Tomorrow You are Seven

You started counting down to this birthday as soon as Christmas was out the way, asking Alexa each morning how many days until February 25th.  I hope that tomorrow is everything you hope for.  It is your first birthday spent at school, something you are really happy about, and we have a friend coming back for a sleepover after wards so excitement levels are through the roof.

Six has been a long year - it feels like a lifetime ago that we were celebrating the end of you being five, just the six of us in our house as we were in full lockdown.  This year your world has opened back up and we are free to see friends and family.  As a six year old you welcomed your new baby brother with love and affection and became the 'middlest of the middles', with two younger and two older siblings.  

When I look back at what I wrote last year, so much of it I just want to repeat because you are that same boy, just taller, smarter and louder.  You are so intelligent, so capable and so desperate to learn, but only on your terms.  You still love music and feel it in your whole body, and you are currently planning for a career as a ninja.  You are determined, focused and I have no doubt you will get where you want to be, one way or another.  You are head strong, stubborn and know what you want.  You aren't always (ever) easy to parent, you push me to my limits, but loving you is so rewarding and I am forever grateful to be your Mummy.

Every year on this day I like to look back at pictures of how small and poorly you were, to think over what the doctors told us as we sat in special care and to remember the journey we have been on together.

Finn, you are a force of nature.  You are vibrant, confident, overflowing with personality and the world needs to be ready for you.  You frustrate me regularly but you make me proud just as often.  I hope you never stop being so unreservedly yourself.  You have come so far, you have proved everyone wrong and I will take a moment tomorrow to really remember what an amazing little person you are.

Happy Birthday baby boy, Happy Birthday Finn.  You are loved more than I ever knew you could be

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Before You Turn Seven

It gets me every year when I check out Timehop and see that on this day I was working my last shift before maternity leave, that seven years ago I was a mother of one.  I had no idea what was in store for me when you arrived the very next day and you still take me by surprise all the time.  As I put you to bed for the last time as a six year old, the excitement for the morning already evident in your face, I can't help but look back on the year that we have had.

Six was the year that you finally got the hang of reading.  I knew it would come but you took your time, having little interest in letters and books, but then it arrived out of the blue, that recognition that you could understand those letters and you started zooming through the book bands at school and getting so much more confident with it every day.  Sometimes I think you would have been so much more suited to the later starting schools in other countries.  

Six was the year you changed your mind and rather than wanting pink, gold and every other colour, you just wanted black.  You have asked me to only buy you black clothes from now on and whilst part of me is a little sad about that, I love that when you make your mind up about these things you are so certain.

Six was the year you grew taller every day, or so it feels, your limbs lengthened and you look so much ganglier than the little children at your school.  You are in your final year now, one of the oldest ones in the school and I can see that.  You lost your first two teeth and your face has already started changing because of it.  

You still sing all the time, mostly George Ezra - Shotgun and you burst into song when I least expect it.  Sometimes it is a normal voice but other times you sing something very normal in a screamy-death-metal kind of voice and it scares me just a little! You are still very into how things feel and you went as far as taking your own pillowcase on holiday in case theirs wasn't soft enough.  You always have blankets attached to you or around you and everything has to feel right before it gets your approval.

I can see how much you have grown up in the last year and you make me proud every day (as well as driving me crazy most of them too!).  You are determined, loyal, loving and wild and so unapologetically yourself.  You still love cuddles and I am dreading the day that stops.  You would live with a gaming controller in your hand at all times if you had your way but once we get you away from a screen you always throw yourself into life fully.

I can't wait to see seven year old Archie in the morning and I am sure it is going to be an exciting year for you as you leave your infant school in the summer and head to a new junior school in September.  

Before you turn seven, as I kiss you for the last time as a six year old, I want you to know how truly loved you are.

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Nun Night Six Year Old

It was your last day as a six year old today and you cannot wait to wake up as a seven year old.  We have an exciting day out planned and we are taking two of your friends along which feels so much more grown up than a big party - quite fitting for the grown up boy you are becoming.

Six was the year you finished year two and said goodbye to infant school.  You are starting again as a seven year old somewhere new and you are so ready for the challenge.  Six was the year you grew so fast that I blinked and your t-shirts were hovering somewhere around your belly button.  It was the year your limbs seemed to shoot out,your proportions changing as you prepare for the next stage of growth.  I didn't really notice the changes until sports day when all the year two children seemed so gangly compared to the younger years and you most of all. 

This year you have found new interests, you have loved school and got so involved in your environmental superhero topic, becoming a campaigner for plastic bans and an avid recycler.  I have loved following your new interests, hearing you talk so animatedly about your topics and learning alongside you most of the time.   

You know your mind, you know societies expectations and you are not afraid to challenge them.  You understand that choosing something for the girls section is different, but you have the self confidence to do it anyway if that is what you like.  I hope you always stay you.

You are really into computer games now which I find a daily struggle as I would prefer you to spend less time looking at a screen.  All you have asked for this year for your birthday is Fortnite as all your friends are playing it and I don't feel ready to lose you into this world just yet! We are trying to find a good balance and you still love imaginative play and being in the garden.  You have pretty much left toys behind, but you play imaginative games with friends and your siblings using whatever you have on hand (often cuddly toys).  Your bedroom has become your 'base' and you still love sharing with your brother and wouldn't have it any other way.

As you turn six you are already over 130cm tall and are not showing any signs of slowing down.  You change your mind often about what you want to be when you grow up but today's answer was a footballer for Liverpool (You support Crystal Palace) and your most prized possession is your Pokemon cards. You aren't really into cuddles anymore, but I can still get one out of you sometimes and you love animals, especially sealife creatures, although you are still absolutely petrified of dogs.  

You have been a fantastic six year old and I can't wait to see what seven has in store.  I say it every year but it can't possibly be seven years since I was waddling to bingo, still convinced you were going to be overdue despite the regular twinges I was getting.  Tomorrow will make seven years since you entered the world as my superhero (quite literally with your hand first) and changed all of our lives.  You continue to change me and make me a better person and I love you with everything I have.

Sleep tight my gorgeous six year old, for tomorrow is a big day 

Love Mummy xxxxxx

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