Sixty months, three weeks and two days

Hey Boo! Guess what?

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...you're five! I know you know this (and are most gleeful about it), but I still have to remind myself that it's been that long since you were a wee pink wriggling slug-thing.

This past year has been a big one for you - we got a dog, so you're no longer the youngest. You started school, and are thrilled beyond belief with being in a real class. You are picking up reading and math like, well, a sponge - you are reading well ahead of our previous experience with Reception (which I suspect is due to a combination of your brains, exposure to your older sister, and an absolutely spectacular teacher who lets you progress at your pace, not the pace of everyone around you). You came home a few weeks ago and informed me you had finished all the Reception maths books and were now doing Year 1 maths. I didn't think much of it at the time, because, well...sometimes a firm grasp on the strictly factual is not your strong point. But then I went to a conference with your teacher and she confirmed that yes, you zoomed through the first two maths books saying "My sister taught me this!" and were now zooming your way through the math for next year. Clearly, this is an area in which you take after your logic-obsessed physics-major father, not me.

It's also been a big year for you socially. You've always been more comfortable playing by yourself, doing your own thing, but this year you've started actually asking for playdates with classmates, and engaging with your peers when we happen to see them around town. It's wonderful to see. To be fair, you are following in Dev's footsteps in making all the boys fall in love with you (there are currently three potential candidates for the future Mr. Boo). I'm just hoping it doesn't come down to drawn swords on the playground at lunchtime.

You adore your sister. And your parents. And your dog. You skip your way merrily to school and are entirely too sunny and cheerful, except when you're not. You are warm and open and loving, and even the tears and tempests are (mostly) short-lived and the sunshine after the rain is as bright as ever. Sometimes there's even a rainbow.

Keep on shining sunshine.

Love, Mummy