Why did I start this today? Probably because my husband has the flu and went to bed early and there wasn't anything interesting to watch on Hulu.
Today I thought a lot about my my 5 year old daughter "A". She's pretty spectacular. She is sweet and thoughtful and kind and so incredibly inquisitive. This weekend I was sick with the flu my husband has now and pretty much just stayed away from everyone. During my quarantine, A found a pad of pink post-its and started write 'messages' to me and C. She addressed them with our initials and signed them with her initials. C's favorite was, "C by brav A" (translation for people who don't read Kindgergarten: Be brave).
Well today I decided to give her a bunch of post-it messages of her own. I yoinked a pad from work and wrote a bunch of different things to her. When I started it was basic things that I tell her all the time, but as I kept writing them, I realized what an awesome opportunity it was to tell her the little things I forget to tell her.
I love the way you are fancy.
You read very well.
I can't wait to read Harry Potter with you.
You ask excellent questions.
Be happy.
When you're sad I want to help you find out why.
I love when you teach me new things.
I enjoy teaching you new things.
I love hearing about your day.
I don't think she quite knew how to react. She wanted to read every single one before she got dressed for dance. She even spotted the ones on her ceiling. She kept hugging me but didn't really say much about it. But then during dinner she kept saying, "You want to hear an excellent question?" and proceeded to ask truly excellent questions, "Mommy, how do people get made? Not like babies, I mean their skin and their bones." I seriously want to spend a day in her mind.
I don't know if this will be something she'll remember down the road or not, or if these will all just end up being post-its stuck to the bottoms of our shoes, but I loved doing this. I almost feel like it was more for me than for her. I spend too much time being frustrated at her for doing all those 5 year old things that make me rip my hair out. Today I gave myself the chance to focus on all those 5 year old things that make me want to hug her and not let go.
At her bedtime, we go through our days and name our favorite part. Hers was learning her dance routines for her recital. Mine was writing 30 or so post-it notes to my A.
