Last Updated on August 15, 2018 by Suzy McCullough
I am a family travel blogger. I don’t often write about subjects out of my niche unless it’s as a guest writer for other websites. My son recently turned five and I thought it would be a nice idea to write a letter to him as a post on here. Mostly because I still can’t believe he’s 5!
To my Darling Son as you turn five
It finally arrived, the day you had been looking forward to for so long, your 5th birthday. You suffer a little at school for being a summer born as I often hear your friends who are already 5 use their age as a boast against you. For now, this will be an issue for you however one day it will be to your benefit to be the younger one.
You were so excited to be turning 5 and you woke very early that day because you couldn’t wait for the day to begin. You’d already had a birthday party the week before and you had been so good waiting to open all of your presents. We had a lovely chilled-out day at home with a present opening and a meal out at your favourite pizza restaurant.
I didn’t want you to start reception at primary school in September because I felt that you were too young. I felt that we’d been robbed of more time together and a childhood of playing and having endless fun. However, you have blossomed because of it and we are immensely proud of the young man that you have become.
You have excelled in reading and writing which we are incredibly proud of for one so young. You have a genuine love for reading, just like your Mummy, and you strive every day to learn new words and to read words that you see around you in everyday life. I am sure that this will put you in good stead for your future and the building blocks of your education.
You have made some solid friendships and I am sorry that we are moving you away from those friends. We are confident though that you will make new friends and of course, keep the ones that you already have. We are moving towards a new life together by the seaside which is somewhere that means so much to you.
You are endlessly excited by everything that the seaside means to you and I can’t wait for our changes in lifestyle. I am nervous about you having to start at a new school without being able to see it first and I hope that your confidence will see you through the first nervous days.
I still can’t believe that you are now 5 and I know that every year from now on I will feel sadder. To you, it’s exciting to be a year older and you are already looking forward to turning 6. For me, I am excited to see how you develop over the next year but I am also nervous and frightened that you are growing up too fast.
You are one of the youngest, yet one of the tallest in your class. You are already tipping 1.2 metres and can go on theme park rides that most 4-5-year-olds are a long way off being tall enough for. You are now wearing age 6-7 clothes which are far too baggy around the waist and frighteningly short around the ankle.
You have been coming on leaps and bounds learning to swim and overcoming your fears of choking on pool water and getting water up your nose. I am sure that we will both be sad when you have to start lessons elsewhere.
You love to help me out at home especially with cleaning, cooking and tidying up. You are kind, polite and incredibly affectionate. We have cuddles and kisses often and you still reach out for my hand. I try to savour these moments as much as I can for I know that they won’t be around forever.
You are independent taking showers now and getting dressed. You do however still hate to use a knife and fork and you are quite happy eating with just a fork or your hands whenever you can get away with it.
I love your interest in the world and your desire to travel and see more. I hope that one day we will find a way to see more of the world together. You have an amazing imagination and I love to listen to you playing and making up games with your toys.
You love your soft toys and take 4 to bed every night. Your favourite is E.T. and you cuddle him to sleep. Another love of yours is music. You often choose to listen to David Bowie and you have many favourite songs across many different genres. You love to make up your own songs and are often singing, especially in the car.
You are still quite shy when it comes to joining in with things, especially discos and games with people that you don’t know. You are slowly finding your confidence and beginning to realise that it’s fun to do these things. I imagine that the next year will see your confidence growing even more.
You’ve had a few health problems this past year and we have been in and out of hospital for a skin problem. Recently you contracted Rotavirus which saw you in and out of the hospital three times, including a trip to hospital in an ambulance.
Hopefully, that nasty virus will leave you alone now and that may well be one of the downfalls to you being born in France as they didn’t vaccinate you. Hopefully, the only drama we will have this coming year is the possibility of losing your first milk teeth.
I know that you are thoroughly spoilt with all the mini breaks, days out and our epic holiday to Disney World this past year. I don’t care that you do so much. You love it and we love sharing these moments with you. Maybe one day you will realise just how lucky you are to be experiencing so much.
What will the year ahead have in store for us? I can’t wait to find out. In the meantime please don’t grow out of telling me you love me, giving me kisses and cuddles and holding my hand because I’m not ready for that (ever!).
Much love always, Mummy xxxxx
