Dear Delaney at 6 Years Old,

Dear Delaney at 6 years old,

Where is the pause button in life when I need it, my sweet girl? As I reflect on you at this age, my heart just fills with complete joy and overwhelming love. It’s funny, because your dad and I used to always say that you were the hardest newborn and toddler but you have more than compensated for it from 4-6 years old.

You are so even keeled, mature, well spoken and responsible. Your memory is stellar! Just this week, we were driving in the car and were talking about nicknames and you said, “Mom, my nickname is Brooke, right?” I was very confused and thought you were mistaken yet you clarified, “mom, you told me my name was going to be Brooke when I was born.” You had remembered one passing comment, 6 months ago, when I told you when I was pregnant with you, that since we didn’t know if we were having a boy or girl, that if you had been born a boy, your name would have been Brooks!” You have moments like this all the time.

You are so calm, you listen so well, you do everything immediately when we ask you, many times you do things without having to be asked. 

You want to physically be with me nearly every moment of the day when we are home together. You sit with me in the office and draw on the large white board and just talk, you help me fold laundry in the laundry room, you cook with us in the kitchen, you hang out with me in the bathroom when I am getting ready, you sit on the counter in our closet when I am packing or unpacking, and you are next to me in our bed pretty much all the time. You love to talk to us and physically be close to us all the time. It just melts my heart and I truly look forward to the pitter patter or your little feet following me around or you yelling “mom” trying to find which room I am in. I can be stressed out with everything else around me but with you, I always find my calm and this unbeknownst patience that I never knew I had.

Since you were 2, people have often commented on how well spoken you are and I am still in awe of you. You recently were planning your 6th birthday party and said that something “is fabulous” as we were in the car on way home and then said, “specifically” when you were giving me an example. I about fell over.

Your sweet voice is still that tiny little girl voice and I know it is getting ready to change and I will forever miss your 6 year old voice when you tell me, “I only like holidays that Jesus is in.”

Your maturity is unbelievable - it’s so rare that you get mad or upset. If you cry or are upset, it truly is because you are hurt or terribly sad. The other day I had taken the 3 of you to Target and we had left the store and were 5 minutes away and I realized I had left my nice coffee mug at Target. We turned around and headed back and you proactively started going through all the areas of the store that we were, and remembered me having it as we left the dressing room area, narrowing it down to it having to be near checkout. And sure enough, that’s exactly where it was.

Sweet Delaney Cheryl or “Brooks,” as we lovingly started calling you, I adore you and your blue eyes and kind heart so much. 

I love you so very much,

Mommy

At 6 years old, you LOVE emojis, so I asked you questions and you had to answer with only emojis. You thought this was SO cool!