Dearest Stella Grace,
I have been mulling over your birthday letter for a long while now. Nearly four months to be exact. The words have been slow in coming because you are nearly impossible to describe. You are a whirling little bundle of contradictions and you leave us all constantly surprised. One moment you are cuddly and mild-bestowing loves and kisses and tending to your baby dolls. Then, in almost the same moment you are calling everyone "thtupid," tormenting your brother and causing destruction that I couldn't have dreamt up. You are loved and adored at every unexpected turn and we can't wait to see what the future brings for you, little one.
You've been growing taller and taller this past year, but not gaining weight to go with it. You are tall and slender and you never wear clothes. You are naked whenever you aren't wearing a princess dress. You change your clothes constantly and love to layer. More is always more when it comes to skirts. Not long ago you started crying after getting yourself dressed. You told Daddy that you were hurt and upon examination, he discovered that you were wearing four skirts under a dress and things were getting a little too snug.
You love to dance. You are always stretching your arms out-twirling and kicking and throwing back your head. We are often surprised at how graceful you are. You and Daddy do lots of dancing together and the look on your face is always the very definition of joy. You like to sing, but not to share the limelight. If anybody tries to sing one of your favorite songs with you, you insist on the solo.
You and Charlie are finally becoming friends and sometimes you have a lot of fun together playing dogs or horses or chasing each other around. You also play a lot of "firefighters" and "bad guys" which is one of the benefits of having an older brother. You were such a mild mannered baby, that I was worried about how you would develop and become yourself with such a big personality for an older brother. How wrong I was to worry. You have an enormous personality of your very own and to say you can hold your ground is putting it very lightly. You know what you want and how to get it. You tease and torment and though you love Charlie, you don't follow him around or need his approval all the time. It makes me laugh to watch you two together.
Stella, you make the most enormous messes…unapologetically. Your messes are sensory in nature. You love to pour, dump, spread out, scatter and feel. This means that instead of cleaning up buckets of dumped out toys, I am cleaning hand soap that has been pumped into a cup, then carefully spread around the tile floor. Or, a Costco sized bag of shredded cheese which has been scattered throughout my bedroom including between sheets, all over the floor and on each individual blind slat. You never pass up mud or a puddle. You have dumped out bags of flour, powdered sugar and vital wheat gluten. Unfortunately, I put you in the shower after the gluten encounter, which resulted in hair filled with sticky glue, which took a lot of oil and hours of combing (and Nana's assistance) to remove. You cover yourself head to toe in vicks vaporub or soap or butter. Conveniently, you also love to shower and would stay in the bathtub indefinitely if we didn't set some limits.
You are still such a snuggle bug. You love to be touched and tickled. You beg to have your hair played with or your back rubbed. When watching a show, you'll pull up your shirt and ask whoever is nearby to tickle your tummy or arms. You are completely mesmerized by touch. We love it. It's how we trick you into snuggling with us.
You have a perfect little lisp and it makes everything you say more hilarious and endearing. Even being told I'm "thtupid" on a regular basis is sort of funny with your lisp. Speaking of stupid, we have given clear instructions that it is not a nice word and not to be said in our home. We have explained that using unkind language makes everyone unhappy. For some reason, this word became your one and only target word on the radar. You hear it everywhere, from everyone, in every circumstance. I can watch your ears perk up and your eyes get enormous when you catch it. You never sit idly by, you correct anyone and everyone who dares say "stupid" unless it is you. If, say, Nana says "I hate getting these stupid telemarketer calls" we can be sure that wherever you are, you'll come rushing over to correct the situation. "Nana! We don't thay thtupid! It makth our family thad!" Oh, it is so funny.
You love all things pink and are quick to choose the girly-est, sparkliest, pinkest things you can find. Regardless of what it is. And you are so very dramatic when it comes to truly needing ALL OF IT or you can't continue on. Really, so dramatic. Like, collapse on the floor in fake sobs-dramatic. It suits you very well. You adore jewelry and makeup and you can never get enough of it. But, like I said, you are a girl of opposites and love to get dirty too. I never know quite what I'm going to get with you. It keeps life both exciting and exhausting.
Stella, we love you for (and in spite of) your feisty, sassiness. You know your own mind and can't be dissuaded. You'll find that to be a great asset someday when you are big. For now though, you love to be little. You love to be held and rocked and doted on, and truly we love to do it. I am relieved every night to tuck you in to bed and watch you slip into your dreams, and I feel like the luckiest mom in the world every morning when you wake up and throw your arms around me. I adore the way you love us all. You make friends everywhere we go and share your bright light with everyone. I am quite on the edge of my seat waiting to see just who you become, beautiful girl.
All my love Stellie Bellie,
Mom
p.s. Aunt Lan says we shouldn't just tell you that you're pretty (even if you are). So in her honor, you are also very clever and good at math.
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