To Sophie – now you are seven

Darling Sophie,

Today you are seven years old. You are so very excited to be turning seven. You’ve been counting down the sleeps for the last couple of weeks, and last night you were almost too excited to sleep. A birthday is a very exciting thing when you are seven years old. You are looking forward to opening your presents and eating the birthday cake that you helped Mummy make – a Hatchimals birthday cake as requested. I love that you enjoy baking so much and you want to help make and decorate your own cake.

 

 

You are now older than Jessica ever was – as you told her yesterday when we visited her forever bed. “Now I’m the big sister!” you said, excitedly. What a strange thing it is to overtake your big sister like that. You overtook her in age a little while back, but this is the moment when it feels very real – when you celebrate a birthday that she never got to celebrate. And while I’m so very glad that you do get to celebrate this birthday, I do feel so very sad that your big sister isn’t here to celebrate it with you. Because I know how excited she would be about your birthday; how much she would enjoy celebrating with you.

 

 

Darling Sophie, I am so proud of the little girl that you are. You have always been my little whirlwind; a bundle of energy and fun. You are a child of sunshine and laughter, full of charm with so much character. You are bright and loving and kind and it is such a joy to be your mummy. I love to watch you with Thomas; to see how patient and caring you are with him – the way you look after him, and help me out with him. You are such an amazing big sister to him, just as Jessica was with you. It is lovely to see what a beautiful bond the two of you share – and, oh, how it reminds me of how you and Jessica were together. I am so proud of what a loving and kind big sister you are.

 

 

This year of being six has been a very strange one, hasn’t it? You’ve amazed me at times with how well you’ve coped with it all – several months of homeschooling, not being able to see your friends and have playdates, not being able to see family, no parties to go to. I know you were hoping that the virus would have gone away in time for your birthday so you could have a party, but sadly this hasn’t happened. I wish we could have had a party, and spent time with family, but I promise you that we’ll make your birthday as special as we can even though we can’t have those things.

 

 

It has been so nice to have so much time with you this year though. We had almost six months of you being at home every day and I loved having that time with you. It’s been good for Thomas too and I think being together so much really strengthened that bond between you. Your little brother absolutely adores you. No-one else can make Thomas laugh the way you can.

 

 

Darling Sophie, I hope that your seventh birthday will be full of fun and that the next year will be a happy one on the whole for you, although things will be quite unsettled and strange for some time yet. Today is your special day though – a day to celebrate seven years of the wonderful little person you are; a day for smiles and laughter, and presents and cake. Happy birthday darling girl.

Love you millions and billions.

Mummy xxx