To Kyla On Your 6th Birthday

Oh my dearest big little girl – today you are 6!

I can’t say that it feels like yesterday when your tiny little body was placed in my arms, but despite the fact that 6 years have passed, I still remember that moment so clearly.  A round little bundle with big eyes and tiny little baby hands reaching out of your blankets to hold my finger (no seriously, we could never manage to swaddle those hands in).  Since then I have had the privilege of being there to watch you grow up – morphing from a blob of adorable babyness, into a cautious toddler, to a shy tot and now into a clever, crazy little monkey girl.

How you’ve grown into a beautiful little girl – inside and out.  Sometimes I sit back and just stare at you, marveling at all the new ways that you are sharing your personality with us and the things that you are thinking about.  Often it just blows my mind to think that you are starting to really come into your own, with your own thoughts, dreams and desires.  That you are strong willed and not easily swayed from your knowledge of right and wrong, pursuit of copious tickles and occasionally some questionable fashion choices.

It’s difficult not to gush about how much I love you and how special you are on days like today, because I do love you and I think you’re flipping amazing, but then again – I think this all the time.

We started a journey that day 6 years ago, a long hard one no doubt, but one that is so full of great things that it makes the hard times worth it.  Becoming a mother was all I ever wanted to be and you gave that gift to me.  You’ve taught me what it means to be other people centred, how confusing it can be to be a parent and how it feels to have my heart beating outside of my body.

Thank you for being you and for all the things that you teach me everyday, about the World and about myself.

You are loved Kyla, so very much.