But before we get too far into your 2nd grade year, I need to complete the almost impossible task of capturing, in writing, my 1st grade Kate.
Let's see...where do I begin? In 1st grade, you LOVED to sing. You dressed up like little orphan Annie and sang “You’re Never Fully Dressed without a Smile” at the school variety show. You especially loved show tunes (a la Annie and Frozen), and any top 40 song you hear on the radio, happy or sad, from any decade.
You sing all the time. You sing when you’re cleaning your room, when you’re taking a shower, when you’re in the bathroom, when you’re brushing your hair. You turn questions into songs when you ask me something. You sing in the car. You sing while you play, or do puzzles, or draw pictures. With Broadway bravado, and sometimes like you’re in the opera. And you know you’re good. When I asked you if you'd like singing lessons, you proclaimed "Nah, mom. I don't need 'em."
In 1st grade, you were tender hearted and kind. You cried at ASPCA commercials, and begged me to let you send all your piggy bank money to help them save animals. You cried when you watched Edward Scissorhands, and every time you saw any character in a movie treated unfairly. Your heart feels the pain of others. It’s called compassion, and I’m so glad you have it – and that you act on it. As my Aunt Judy once said to me when I was just about your same age, I hope you never lose your little girl heart.
In 1st grade, you were also strong-willed. You rarely hesitated to tell someone if they hurt your feelings. I hope you always use your words to express how you feel, to protect your heart and the hearts of others.
In 1st grade, you learned that you loved yoga, thanks to an afterschool enrichment class with a particularly passionate teacher. You proclaimed that you want to take karate (I promise this will be the year!), declared you weren’t so crazy about lacrosse (although I’m hoping you’ll reconsider); you still say you won't play soccer (because there's “just too much running”), and you still get great joy out of baseball. Especially running the bases.
Oh, Kate, every person in the stands loves to see you run those bases. You do it like you do everything in life – enthusiastically, with your whole heart, and a giant smile – usually jumping up and down and cheering when you arrive.
I hope you keep trying new sports and testing which ones bring you joy, because I love to watch you play…anything and everything. You are strong, and fast, and whether you realize it or not, you have a natural athletic ability. I hope you’ll continue to use that ability to test and surprise yourself with all the amazing things your body and mind can do.
Your 1st grade year saw you toothless, and to your sister’s chagrin, you lost most of your teeth before she did! Dear God, I love your toothless grin! And I still cannot believe that you pulled one of your top teeth out on your own, with dental floss, and let me pull out the second one with the ol’ door trick. You’re a brave one, Kate.
In 1st grade, you made your Daddy laugh out loud every time you said “aposta,” which is your Kate-pronunciation of “supposed to.” You also made us laugh when you said we were going to “the Obama’s” for vacation, when we were going to the Bahamas. We never corrected you, because we don’t ever want those Kate pronunciations to change.
In 1st grade, you still adored Cal. You met two years ago, when on the first day of kindergarten, you proclaimed that he simply must have been a 3rd grader because he was so tall. Soon after, you declared him as your best friend, and at the end of your second year in class together, you were still eating lunch side by side and playing at recess every day. I will never forget when Cal came over for a play date, and you immediately took him to the back porch and started showing him photo albums of you as a baby, telling him your life story, while he patiently sat there, sipping on a Caprisun and waiting for you to ask him to jump on the trampoline. I love your sweet friendship and I find myself hoping that its tenderness remains as you both grow older.
As a first grader, you also still fondly remembered your pre-school best friend, Sam. You treasured your friend Oliver, and you had an innate desire to want to protect his sweet and sensitive heart.
In 1st grade you adored Grandma -- and cried every few days, at random times (but mostly at bedtime), because you missed her…even though you always see her multiple times each month. Although you started sleeping in your own bed when you were 3 years old, you at some point decided that it's less lonely to sleep smack dab between your daddy and I. So every night for the past year or more, you have brought Pillow Pet and Mousie and Teddy (and sometimes an odd assortment of additional characters) into our bed. You neatly fold Pillow Pet's bumble bee wings flat, lay your head down on top of him and ask "Momma, will you tickle my back and sing me some lullabies?" And you almost always say “I love you mommy,” as you drift off to sleep.
