stacks of books. And although you don't really seek out friends, you are often sought out. Because of your introverted personality, it surprises me that you want to be a rockstar when you grow up. You also want to be a veterinarian and a mother. You love babies and animals and have been begging for a new baby AND a pet daily since, I can't even remember when. I've promised you that our family will adopt a dog as soon as you can put on your socks and shoes in under 10 minutes. At the rate you've been going, I suspect we've got at least another few years.
Last summer, you pleaded to have your ears pierced and my mother finally convinced me to let you do it, by reminding me that I had my ears pierced when I was five. I tried to talk you out of it by telling you the story of how my ears were pierced at home by my oldest sister Marylou who held an ice cube to my tender earlobe and then JABBED a needle through it. First one side and then the other (a month later when I was sleeping).
You paid me no mind. Instead, while your sister stood shaking at the trauma you were about to endure, you climbed in to the chair and smiled brightly. Someone carefully colored black dots on each of your lobes, and then two piercing technicians stood on either side of you and simultaneously shot little green flower studs in to your soft baby ears. Oh, how you loved those pierced ears and would show them off to everyone you met!
For a grand total of twelve weeks, you took such pride in those "real" earrings and exercised great care to twist them everyday and make sure I cleaned the backs, every night. And then came the fateful day when my mother sent you a box full of NEW earrings. You were so anxious to try on a pair of ladybug studs, that we removed your little green flower studs and were shocked to realize that one ear was badly infected and the hole closed before we could put in a ladybug on the second ear. Your holes are now totally closed as has any further discussion about earrings. While you had the courage to go through the piercing once, I think it will be quite some time before you summon the courage, again.
Then again, you might be ready next week.
You are growing up so fast both mentally and physically.
You've lost (and swallowed) three teeth, while your siblings have lost none. And although you are the youngest of the trio, you are currently five inches taller than your brother and almost six inches taller than your sister. Moreover, you have at least two inches on any child in your kindergarten class. While your sister is still squeezing in to a bathing suit that she wore when she was three, you are comfortably in a size 10. In recent weeks, you've been raiding my closet for clothes to wear and have found a few shirts that you've stealthily acquired as your own. For a while, your accelerated growth had me concerned and I had you screened by a series of specialists. But all of them have thankfully concluded that it's simply genetics and you are perfectly healthy. And I'm perfectly thrilled that I no longer have to buy two clothes in the same size for girls. Whatever you outgrow, your sister will grow in to within a few years.
Whereas once upon a time, the sight of three virtually identical sized children would generate considerable interest whenever we ventured outside of the house, it very rarely happens that people recognize the three of you as triplets, anymore. When the topic does come up, it always happens that someone will remark, "They certainly don't LOOK like triplets. She is so much bigger than the other two!" It pains me, because I know that you have begun to feel self conscious about your size. Bigger. Larger. In our society, those are such derogatory words to describe a girl. So I have really tried to emphasize to everyone, but especially to you, that you are so lucky to be graced with height. You are beautifully tall and very soon, you will be towering over me and helping your vertically challenged mother retrieve all the things on shelves that she has no hope of grasping without a step stool and tongs.
When you were a baby, there was hardly any hair on your head. Now, you have the thickest most glorious hair I've ever seen. It is dark brown with streaks of auburn and the only thing more shocking to me than your gorgeous locks is the fact that you want to dye it all blonde.
(I assume you get this from your dad?)
For as long as I can remember, you prefer my company over any other. While your siblings will always jump at the opportunity to accompany your father on an errand, you always prefer to stick with me and this makes me genuinely happy because I treasure our time together. Usually, we spend the time giving ourselves pedicures and brushing each other's hair and I'm filled with delight to be your mom. More and more, I see that you have a remarkable resemblance to my side of the family. The shape of your face and nose, the freckles that are dappled across your sweet cheeks and your gorgeous kaleidoscope blue eyes that have literally stopped people in their tracks. Of course, those beautiful eyes have also sent me straight over the edge when you roll them at me, like I might expect ... if you were sixteen.
(It is my most heartfelt wish that we enjoy each other as much then, as we do now.)
Because you are growing so fast, you have an insatiable appetite and are especially smitten with carbohydrates. For Mother's Day this year, you presented me with a handmade card that read, "Dear Mom, I love you more than bread." As your mother, I know that roughly equates to you loving me more than anything in the universe.
The feeling is mutual, my love.
The feeling is most definitely mutual.
