Dear Kathleen

Five years and 11 days ago you arrived into this world. Tomorrow you start your first day of school. You are such a big girl now, I can't even begin to describe how proud I am of you. You are intelligent, beautiful, inquisitive. You ask lots of questions and think about the answers.

You love to draw, your drawings are so detailed including hands, bows, belts, eyelashes. Your favourite drawing subjects are people, usually yourself and your family. You got stickers and new pens for your birthday and your own ream of paper, and you do several new drawings every day.

You are becoming more and more independant yet you don't mind asking for help. You have become more independant in your play, and have gotten the hang of playing with the dolls and toys by yourself. We don't play pretend very often any more. I think this is because when your sister Victoria got old enough to play with us, she liked to play dolls rather than pretend and the only way we could all play together was with the dolls. You still enjoy pretending to be an animal, and a noise I have heard a lot over these school holidays has been you roaring at your sister or at me to try and scare us.

You still love being the centre of attention and you love telling jokes. Your favourite joke is "Knock knock. Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock knock. Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock knock. Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock knock. Who's there? Orange. Orange who? Orange you glad I didn't say Banana."

Bedtime can sometimes be difficult for you. Even as a baby you would rather be up and about than going to sleep. I think you find life too interesting to spend it sleeping. You still love TV and computer games. You got a new game for your birthday, Spy Fox, and have completed it several times now.

Your favourite books from the libary are puzzle books, where you have to find something hidden in the picture on each page. We have spent a lot of time at the library these school holidays. You are reading very well and can read lots of words. I'm not sure what your teacher will say when she gets to know you. Hopefully she can find things to challenge you.

You already know a few of the children that are going to be in your class this year, and you know lots of the children that will be in the next class up. Several of them came to your birthday party and you already knew them from daycare as well.

You are excited about starting school tomorrow. I am excited too, at least for now, tomorrow may be a different story. You have been ready for this for a long time now.

I am sad that we won't have so much time together any more, I will miss you. You have said that you are also sad about that. Since Victoria turned three a couple of months ago, she has been going to daycare two days a week and this has allowed you and I to have time together, just the two of us, and I have really enjoyed these days. You will always be my first baby, my big girl. You have had the luxury of having my complete attention for your first two years of life, and for the next two years after that have had my complete attention at least during Victoria's nap times. When she dropped her nap within the last year I didn't realise how much I would miss the one on one time with you. Now I am sad that I will only see you after school and at weekends. I hope that you and I can make the most of this time and still keep our special bond.

I am also a bit nervous of sending you out into the world by yourself (or so it feels to me). I wish I could be there to hold your hand, especially in the early days. But I have to let you go and do this on your own, and trust that you will be alright. There are some things that I know you are going to have to learn the hard way.

Soon this time will be just a memory. You will barely remember a time when you weren't a school girl, or that you didn't always know the friends that you have and are going to make.

But I will remember, my little angel. I remember when you were born, when you first sat up, when you crawled and then walked. I remember taking you to the zoo, to the playground, to the beach. Your first vaccinations, your burnt shoulder, your first fall. Your first time on a horse, your first time on a bike. I remember your first day at daycare and I will always remember your first day at school. Tonight Daddy and I told you that tomorrow will be one of the biggest days of your whole life. You disagreed and said that Christmas was the biggest. In years to come I hope you do remember this most important of days. The day from whenceforth our lives will never be the same again.








I love you my little angel. I love you very much.

Love Mummy