JUDAH IS EIGHT

Dear Judah,

HAPPY EIGHTH BIRTHDAY! At Nolan’s soccer game today, I saw a family with twin boys that are two. It brought everything back to me, picturing you and Nolan that little, having you start to have big feelings and want to communicate, and being so mobile. You and Nolan always darted in opposite directions and I would have to try and chase both of you. Now you’re eight, which feels so old. Wow. 

2nd grade, despite its difficulties with the pandemic, has been a big year for you.

Your confidence in reading is continuing to go up and up and up. You are sharing your voice and your opinions in school becoming quite the participator. I love that. You have more strategies and tools and problem-solving ideas than I think anyone I’ve ever met. It’s so cool to watch you or listen to you as you work. We are still working on having some sense of urgency sometime during school work and keeping your focus on your task at hand. You will always do everything in your own time, my sweet boy, no matter how crazy it drives me sometimes ;) 

You are exploring what you love to do.

Even if you’re not totally sure if you love golf or art or swimming or chess, you do LOVE to play. Judah, you are the best ‘play-er’ ever. Whether it’s in the sandbox, in a Barbie house, with a pretend kitchen, with a car or train track, or just a random dumping of figurines and dolls… you are all in. A couple of weeks ago, during “Me” time, Dad almost completely forgot to come get you to let you know it was over because you were playing so well by yourself. Sometimes you’ll skip down the stairs to the basement playroom before school and we won’t hear a peep out of you either. I love your imagination and how much you are content to be by yourself OR be with others. 

This year we’ve experimented a lot with different books and it seems like you really dig a graphic novel. I think the pictures really help with your overall comprehension, but they also help you stay engaged in the story. You notice little things in pictures, small details that others miss. That is true for your observation skills, in general. You’ve read several books to me this year and it makes me so happy. 

Some of my other favorite things to do with you, besides reading, is to play games, jump on the trampoline, play at playgrounds, and cook or bake together. When it comes time to decide things you want to do with me, it usually involves you having me join in to some big play you’ve got going on. Or, we are outside together doing just about anything. Judah, you are an outdoorsman in any kind of weather, in any season. You love the winter, in fact, more than any of the rest of us I think. It is rare that you are the one who wants to come inside first. Usually, we have to drag you in. I love spending time outside with you- joy is all over your face and I love to see it.  

You are an awesome travel buddy loving to do and see everything.

Your go-with-the-flowness helps us all so much when we are adventuring because you take things as they come. We have to eat dinner outside in the freezing cold in the middle of Ohio? Cool. We were going to go somewhere but plans change and we end up somewhere else? No problem. There is bad traffic and it takes us a lot longer to get somewhere? Doesn’t even phase you. Because we spend so much time outside when we travel, I never have to worry about how you’re going to feel if or if you’re going to be excited about something. The answer is yes. One of Dad and my favorite things is when we have so much fun that you can’t even make it through books before you are asleep. On our trip to Saint Augustine in January, you fell asleep before we were done reading books on at least three of the nights. That’s when I know you’ve had a really great day. 

I hope this next year brings some activities into your life that you truly love. I want to do more playing with you, more puzzles, more pretending. I also hope you find some opportunities to use your voice through writing. You kind of hate writing and I get it- it’s so hard! But I want you to keep seeing how important writing is to share your voice with others. I want you to keep learning how to type- I think that’s going to be your secret weapon. You are an incredibly friendly person and I look forward to seeing you develop great friendships. I hope, in this next year, that you keep showing your emotions. Sometimes you run away from doing that and you know how okay it is to just be you however you are feeling in the moment.  

Judah, I love the way you giggle.

I love the way you often need to make the d in your name have a taller tail, and the way you guzzle milk. You like it better than anyone in our house does. I love how you are a selfless big brother, the way you drive me nuts when you want to smell everything I am cooking (I do that with smells too, though), and how you are always wearing what you ate on your face. You are sweet, stubborn, both soft spoken and loud as all get out. I am truly enjoying getting to know you as a person- you are rarely predictable and often surprising. Let’s make eight super great! Happy Birthday. 

All my love,

Mom