Grace Turns Eight.

Grace,

I thought the library would be a good place to take you. You love reading so much and you read so late into the night that I confiscate your book light on a nightly basis. I want you to read, but I also want you to sleep.

You are my greatest friend. You're 8 now and so incredibly brilliant. You observe everything and read everything. Dad and I can't keep anything from you anymore. Especially since our house is teeny so every night when you go to bed you can hear every word Dad and I say! You'll wake up the next morning and say, "so... you're going to Costco today, huh?" or whatever you heard.

You are good in school, you're good at home, you're good at friend's houses. I know you well enough to know you still have that driving anger that gets you the things you want, when you want. But you bridle it and move on and genuinely want to do good things.

When Ruby was born, I brought her home from the hospital and you were two and you were sleeping. I curled up next to you and sobbed my eyes out. There went all our "firsts". You were no longer my only baby... What came next with you and Ruby was wonderful and beautiful as you made your relationship together as sisters. But that was a hard day for moving on from what we had.

Things I love about you:

Your bracelet fixation
You can braid your own hair and do your own pony tail
When someone does something mean to one of your sisters you start to cry
You take charge of everyone in almost every situation
Your purple mark on your legs from your purple winter boots that never goes away
Your obsession with being clean and cleaning under your fingernails
Your beautiful singing voice
Your timidness in some situations
The comics you draw and write about gymnastics, etc (especially the one called "The horror of gym")
How nice you are to people
How you remember every single person's name in your school class and have from day one of kindergarten
How you have so much faith in your parents... when we don't always deserve it...

Happy Birthday on Sunday, my first daughter.