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| The summer after your 8th birthday. You spent the summer being a butterfly whisperer. |
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| In the middle of the winter that would not end. I can start to see the adult you are going to look like someday. |
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| Beauty. And I'm not talking about your physical characteristics. |
Dear Natalie Louise,
I'm not even sure how to start this letter. You continue to grow up and you continue to amaze me. I ask myself regularly, "How did we get so lucky?" You have been Mommy and Daddy's guinea pig. Our experiment. We have tried so many parenting techniques on you and you remain patient with us in letting us think we know what we are doing. You are our most easy going child and for that, I want to say, thank you. Here is what we have noticed about you in the last year.
- You have freckles! I don't know if you can see them in that last picture, but they are the most adorable thing ever. I hope they never go away and I hope you love them as much as I do.
- School continues to be a challenge for you, but these past two years you have had the most amazing teachers help to encourage you and challenge you when necessary and it has made all the difference. At our second conference with your 3rd grade teacher he showed us the incredible gains you have made this last year and all of us were so proud of you. I made sure to stop by to see your 2nd grade teacher as well. She was thrilled. You are such a hard worker when it would just be easier for you to quit. You continue to try everyday at school and we are so proud of you.
- At this same conference with your teacher, we learned that you had befriended the boy in your class with autism. Your teacher often sat you next to him as a good role model for some behaviors and you kindly helped him catch up when he came back from being out of class with his other teachers. More important than grades and test scores, this kind of behavior matters to us. That you are a good, kind and caring person...and Natalie, you are.
- One of your strengths is empathy. Like mother, like daughter. You don't worry about many things but when you do, it usually has to do with if someone else is going to be ok. Evie Monster had to have a second set of tubes put in and her adenoids taken out this year. From the moment you heard surgery, your eyes filled with anxiety for your sister. Was she going to be ok? Was it going to hurt her? Was she going to have to have a needle in her arm? All of the unknowns just about killed you. And it's the same when we watch movies. If someone is being bullied or hurt, you can't watch. I just don't think your heart can take it.
- You continue to be a gymnast. If there is an open space, we can be sure that you will be doing a cartwheel. You are constantly tumbling. You stayed in the community ed gymnastics program all year and by this last session, you finally made it to the advanced class. You also participated in track again this year. You really wanted to do softball, but I convinced you to do track one more year by being an assistant coach. Long distance is your thing. You would rather run a 400m than a sprint any day. Your long jump got much better along with your baseball throws. Next year you can give softball a try.
- You got your own room this year. You really like it during the day to lock your sisters out, but I think you would still prefer to sleep with someone else in the room. It was a little bit of a transition for you but now you have gotten the hang of it. If only it would stay picked up....
- In August, we had to put our awesome dog, Casey, to sleep. He was sick and nothing we did helped him get better. Of the three of you girls, you will have more memories of him and his death affected you the most. In the months following, not having a dog in the house was difficult for all of us and you talked about Casey a lot. What you missed about him, the things you remembered that he used to do...it was apparent that we needed to do something until we were ready for another dog. So, for Christmas, Beth and Luke got you all you needed for hermit crabs. You got 2, Flounder and Sebastian, and read up on how to take care of them. Unfortunately, Flounder didn't last long, but Sebastian is still kickin'! By March we got a new dog and all seems to be right in our house again.
- We had a check up this year at your GI and after chatting and some blood work, you continue to thrive on your gluten free diet. We also decided that this was the year to tackle school lunches for you. Macie had the option to eat one hot lunch a week and you wanted to as well. So after talking with the district about options for you and meeting with the food service coordinators, you have been able to have gluten free hot lunches at school. We also learned that next year they will have a complete gluten free menu each month for you to choose from so that will be pretty great!
Natalie, you are a kind, creative, generous 9 year old who loves to draw, read about sharks, play with friends, watch Disney movies, snuggle, craft and play house with your sisters. You are growing up fast, but I am trying to enjoy it. Continue to be you. You are so, very, good at it.
I will love you forever,
Mommy.
