I wrote this letter to Addison back by her birthday, but just getting around to posting about her birthday celebrations!
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Dear Addison,
You are a big four year old now! Wow! Four
sounds so old. Absolutely not a
baby. And not even a toddler. You are a little big-girl now. We certainly see you growing into your
age.
You have really blossomed at preschool throughout the
year. At the beginning you were
uncertain about leaving Mommy but now eagerly walk in without batting an eye
(except for the 5 hugs and kisses we get to exchange each day). J Your teachers have commented on how
well you are doing. You are an
eager learner who is very precise in your work…maybe a perfectionist?! You’ve become very skilled in your
coloring abilities, staying inside the lines amazingly well. You get pretty frustrated when you go
outside the lines. You’ve very
recently begun to practice writing your letters and shocked us when you were
able to write your name quite well without any practice! You like to learn and work at your own
pace and initiative. I don’t think
homeschooling you would go very well.
Thank goodness we are fortunate to have a wonderful Christian school for
you to attend…SOON! Crazy. You have begun to have a few favorite
friends in your classroom. It is
so sweet to watch you walk hand in hand with another little girl frequently. Your favorite part of your preschool
day, per your teachers, is gym class.
Music to your grandpa’s ears! J And sounds a bit like your mom and
dad!
You draw other kids to you. It seems whenever we go somewhere, other little kids seek
out your friendship very quickly.
You are a ball of energy and fun.
And cute as a…hmmmm…I feel like you’ve set the standard for cute, so not
sure what you are as cute as. Cute
as YOU!!!! You haven’t lost an
ounces of your white blonde hair color it seems. You are a bit more blonde than your sister, but both cute
little toe-heads. I also hear more
often how much you and Brylee look alike.
As your mom, I see you as individuals, but you must be looking more
alike.
Your favorite things are dressing up – princess
dresses. Dancing. Running. Jumping on the trampoline. “School” activities.
Having marching band parades. Puzzles.
Coloring. And playing with
friends. You are always up
for an adventure, though proceed with caution. You LOVE to be cozy.
Cozy blankets, outfits, etc.
You love to hear when we are staying home for a day and you get to wear
“cozy clothes.” Yet at the same
time, you LOVE to wear cute outfits and can’t wait to show Daddy how you
look! May you always know we think
you are beautiful…and not just because of your clothes, hair, and cute face and
body. Those things will all change
and we will still think you are a gorgeous little girl!!
I don’t think you being 3 will ever be high on our “favorite
phases/ages” list, and I, with the help of Daddy, have come to realize that is
ok. We know we will look back on
periods in your life and point to some of our favorite years. I look forward to hitting those sweet
spots with you. The past year was
a doozy in many respects. You
continue to show us your strong and stubborn personality, yet this year was
with more words than in the past.
Sometimes those words could hurt, but we know you didn’t mean them. You are continually trying to figure
yourself out. And we are trying to
continually figure out all the ways you tick. This year we had to do more figuring out than the past in
regards to figuring out medical stuff.
You were put through the ringer and handled it amazingly well as a
whole. In an attempt to conquer a
rash you’ve had most of your life once and for all, we tried many things. We went on some pretty radical diets as
many people thought it was a persistent yeast infection. So, that meant to cut out ALL
sugar. How miserable to do at any
age, and you had to do it at age 3.
It was a hard transition to eating literally only meats and veggies for
a good chunk of time. You
seriously did amazing, agreeing to eat your veggies like a champ. I never thought I’d serve you asparagus
and you eat it eagerly. You had to
bring in a different snack than the other kids at preschool, but you rolled
with it great. It was a very minor
issue, much to our surprise. I
think I was more sad for you about this than you were actually sad. Unfortunately, this diet change (for a
good 6 weeks) didn’t yield the results we wanted. Next we pursued an alternative form of medicine for the next
several months and found out through kinesiology that you were
allergic/sensitive to many foods.
So, we continued with our diet and then yanked out even more foods
during these treatments. Despite
aggressive treatment 2-3 times a week, we still didn’t see consistent
results. Wow…talk about
discouraging. In this time your
behavior waxed and waned, giving us glimmers of hope that it was helping (by
making you feel better and therefore less on edge). We are now seeing a GI doctor and feel like we may be on to
something related to a bacterial overgrowth. Addison, our hearts break that you have to go through so
much testing. We love you and know
something is bothering your insides, but just can’t get our finger on it. We’ll get there and keep fighting
together!! Sorry for the pain, the
needle pokes, and the hassle of all of this. Keep being a trooper with us on this journey.
Four is going to be a fun age – I know it. It’s so much fun to watch you and
Brylee begin to enjoy each other’s company more often. You are both strong-willed and have
strong opinions, but when you girls are getting along, giggling, and in your
own world, it is just music to our ears.
We pray that you would be each others’ biggest fans, encouragers, and
friends.
We love you, Addison Rae. Your smile and laughter lights up a room. I know others are drawn to you and can
only pray that one day they will be drawn to you and you can point them to the
love to Jesus! I pray this year
will be full of joy. Full of
respect. Obedience. Of deeper conversations. Richer friendships. And more fun! I pray this will be our favorite year with you ever!
Love,
Mom & Dad
