To my dear Jonah,
Happy birthday my sweetheart! Another year of loving you. Jonah, you’re 8 and I’m now officially the mum of an older kid.
You may know that I’ve been writing these letters to you since your third birthday. I hope one day, you’ll be interested in reading my letters, and learn something about yourself and your life as a kid.
In that vein, this year, you actually did start to take an interest in my blog. I told you about the letters I write to you on your birthday.
Funnily, you took a look at the headings and pictures for yourself and your siblings and found it amusing! This being noted, at the moment, you’re way too interested in space to spend too much time dwelling on anything else!
It’s been kind of a quiet year for us all. In fact, the biggest adventure was welcoming your new sibling into our family.
And how much you love your new sister Eleanor! She is the apple of your eye.
You’re clearly growing up because you love sniffing her head, just as adults do. It’s safe to say you absolutely adore your baby sister.
With Cara, you two are all about the rough and tumble. You roar around the house like lions, full of energy. You two have met your match in each other.
It’s so lovely to watch the kindling of a relationship with Lydia. You want to spend time with her and put on her favourite videos to watch together, normally Sheriff Labrador.
This year was the year we learned more about you than ever before. This was the year you finally got your Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis. It was a relief to receive the diagnosis, and it prompted us to learn more about autism and how it may affect our lives.
It helped to explain a lot of your personality quirks and some of the challenges we’ve faced with communication and relationships. We’ve talked about autism and what it means for you. The diagnosis can only be a good thing, and it changes nothing about how we feel about you.
We’re also waiting on an assessment for Development Co-ordination Disorder. Getting this diagnosis would explain lots of the physical challenges you’ve faced. You struggle with so many tasks both gross and fine motor, such as gripping a pencil and doing up buttons, and sports in general.
But let’s not forget the fun things. The sayings you come out with crack me up – scraping off the dust, and Mikey’s drugs and cigarettes (only we will “get” these) but I have to record them for the future.
We’ve seen a lot of gen-alpha culture in this house this year – you know, the skibidi toilet, ohio, rizz, sigma, etc. I think you stopped calling me mummy this year. I’m not sure if it’s an autism thing or just you, but you call me Helen now “because that’s your name”. I don’t mind. Honestly, I have three other little ones calling me mummy still.
This year we’ve seen your personality develop even more. Your sense of humour is amazing. You’re so quirky, and I love it. You really are an introvert, and social situations tire you very quickly. Computer games are still your thing – Roblox is definitely your favourite.
Recently you love anything to do with space. You’ve taught me so much about planets, black holes, quasars, and gas giants. Thank you for igniting my interest in new things again, Jonah. You also love all kinds of strange creatures like those created by Trevor Henderson. The Boiled One gets you curious.
You’re doing so well at school, meeting all your targets and exceeding your targets in reading.
You have a lucky streak as well – you’ve won two hampers for us at school this year.
Jonah, you’re 8, and I love being your mum! Watching you grow up is beautiful, but also sad because you change so fast. Keep on being the amazing boy that you are, brighten our lives and overcoming your challenges. I love you so much!
Mummy (Helen McClaired)
