secret friends

dear little leah, 

i don't think it's a secret that you have lots of friends. so many people like you. everyone knows who you are and you seem to bring a smile to many faces. but, i bet you didn't know that you have special secret friends. friends who watch you - and you don't even know! friends whose days you brighten just by being you. 

at christmas, our dear not-so-secret friends, the mcphies, handed us a beautifully wrapped gift. red with white polkadots and beautiful ribbon. they said someone dropped the gift off at their house and asked them to deliver it to you. and they asked to remain anonymous. so, on christmas day, we opened up this beautiful gift. and inside we found the loveliest of lovely fairy princess dresses. a full, frilly, fabulous tutu with the softest, daintiest pink leotard you have ever seen. 

also included was the most darling book "the jellybeans and the big dance." we've already read it lots. 

and then there was a letter, addressed to you. the letter made me cry. in front of my friends. on christmas day. 

"Dear Leah" it started. "Christmas is such a wonderful time of year. There are so many things about it that make me smile. I love the decorations and the good things to eat and listening to the story of the baby Jesus and the angels and the star that appeared when He was born. The music is also one of my very favorite parts, but I also love the present part and seeing the smiles on people's faces. You probably don't know this, but you make me smile every time I see you! I love your bows and your beautiful hair. I love watching your mommy and daddy and how much they love you and I especially love your beautiful eyes. So, since you give me so much to smile about by just you being you, I hope you won't mind if I give you a little gift for Christmas. I know lots of three year old little girls and they seem to like dressing in pink things...and they usually seem to pick something with lots of layers, so when I saw this in the store I thought it might be something you might like..."

The note then went on to say, "We also heard that there is some amazing technology that might help you, so we wanted to give you something to add to your technology fund. Hope it might help in some small way. I hope you have a very wonderful Christmas. Thank you for helping me smile! Much love, Your Special Friend"

included in the card were some stick-on earrings and jewels and a much-too-large sum of money. leah, i'm not sure what it is, but you get to people. you make them smile and you brighten their days. so thank you for being you. 

and a sincere thank you to your special friend: you put a smile on our faces and brightened our day.

love, 

mommy 

what a day!

dear little leah,

i love days like today! miss jenn said you approximated "white" and "blue" and "more" today. multiple times. and at the right times! woo hooo!

and then she said you went potty in the potty! yippee!

and then you took a great nap. alright!

and then we had a dance party in the front room. yee haw!

and then we colored pictures and made cards for some of our family. yay!

and then you used your switch to sing happy birthday to aunt kb. and she cried. woot woot!

what a day. let's go pick up dad and eat some dinner. mmkay?

love you,
love,
mommy

one tough cookie, you are

dear little leah,

 

you are very brave. very, very brave. and you have a high tolerance for pain. and you do pretty well around strangers. these three things combined {plus, the fact that you're cute and giggly} make for much more pleasant experiences at doctors' offices than i would otherwise have. so thanks in advance for that.

over the holiday break we dragged you into two separate offices to have glue and wires stuck to your chest and head and strung back to a machine that drew all sorts of funny lines on a piece of paper {for the ekg on dec. 22nd} and the computer {for the eeg on dec. 29th}. and really, you didn't do much protesting.

you kept relatively still for the ekg and didn't scream nearly as much as a three year old should have when the tech ripped those 15 electrodes off your chest. and you kept super duper still when the tech glued 23 wires to your head {okay, you were sleeping}. and, while we're at it, thanks for being a champ of champs for only getting six hours of sleep the night before that eeg.

i know it's not fair, but in the words of mothers everywhere, "life isn't fair." you can quote me on that. and my mom. and my mom's mom. and everyone's mom. it really isn't fair. but thanks for pluggin' along with a smile on your face. and thanks for dealing with my idiocy on a daily basis. you are truly a joy.

and i love you.

love,

mommy