
My dear Littler Prince,
How is it possible that you are already five? It doesn’t seem like that could be. How has it been five years already?
It’s funny, though, at the same time I also want to ask, how has it only been five years? The way you keep up with your older brother, not just in games but in the way you talk and interact with everyone in your life, it seems like you are so much older sometimes. How has it only been five years? How are you doing all the things you are doing?
I can still picture you as a newborn, your hair red and wild, and that look that said, “Get ready world, I’m coming for you.” The world wasn’t ready for you then and it still isn’t. Your energy and your passion and your determination and your curiosity are going to take you far. That’s indisputable.
It leads to clashes now and then, of course, when your strong will runs into your older brothers strong will, or mine, or the Queens. That’s okay. When that happens, we aren’t trying to keep you from following your passions, we’re just trying to manage the day or keep you safe, or other boring but essential adulating things. And, the good news is that as you continue to grow and learn the clashes will get fewer and father between.
So, another year gone? It wasn’t filled with as many big adventures as our years usually are. Soon, we may start embarking on those again, but for now we contented ourselves with smaller adventures closer to home. You took the training wheels off your bike this year. You took an interest in words this year, asking how to spell things, creating words of your own, really playing with language. You sat at your older brother’s elbow for most of his schooling too. (That’s all the curiosity mentioned above coming in.) There were hikes and local, but new to us, camping trips. There were water balloon fights in the summer. There were puddle stomping sessions. There were Lego building marathons. There was so much squeezed in that one year that it wouldn’t be possible to capture it all here. I hope you’ve got some good memories that you’ll hang onto for years and years.
I know I do.
And, I know I’m curious what the year ahead has in store for you. It’s going to be another busy one. Every day an adventure in its own right.
And, no, the world still won’t be ready for you, but that’s okay. You’re going to shape it how it needs to be anyway.
Can’t wait.
Love you.
Love,
Daddy/Matticus/The Jester