Happy 7th Birthday to Our Olivia Cate!

My Dearest Olivia,

You are seven and I can’t even believe it!  Although, you pretty much always act like you’re seven going on seventeen, so most the time I have to remind myself that you are not, in fact, a teenager, and that you’re ONLY seven.  Haha.

This past year has been the weirdest one of our lives, but you’ve adjusted to this pandemic existence seamlessly.  As always, you just walk around in your own jolly little bubble, completely unaffected by the chaos that’s going on around you… it takes a LOT for anyone to kill your vibe, and it’s extremely rare to see you flustered or glum. 

This past year, you finished kindergarten in quarantine via virtual learning.  Mommy was devastated that you were robbed of your kindergarten graduation, but in keeping with your easy-going attitude, you weren’t bothered by it in the least.  And you completely ROCKED virtual learning... you learned how to navigate a computer and use Zoom with ease, and you adjusted to virtual learning like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Fortunately, you were able to start first grade in-person, and in true Olivia fashion, you adapted to wearing masks all day immediately, without a single issue.  You are truly the most go-with-the-flow, spontaneous little person, and I feel like I could learn a lot from you. 

You and your BFF are in different classes this year, but you welcomed several new girls into your group of friends, and you love them so much.  Your boy crush from last year is also still going strong, and you’re always telling us how he teases you mercilessly, so maybe the feeling is mutual?

Your behavior at school this year has been impeccable – you never get moved to yellow or red – and your teacher always mentions how bright you are in her texts and emails to me.  You’re only in first grade this year, but you’re reading on a third – fourth grade level… your AR level is currently 3-4.5 and you’re rocking all of your tests!

You chatter nonstop, and when I say nonstop, I mean it.  You are always talking, if not to one of us, then to yourself.  And if you’re not talking, you’re singing.  You sing everywhere you go, and your ultimate favorite place to sing is in the shower.  Every single night, we have our own personal live music experience, because you belt out all of your favorites… and when I say “belt out,” I mean you sing at the top of your lungs, so loudly that we can hear you from any room in the house.  Haha.  Your current favorite shower go-to is “God’s Country” by Blake Shelton… so darn random, but there’s just something about that song that makes you want to sing.  You also love to sing “Into the Unknown” from Frozen 2.

Yep, you’re still obsessed with Frozen 2, so much, in fact, that you requested it to be the theme of your birthday cake this year.  You also love Legos, Hatchimals, all of the Disney princesses, and any kind of arts and crafts set.  You will tear up some arts and crafts… this past year you’ve made your way through countless jewelry making kits, purse decorating kits, painting sets, and Magic Ink coloring books.  And you still LOVE to draw and paint.  You are constantly creating, and most of the time for other people… my keepsake box is bursting at the seams with the many cards and paintings that you’ve made for me… I just can’t bring myself to get rid of any of them because they’re all so dang cute.

One thing you stopped doing this year was dressing up.  For the first six years of your life, you were almost always in a costume around the house, but this past year, you decided that you’d rather not wear clothes at all the majority of the time.  Lol.  You do still occasionally throw on a costume, but these days it’s more like a fashion show where you put one thing on, parade around in it for two minutes, and then move on to the next one.

Your favorite costumes to wear these days are your old dance recital costumes, which reminds me that I must mention that you are still going strong in dance class… for the third year running!  You are taking the combo class again this year, but in addition to just ballet and tap, you’re also taking jazz, and it turns out you like jazz most of all!  You have gotten so limber this year, and you’re constantly stretching and practicing your splits all over the house.  You have nearly perfected the front split, and you’re getting closer and closer to having that side split down, too.  Your recital is coming up, and you’ve been showing us all of the new things you’ve been learning in class.

You are still loving your pierced ears, and this past year, you learned how to change your earrings on your own.  I never even had to assist you… one day you just decided to do it and you’ve been doing it on your own ever since.  Your earring collection has grown by leaps and bounds, and you love nothing more than to go browse your collection to find the perfect pair to compliment the current holiday, season, or outfit.

This past year, you’ve also discovered a love for video games, namely Minecraft, Super Smash Bros, and Zelda.  You and Jacob love to play them together, and I think you’d both play every day if we’d let you.  Video game time is one of your most favorite times of day on the weekends.

Peanut butter and jelly is still your go-to choice for every meal, but just recently you informed us that pancakes have officially usurped PB&J for that #1 spot in your heart.  Because of that, I finally got Cokie’s perfect pancakes recipe so I can make your favorite food for you.  You also still love cheese dip and refried beans from the Mexican restaurant and your favorite snack is a spoonful of peanut butter, a Larabar (kids version), fruit snacks, or Babybel cheese.  And you only drink water.  All these years later, you still won’t touch anything else.  Literally.  Water all day, every single day.

You love telling little made-up stories and you never cease to crack up your brother… he is always laughing at something you’ve said or done.  You also love to tell us about your dreams when you remember them.  Most are good, but sometimes you’ll have a bad one to tell us about, and you seem to relish telling us about the bad ones the most.

You love attention, and you need companionship just as much as you need the air in your lungs.  You hate being alone, and spending time with someone is all you ever want in life.  As a matter of fact, you never are alone… you pretty much refuse to be!  Haha.  You’d much rather sit alongside me while I’m working, than be doing something fun off on your own.  I’m certain that your love language is quality time, and your favorite person to spend that time with is Jacob.  Your sweet brother/sister friendship is simply the best.

You’re still a slob.  Yep, there’s no nice way to put it.  Haha.  You are a little tornado, constantly leaving Hatchimals, paper scraps, crayons, blankets, and beads in your wake.  You literally take your clothes off and leave them in a heap wherever you happen to be standing, you drag blankets and pillows around with you constantly and you leave them all over the house.  You put your fuzzy PJ pants and fuzzy socks on when you’re cold, and then you take them off five minutes later when you get hot, leaving them in a pile in some random spot in the kitchen or living room. 

Your idea of cleaning is literally just shoving stuff in places to get it out of sight, and I’m constantly finding socks in toy bins, stuffed animals under the couch, markers under the bed, and paper literally everywhere.  I’m not going to lie, it drives me INSANE because we could not possibly be more different when it comes to tidiness and cleanliness.  I just pray you marry a man who is much tidier than you, so you and your family don’t live in complete filth one day.  Haha.  I also pray that he is able to look past your VERY messy tendencies. 

You are one in a million, Olivia Cate, and God most definitely broke the mold when he made you… there is never a dull moment when you’re around!  You are always a ray of sunshine in this sometimes-dark world, and I hope you always choose to walk in the light as you have these past seven years.  We love you so!

Love,

Mommy

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