I am writing this letter today but you won't be able to read it until you're older. You just turned 8 years old exactly a month ago. I wanted to write this letter on your birthday, but I was quite busy last month. As you will recall, you had your First Communion on June 2, then Reggie had his Confirmation on June 15. And we were busy with church meetings and rehearsals in between. And of course, we had your birthday party with your friends from school.
I am writing this letter because I want you to know how I feel about you as the years go by. Since this is the first letter, let me go back to when you were a baby. I would describe you as a quiet baby, compared to Reggie, who would keep me awake on most nights. You also ate better than him. You were actually chubby when you were a baby. You were, and still is today, fair-complexioned, in contrast to other Filipino kids who are darker like your brothers and me and daddy. You had kind of a reddish-brown hair when you were a baby, but it is now black, but not as jet black as ours. When we were out, Filipinos would approach and ask me if your father was white. Of course, I would tell them no, that he was also from the Philippines.
You are a sweet and sensitive child. You laugh easily at just about anything. When your baby brother came along, I noticed immediately that you were jealous. Oh, I know that you love Ryland, it's just the usual sibling rivalry. I'm not really sure if that was when you started having temper tantrums. You would throw a fit at the smallest things. Like if you didn't like the shirt that you were wearing, or the seams of yours socks wouldn't fit right on your toes, you would just start to cry for the longest time. And sometimes this would happen in the morning when I'm trying to rush to work. And you would still be crying when I leave you and Reggie at Tita Carol. It upset me too.
When we started a day like that, I would think about you the whole day at work and wonder if it was my fault because I was trying to rush you so that I won't be late for work. But it didn't only happen in the mornings. It happened other times too. When Reggie teased you, or if you didn't want to clean up your toys, just to name a few. It drove me crazy when you had tantrums. I really started to think of going to a counsellor or psychologist. I thought maybe we both needed help. But then the answer to my prayers came.
I was offered to work at home. I grabbed that opportunity. Not just to save on Ryland's daycare costs but also to spend more time with you and your brothers. I didn't have to wake you up as early in the morning as I used to when I had to go to the office. Well, your tantrums didn't go away right away. We both worked on it slowly. I tried to be more patient with you. And in the long run, I guess as you were getting older, you also matured and learned how to control your temper.
Your second grade teacher, Miss Slota, noticed that too. I learned from her that she noticed that you are quite a perfectionist and that you cry at times when she try to correct your mistakes. But she also noticed that you had quite an improvement by the end of 2nd grade. And I'm really proud of you for that. And I think that is your first big accomplishment ever, not just as a child but as an individual. I hope you're proud of yourself too!
