Happy 5th Birthday Thatcher

 Dear Thatcher,

Today you turned five. After a weekend full of celebration and playing in your very first tball game yesterday, today you went to school to celebrate with your pre-k friends. Of course you brought donuts for the whole gang. Sunday we had your birthday party which of course was bird themed. It started with hike where we didn't see very many birds, but we had loads of fun. Then back to our house where it was covered in all your birdy brothers and birdy pictures you've colored over the past month.

You, my son, are the light of the house most days. You're funny and kind and love your brothers even when they struggle to being loving to you. Your favorite things currently are birds, of call shapes and sizes, baseball, riding your bike, playing with your new neighbor friends, and art. You love to draw pictures for me and tape them up in your personally chosen spots all around the house. You always bring me art when I'm not feeling well and after the difficult winter full of illness my room is currently covered in your artwork. This year I have loved watching you thrive in pre-k. You have learned so many new skills, your starting to read, you great focus, and over all you have had so much fun playing with kids your own age after missing out on that for the past few years. 

My favorite thing to do with you is to read books and eat bubble gum in bed. I also love our evenings of "sneaking." To you sneaking is doing anything while brothers aren't home. This can be reading books in bed, taking a bath in my bath tub, baking together, taking a walk, you name it but it has to be done secretly from big brothers. Time with just you and I is so precious to me now. I know I missed out on a lot of this while everyone was home the past two years. I will keep trying to make up for that lost time. 

Today I woke up super early so Zane could go get donuts with me before he got on his bus at six thirty. We got donuts for your entire class's snack time and one for you to enjoy before school. You woke up and finished opening presents, some of which you had talked your way into opening yesterday. This year you got batman shirts, Captain America pjs, a new Spiderman outfit, a Woody jacket, nerf gun, science experiment kit, bird books, a bubble container, headphones, and new shoes. The morning quickly fell apart when I told you you couldn't wear your new Spiderman costume to school. This led to yet another morning of you being angry on the way to school. This is also a tradition of ours that I am less than thrilled about, but sadly we do usually spend most mornings in some sort of fight in the car line. 

I walked you up to the door today to help you carry the donuts. You looked so grown up in your new big shoes and shorts Rowan was wearing last summer. When the school year started you looked like such a little baby walking into this big school, but now you seem quite grown up, ready for kindergarten for sure.

This evening you were terribly tired after your late evening of baseball, so you struggled with lots of feelings. However you enjoyed the dinner of your request, spaghetti/meatballs sans any sauce. We played your new bird bingo games, which was loads of fun. Then ended the evening with a bird cake take two. This time I bought a bundt cake and put birds on it. It was amazing and that meant we got to sing to you one more time as we celebrated another trip around the sun for you my darling boy.

You've had a wonderful year peanut and I can't wait to see what the next one will bring. It will be the start of actual big kid school, you'll get to play lots of baseball, I have a hunch you might get to take some trips to neat places, and now that you have this brand new Spiderman outfit life is pretty much complete. We love you so much sweet boy. 

Happy birthday!
Love

Mom