A letter to my son on his seventh birthday.
Happy birthday poodle! This year was your most muddy, most bloody, most exciting year yet! We spent the last 365 days hiking, running, jumping, splashing, and learning. You started Kickboxing. You made new friends. Through sheer determination and practice you taught yourself to swim. You learned about verbs, the United States Constitution, and the Roman Empire. You are straight killing double digit addition. You are slowly but surely falling in love with baseball. You FINALLY lost a tooth. You still hate tomatoes.
You tore through book after book this last sun rotation, devouring the dairy of a wimpy kid series, cracking up at dog man, and bumping into walls as you read while walking. For six years I read aloud to you, morning, noon, and night. Now we can sit, side by side in silence, toes touching, absorbed in two separate books. Together but in our own universes.
This year you GREW. In all the ways. And every day I was lucky to be there. I saw your face twist up in frustration while working through math equations. I laughed while watching you physically jump for joy upon finding a mushrooms on a log. I witnessed your confidence build with each step you climbed in ever taller trees. And I silently cheered as you worked through nerves to present different topics to your co-op classmates.
Hunter you are extraordinarily emotional, wildly clever, and abundantly kind. You always ensure everyone has a friend and no one is left behind. You are as comfortable leading a pack as you are milling behind and investigating tiny woodland treasures.
It may sting a bit to watch you grow up but I simply cannot wait for another year of magic with you Hunter. So today I am screaming Happy 7th birthday to my puddle loving, stick weilding boy who is happier at the top of a tree than just about anywhere else in the world!
Stay wild.
Xx
Mom
