My darling boy,

This past year has flown by. Somehow every year just goes quicker than the previous. 

You finished kindergarten, the entire year, from home and you became a master at Zoom and completing assignments on your own. You were very motivated by getting things done so you could play and you consistently would finish everything by lunch so you’d have the entire afternoon free. 

This year you’re enjoying school in person and you absolutely love it. I thought the initial excitement (after the first day nerves) would fade after a few weeks, but you’ve wrapping up the first trimester being just as thrilled as the beginning. You have always been a voracious reader and math and science are exciting to you so being in the classroom has been a great adventure of learning. You have an amazing teacher and have made some great friendships. The first couple of weeks of school, you would often play by yourself at recess until we encouraged you to make a friend. The next day, you proudly came home and said you made a new friend and, ever since, you and her have been best buddies. 

The pandemic brought with it some social challenges that we are still discovering. Like, when I encouraged you to play with more than just one friend at recess and you said, “But…I don’t have a watch.” And I found out that you thought you could only play with one person at a time and were trying to figure out how to split your recess in half so you could spend equal time with two friends. 

You continue to love biking and, during the warmer months, you and Daddy go on long bike rides together. I think your longest distance so far is over 21 miles! It’s especially impressive considering you have a one-speed bike. You are so proud when you beat your previous record.

You are fascinated with space and space travel, watching all the launches and landings. You are always, always building things out of magnatiles, whether it be ships or buildings or trains or semis. We currently have a replica of the Burj Khalifa in our living room and you spent a lot of time studying buildings and architecture, with a heady side dose of books from the transportation section at the library.

What an honor and joy it has been for us to watch you grow. You surprise us with your random curiosities and getting that peek into how your brain works is fascinating. I keep a running note of things you and Perrin say and, as I look back throughout this past year, I find things like:

• Henry: May I have some more mac & cheese? I presume we have some left.
• Henry, on a play phone: Hello, I would like to order a plane to be in the hanger and ready to go at 6 PM today. I am going to fly to Canada.
• Henry: I’m going to graduate from Kindergarten and then I’ll get a deployment (diploma)!
• Henry: A mohawk is basically a mountain of hair.
• Henry was scared to go into the bathroom at the pool by himself while I stood outside the door because: I don’t want people to think I’m a stray!
• Henry: Is this the end of the prehistoric site? Me: It’s not prehistoric. It’s just historic. Henry: Fine. Is this the end of the old stuff?
• Henry: They can fit 10 people in it! That’s two of our families plus half of another one!
• Henry: They all had to leave because they got evaporated (evacuated)!!”
• Henry: He plays the drums like Ringo. Me: Do you know who Ringo was? He was part of the Beatles. H: Oh, I know the Beatles! Because on Wow In The World, a scientist started research on types of screams after studying a concert the Beatles did in 1962.

It’s true that the days are long and the years are short. Some days are easy and some are hard. Some days are full of big feelings and lots of discussion about those feelings and some days are even-keel and full of fun play and imagination.

You are one of my greatest joys, my treasures, and the best things I’ve ever made. I am so proud of you and I love seeing your kind spirit continues to blossom as you grow. I love you more than I have ever found a way to tell you and will forever be grateful that I am the one who gets to love you. I am truly the luckiest. And the world is lucky to have you in it. You’re going to blow us all away.

Happy birthday, sweets.

I love you.

Mama