1st grade Kate discovered the Disney Channel (I held out as long as I could); and although I only let you watch one or two shows, you would watch back to back to back to back to back episodes of Good Luck Charlie and Girl Meets World....for days on end, if I let you.
1st grade Kate LOVED dresses. If given the choice, you would wear the same five or six dresses in rotation, ever more. The bright pink fit-and-flare. The red-white-and-blue fit-and-flare that is so short it that almost shows your bum. The purple and pink dress that you think makes you look like a teenager. Your ‘lemonade’ dress and the orange flower skirt Grandma made you.
You loved your cowboy boots, too. And Wonder Woman. You loved your hair accessories, particularly headbands. You started out 1st grade with an adorable, short bob that cradled your lovely, contagiously smiley little face; and you finished the year by asking me every few days how much longer it’d be until your hair would be as long as Ella’s.
In 1st grade, your big sister Ella is your biggest nemesis. It's Ella who elicited the majority of your eye-rolling...your most dramatic sighs. Your loudest cries about the inequities of life. But it was also for Ella that you emptied your entire piggy bank to purchase a $12 bouquet, to give her after her performance as 'a chick' in The Little Red Hen. It's also Ella with whom you will play blocks and Shopkins and ‘house’ and a million make believe games, for hours on end.
1st grade Kate loved catching lightning bugs and butterflies. Jumping on the trampoline. Devouring gummies and gushers and chocolate and any other candy you could find.
In 1st grade, you hugged me all the time. Your arms wrapped around my hips, your head rested on my belly or side, and you always said “Mama, you’re so warm!” Your little hand confidently grabbed mine when we walked across the street or in the grocery store. I love the feeling of your hand in mine, and I love how willingly and how often your hand reaches out to me. I know this hand-holding is fleeting, and I savor it.
If I'm sitting on one end of the couch, trying to work on my computer, you always want to sit right next to me, hugging my arm, rendering it impossible to type. And I hate ever having to tell you to scoot over. I wonder if you will ever know how perfectly you fit by my side and in my arms.
In 1st grade, you told me that you loved me, all the time. You kept your room tidy (perhaps because you never slept in it!) and loved to color and paint – for hours and hours. I have boxes upon boxes filled with your artwork…your rainbows and lions, your coloring book pages and stained glass windows and beautiful starry skies. I hope you always remain a confident artist, and that you always feel the kind of true, rare joy you felt as a first grader, every time you would create.
1st grade Kate was the pickiest. eater. ever. You ate waffles, blackberries or raspberries and yogurt for breakfast. Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. And for dinner? If wasn’t noodles, grilled cheese, mac and cheese or Quorn brand chicken nuggets, it was a melt-down.
In 1st grade, you started reading chapter books, and you loved the fairy series that Grandma passed down from summers a decade ago or more , when cousins Olivia and Molly read them. During the summer, you would read your 20 minutes a day, sitting on the kitchen counter, or laying on your bedroom floor. You’d excitedly proclaim that you’d finished another chapter. I loved the look of complete pride on your face when you realized, again and again, that you could, and were, reading chapter books.
My 1st grade Kate was truly exceptional at loving and caring for younger children. You couldn't resist them. You sought them out...at the park, at the pool, at PTA meetings, at swim meets...wherever we were. You cared for them like a tiny mother. Talking to them in the sweetest of voices, saying the most encouraging things. Smiling at them and laughing with them and taking joy in every funny or sweet thing they do. You would gently touch their cheeks and talk about how badly you want to squeeze them. You would color with or play with or otherwise care for them for hours, even while other kids your age were busy playing with each other. You’re a born nurturer and protector, Kate, and I love that about you.
The summer of your 1st grade year, I watched your beautiful skin grow more golden each day, under the summer sun...and your brown hair grow beautiful streaks of blonde. You had a chocolate milk mustache the majority of the time. And an ever-present, gigantic smile that radiated joy.
While I will always fondly remember my 1st grade Kate, I’m so excited to see how your heart and mind and many talents grow in your 2nd grade year. I feel like the luckiest person in the world to have a front row seat to the greatest show on earth – seeing my Kate the Great grow and shine.
No comments:
Post a Comment