A Five Year Letter

**You can find his birthday slideshow here, and his birthday interview will be posted either later today or tomorrow!  Plus the party on Sunday... yes, we know we are birthday insane around here.  Just go with it... ***

Dear Henry,

Five.  The whole hand.  That's how old you are today.  I don't quite understand how time has moved so quickly, because it feels like maybe last month I wrote your four year letter, and two years ago tops I was holding you for the very first time.  But here you are, tall and smart, sensitive and funny, and every single bit of FIVE YEARS OLD.

I have been thinking all day about what to write you in this annual letter.  When will you be old enough to find these letters interesting?  When you are fifteen?  When you are thirty?  Fifty?  What will you want to know about yourself as a boy, or about our family and our life back in 2014, back when you were just turning five years old? I am just not sure.  I could go on and on about how much we love you, like I do every year in these letters.  I could tell you that you are without a doubt the coolest kid I know.  But I have a funny feeling I will be telling you those things everyday for the rest of my life.  I love you, bugaboo.   To the moon and back, with all our hearts, your Papa and I adore you.

But what else would you want to know?  Would you want to hear what you were like when you were four?  You are kind and you are sensitive.  You are very attached to your Papa and I, and prefer to always have one of us with you at all times, although we are commonly forgotten if your beloved Nanny is in the room.  You love being home and I am constantly amazed at how well you entertain yourself; playing Lego's or pirate ships, just living in a world within your imagination for hours on end.  You love video games, especially Zelda and Mario, although pretty much any game will do.  You love playing outside, swinging or riding your big wheel around the block.  You love playing with your cousins and friends, and always seem able to make people laugh, especially Cici, who thinks you are the coolest person alive. You have started playing soccer and t-ball and are enjoying both, although I think for now t-ball may be a better fit. You just love life, and it makes us all love it a little more, watching you enjoy it so much.

Maybe you will want to hear about all the things we have done this year?  We spent time in South Carolina, where you were the ring bearer in Kelsey and Thomas' wedding.  We spent a weekend in Alabama where you got to run around Aunt Becky and Uncle Billy's land, riding in golf cards and playing in the river.  We spent a week in Florida with Nanny and Papaw, where you and Cici loved every second of being on the beach!  We spent a weekend in Tennessee with the South Carolina Cousins and you and Nieem had a blast.  This year you have toured a battle ship, ridden in a go -cart, gone to the zoo, and taken swim lessons.  This year has been a pretty big  year for you, kiddo. 

Maybe you would like to know what life was like when you were four.  That milk costs around $3 a gallon, or gas is $3.75 and climbing?  That Obama is president or that there are people living on the international space station.   How you spend three days a week in daycare, and one day you spend with Mama, and the other with Nanny.  That your teacher is Mrs. Gladys and that you absolutely adore her.  That both your Mama and Papa work at UK and that Mama just finished her Master's degree.  That you are a very picky eater, sustaining yourself on cereal, banana's with peanut butter, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, broccoli, cheese and white rice.  Oh, and lots of cheese-its.  They are your favorite.

I don't know what you will want to know, and I know whatever it is, it might not be included in this letter.  But I guess that's not the point.  These letters are a chance for me to tell you again and again how you have filled our hearts these last five years.  How each day, I love you more, and how each birthday I think "this was it... I have found my favorite age.  It's four".  Only to be surprised year after year as it continues to only get better.  Each year you grow more and more into your own unique self, and you are just so much fun.  You own our hearts, sweet boy.  And I cannot wait to see what five brings, because if it is anything like four, it is going to be awesome.

XOXO,
Mama and Papa