Cara Is 7–Happy Birthday Gorgeous Girl!

To my dear Cara,

Happy 7th birthday, my sweetheart. You are growing up to be such a funny, fierce, mysterious, and fabulous eldest daughter!

In this letter, I’m going to talk about your life over the past year and the gorgeous personality we see emerging as you get older.

I love you because you get excited about the weather with me. I love how capable you are. You’re pretty much the only person in my house who is capable of making me a ham and mustard sandwich. But no matter what you achieve, I’ll always love you and be proud of you, just for being Cara.

In my letter, I’ll also include some of the little things about you. It’s the things we forget while life gets busy—the details lost amongst the demands of toddlers, laundry, cooking, and shopping.

Things like you losing an absolute ton of teeth this year. Oh, and the fact they stuck out in fabulous ways as the new ones poked through. This all came after you smashed a deciduous front tooth out, and I was so glad that the new one revealed itself unscathed. You were close there, girl.

Cara, you’re naturally funny and often have me in tears of laughter. You’re a great motivator. A good listener. You have natural flow and rhythm and dancing comes naturally to you. You love to entertain, and dancing is something you do so well. I hope that you can grow this love of yours!

Friends & Family

Your relationship with Jonah has bloomed this year. You are the big kids of the house, and when you are playing everybody knows about it! The walls rattle as you charge through the house!

Lydia is your best buddy, and she is where the serious play happens. Makeover sessions, soft toy huddles, and duvet moments are where it’s at for you both right now.

But Eleanor has taken a real shine to you in the past six months, and I swear she sees you as her surrogate mother. She always asks for you when she’s disgruntled with me!

Well, what can I tell you about your interests? You absolutely love art, you’re always drawing. You love cooking and making food. You’re very gifted with capable hands. Your writing has come on beautifully this year, and it’s been amazing to watch you form words and sentences in your own way.

Now that you are 7, you still play with toys. However, your “toys” are a lot more collectable now. Think Squishmallows, Jelly Cat, and Labubu dolls (although you’ve not got a real one, yet). You love K-Pop Demon Hunters (of course!), and Roblox. However, you’re never too old for a box.

You’re super capable in many respects. Like getting yourself dressed, brushing your hair, and making your own food. I still have to nag you about picking your clothes up off the floor, though!

And the past 10 months have been really hard. We sadly lost your Grandma Irene this year. We were all so sad, and we grieved our loss and sought solace together. I hope that you’ll look back on family videos and photos and remember the good times we had together while she was with us.

A Teacher Who Gets You!

Last year you took part in a choir with schools in the local area. I was so proud to watch you sing and join in.

And this year you have a speaking part in the KS1 nativity play. Sheep #2. So proud.

One thing that’s been awesome since September is that you have been so much happier in Year 2 over Year 1. What a big difference it is to be supported by a teacher who gets you!

You seem to be thriving socially this year and have lots of friends around you. You always come out of school grinning and have a huge hug for me. It makes battling the school run with a toddler worthwhile.

And you did so many great things at school last year, from colour runs, school trips, picnics, and more. Not to mention the dress up days: we’ve had Harry Potter, Christmas jumper days, and a lot more besides.

Things We Did This Year

Just look at all the cool things we did in the past year.

Ice skating, and we’ll be doing it again this winter!
Had a lovely family holiday in Scotland, it was a country house adventure and you met your extended family. You had your first NYE party here.
Whitby house for Jonah’s birthday. We all love Whitby so much, and a summer break was well needed.
Went to an upside down house.

Strawberry and pumpkin picking.
Beach day at Bridlington with my family.
Yarm Fair where you bravely rode the Waltzers for the first time and were almost sick.
Hundreds of scooter rides together, sometimes in the dark!
We went swimming so often! Our local pool is the best!
We enjoyed quite a few snow days!
You’re the number 1 tester of my bath bomb creations.
Trampolining for your birthday.
Made hundreds of your favourite after-school snack, a rice cake sandwich. Believe it.

Recipe for Rice Cake Sandwich

2 slices of white bread. Warburton’s toastie bread is best.
1 x Salt and Vinegar rice cake
A big squirt of Hellmann’s Mayonnaise to cover the bread and make the rice cake stick.

Method: squirt, stack, eat and enjoy!

What a year we have had together, Cara. I’m so proud of you, and I love you more than you can imagine.