You have ballet class every Saturday morning and getting you up and ready for it every week is usually a battle. You take a long time to eat your breakfast, you don't want to brush your teeth, then you don't want to get dressed and put on your tutu and tights or get in the car with Daddy . . . you're often crying and I'm often yelling, "Lila, you have to get ready! You're going to be late!" You always have fun once you get to class but I do not have fun getting you there! Then yesterday, we were reading a Fancy Nancy book where she gives her dad ballet lessons and you said you really like ballet. I asked you, "Then why do you always give me so much trouble when you have to go to ballet class?" You said, "Because I don't want to go. I want to stay home and spend time with my beautiful mama." Well, okay, I'll never make you go to ballet class ever again, hahaha!
You are and always have been so sweet and being your mama makes me so unbelievably happy. The way you smile at me when you're reading or playing and realize I'm looking at you, the way you suddenly hug me and tell me that you love me several times a day, the way you ask me if I can cuddle with you every single night, the way your face lights up when I say yes and climb into bed next to you, the way you insist on just one more "huggie" and kiss when I have to get up--the feelings I get from these little moments with you are exactly why I love being a mom, your mom. I love you so much for being so sweet, so kind and so gentle. And every day, I am so proud of you for your strength, your determination, your patience and your compassion. When you had a stomach virus last week, you felt awful and threw up several times but you powered through it without ever whining. When you practice writing your letters, you are so focused and persistent, even when some of the letters are tricky for you. When we drove back to New York from Pittsburgh after Thanksgiving last month, it took nine excruciating hours because there was so much traffic, but you didn't complain or cry or whine "Are we there yet?" even once; you just sat in your car seat and colored, read a magazine, talked to me, ate snacks or napped. And when DiDi cries, you immediately try to console him by singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or the alphabet song to him.
You make me laugh every day with the cute faces that you make (you scrunch up your face in different ways and ask, "Do I look funny?") and the funny things that you say (we were pretending Daddy was a monster one day and you said, "You be the peekout!" -- you meant "lookout," haha). You also continue to impress me with your very mature palette. You eat things like scallions and spinach salad and when we went to a buffet last month, you turned down the brownies, cookies and pie and asked me to pile your plate with cucumbers, carrot sticks and watermelon (not that you don't have a sweet tooth--you could and would eat ice cream after every meal if I let you!). You are my amazing little girl and I can't wait to see what amazing things you have in store. Happy birthday, Lilabear!
Love,
Mom
