My oldest turned 9 recently and I had to keep this open letter tradition going, so here’s a little bit about the joy of being a mom to him…

My Wonderful Firstborn,

You are NINE years old!! How did that happen?! How are we halfway through our full-time experience you?! Halfway to 18 and you are just growing by leaps and bounds.

This has been a big year for you. It has been so wonderful to watch you emerge from the struggles of coming back out of the pandemic and lockdowns and see you come into your own, make new friends, and find new activities that you love.

You have had an incredible school year. It started out hard with the transition to a new place but you have thrived and even recognized at the school awards for your helpfulness. You are so welcoming to any new students that went through the same transition you did. Seeing your thoughtfulness and joy is contagious. You continue to be a bookworm and tear through library books from both your school and our local library. You still let me read to you sometimes but most you are on track to outpace me when it comes to how many books you go through, so the times we get to read together have become extra special.

You joined cub scouts this year and while your dad and I were surprised by this choice at first (especially because you kept asking about soccer and theatre at first!), it is clear you Mae a great choice because you are loving the experience. You had so much fun designing your pinewood derby car and you are learning a lot about service and adventure. it is a great fit for you! You have also become a great help in the garden and enjoy weeding especially. Your third grade class had a garden to tend to and you would come home with all sorts of fun plant facts this year. You also loved us getting to take a field trip together- your first since preschool! We got to hike together and take notes on the nature of the trails. You ran the Global 6k for Water again with your sister and me to help bring clean water to kids and to show that you can do hard things. You are not as big a fan of running distance- you prefer short bursts of speed- but you are already asking if you can help with the set up for next year so your heart is fully invested in the service and empathy part!

You have started making more friends in our neighborhood and you continue to be such a great friend to your siblings. You are still our early riser- one time you walked into my room around 5:30 AM to ask me a question about the Bogart in Harry Potter… I LOVED your question, but sometimes I do wish the deep wonderings would wait until after my first cup of coffee. I keep wondering if you will maintain your early riser rhythm as you move closer to becoming a teenager. I like to imagine future talks we’ll have about books together over coffee. But before then, I think we have a lot of other memories to make.

I hope you never doubt how great we think you are. Thank you for your humor, your joy, your unstoppable energy, and your deep questions.

Love you forever,

Mom