Dear Sawyer,
When I was pregnant with you, I had a checkup where I told the nurse that I wanted your gender to be a surprise. After she saw whether you were a boy or girl, she wrote it down on a piece of paper and sealed it in an envelope. Later that night when Daddy and I were back home, we sat on the couch and opened the envelope together. You obviously know what it said!
As soon as I knew that you were going to be a boy, I wanted to name you Sawyer. When we tell people your name, they think Tom Sawyer (which actually happens to be one of the many books you like) but when I was pregnant with you, my favorite TV show was Lost and one of my favorite characters on the show was named Sawyer. I had never thought of Sawyer as a first name before but liked it, especially since it wasn't (and still isn't) very common. I still love your name but maybe the name George would have been more fitting because you have always been so curious! You are constantly asking Daddy and me questions about what is this product made of, how that machine works, who invented such and such, where does this animal live, etc. Thank goodness we have Google to find all of the answers!
I love that you are so inquisitive. Yes, sometimes all of your questions can be a lot, especially if it's been a long day and I'm tired, but I love that you are always thinking and wondering. I love that you are still obsessed with reading and that you get genuinely excited about starting a new book. I love that you enjoy building things, whether it's a LEGO spaceship or a Kiwi Crate pinball machine. I love that you enjoy spending time with me and often ask if we can talk; you usually don't even have a specific topic you want to talk about but just want to chat with me in general. I love that you try to be a good big brother to MuiMui, even though she annoys you a majority of the time. I don't love your mistakes but I do love that when you've made one, you apologize and tell me you'll try not to do it again.
When kids are little, they are so excited for their birthday and can't wait for it. You are 11 today--happy birthday!!--and I think this is the first birthday where you are having mixed feelings about getting older. I think the main factor is that you are graduating from elementary school at the end of the month. You said that you are excited for middle school but obviously it is going to be difficult and sad to leave the good friends you have known and spent so much time with since kindergarten. I also know that you are starting to feel the pressure of succeeding in school. Your teachers have always loved you, admired your work and praised you for being smart but you know school is going to get more challenging. You've seen how much GuhGaw and JieJie have to do in middle and high school and you've heard Daddy and me lecture all of you kids about pushing yourself and being your best self because the competition out there is fierce. That's why your worked as hard as you did on your Garden School essays and interviews and also why you signed up for your school's debate competition this past weekend. You'd had no debate experience before, but you knew it was a good way to challenge yourself, so you signed up, spent all last week working on your speech (the topic was whether schools should install security cameras; you were on side nay-cameras) and then delivered it at the debate competition on Saturday. You didn't win but I am very proud of you for trying something new.
I know this next chapter may be scary but you have always been so smart, capable and determined and I know you will do great things. I love you so much, Baby Bear! Happy birthday!!!
Love,
Mom
