![\"IMG_8231\"](\"http:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/IMG_8231.jpg\")
![\"IMG_7676\"](\"http:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/IMG_7676.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDear Maya,<\/p>\n
Today you turn four years old. You had been asking me if you were going to be four the next morning you woke up. So the first thing out of your mouth as I walked into your room this morning was a jarring \u201cAM I FOUR YET?\u201d \u00a0I whispered yes, and before I could even reach your bed you screamed, \u201cYAY! I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE FOUR!\u201d Dude, look at you tearing through your bucket list.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You are much more into dressing up now. You don\u2019t want to wear anything unless it\u2019s a dress. Every morning you will refuse to change if I take out a pair of pants. You will moan and tear up about the fact that I don\u2019t let you wear your summer dress because it\u2019s not summer anymore. And you don\u2019t care. You will request to have that strapless floral dress paired with your pink flip flops. But it\u2019s cold outside, Maya! Then you beg, \u201cI will put on my jacket. The one for snowing, maybe? Please! Pretty Please!\u201d<\/p>\n
The moment you see some new clothes we bought you, you will strip off what you are wearing at the time and jump right into them and start posing in front of the mirror. I don\u2019t have any idea where you learned how to do this. Maybe because you are pretty well trained with the plastic high-heels and pink lacey pajamas that your aunt Karin has been lavishing you with, and you are very capable to show off the beauty of it. But what I can only imagine is that the 50-year-old of you won\u2019t walk to the mailbox without wearing five-inch heels and at least two clashing animals prints in blinding colors.<\/p>\n
![\"IMG_5744\"](\"http:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/IMG_5744.jpg\")
![\"IMG_5842\"](\"http:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/IMG_5842.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
You gave up baby swing at the park long time ago, and you\u2019ve started to go on a regular swing. You\u2019d watched your brother do it and demanded to have a go. This didn\u2019t surprise me given your personality, but I thought that once you got really high and experienced the weightlessness of it you\u2019d be all STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!<\/p>\n
Now I will note right here that I don\u2019t think it will ever happen in your life.<\/p>\n
The first time I pushed you on a swing, I took it very cautiously. But then you saw Ethan flying next to you, and you started to scream, \u201cHIGHER!\u201d So I pushed harder. As you started to feel that you were flying in the air, up to the top of the tree you just giggled and squealed. I got a little dizzy just watching you.<\/p>\n
Ethan is flying, you want to fly with him. He is going through a ring of fire, you are ready to join him. You go along for all his rides. That\u2019s how I would explain your personality to people. You are up for anything, except you hope those rides are bumpy, turn upside down, shoot across the valley, and are being chased by cannibals.<\/p>\n
Your personality is, \u201cWho\u2019s up for committing a felony?\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet your personality is also running around the house with a doll in your hand, stopping in front of me and shout-whispering, \u201cHold Hello Kitty. If you drop her, I won\u2019t talk to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
You are the child people envision when they think about what it might be like to have a family. You are the kid sitting on my shoulders, your head thrown back in laughter, an expression of eternal joy. You cuddle with your whole body, your arms and legs wrapped around my torso, your head burrowed deep under my arm, an unspoken love filtered down into a fleeting embrace. You can clap and squeal when confronted with good news. You make funny faces, you attempt to make crude noises, you run and hug every human being you see whether or not they want to be hugged. You tell everyone to be quiet so that you can tell a funny joke. It\u2019s funny, yes, but the best part is that no one finds it funnier than you do.<\/p>\n
Some people are puzzled about the size of your eyes when compared with your brother\u2019s. They go, \u201cSuch a handsome boy, Ethan! Look at your big eyes!\u201d Then go, \u201cOh Maya, so cute! But where are yours?!\u201d And they are entitled to be confused because I can\u2019t explain it neither. They can have their outrage if they are only into sizes. But they don\u2019t live with you and do not understand how mesmerizing your eyes can be. You smile with your eyes. Your eyes are as much a part of who you are as how you giggle with your body thrown way back into joy, and your eyes giggle along with your whole body. And it is fundamental to your spirit \u2013 your cheerful, hilarious and carefree spirit that brightens everyone around you.<\/p>\n
![\"IMG_5721\"](\"http:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/IMG_5721.jpg\")
![\"IMG_9708\"](\"http:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/IMG_9708.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Maya, you are one of those kids that would even make the most cynical, most snooty \u201cit\u2019s no way I will have kids\u201d kind of person stop and go, \u201cOh my god I wish I had a daughter like yours.\u201d When they are around you and witness the delight you get from being alive, they seriously want to own you. I know it\u2019s just a matter of time before you know how to fly on your own. And I really cherish the moment now when I still own you. \u00a0You make me feel like I\u2019ve been locked inside a dark tunnel and you are the light bursting inside to reach in and lift me out. I want to follow you around and soak in your joy.<\/p>\n
What a gift, Maya. Thank you.<\/p>\n
Love,
\nMommy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"