To my daughter on your 7th Birthday

To the best daughter in the whole wide world,

I ask the same question every year “Where has the time gone?” It has been seven blessed years of loving you, looking after you & watching you grow into the smart, confident, kind, funny & beautiful girl that you are.

In the past year, you’ve gone from loving Peach (whom you dressed up as for your 6th birthday), to not liking her anymore. Then it was Mal, Evie & Uma from Descendants but then that changed to Zombies and as of today, I’m not quite sure what you like. 

At school you have just started year two, after having smashed your year one with flying colours. You are looking forward to doing excellent things and already excited about your Great fire of London project.

It has been so heartwarming to see your creative talents blossom (dancing, drawing, coming up with stories with your dad). I know that you will continue to work on and develop these in the next year too. I am so proud of you!

You are doing so well with your languages (French in school and Yoruba at home), Piano, LAMDA & swimming. You had your first Karate grading after only a few weeks of joining the group & you passed with 84%- what an achievement! Your Sensei was particularly proud of how much effort you put into your lessons. Likewise, you have just started tennis & you are now already doing so well. Across all your extracurricular activities, the feedback about you is consistent – that you are excellent and put in every effort. Sadly, this year you said goodbye to Ballet which you started when you were three years old. But as I always say to you, “there’s a time for everything” & you recognised that Ballet just wasn’t for you anymore and it was time to move on.

As you begin this new year, I would encourage you to continue to speak up for yourself and not to be influenced and worried about whether your friends would stay being your friend if you tell them “no”.  Your words are powerful and you can speak them with boldness. 

For the first time since your first birthday, we’ll be hosting a party for you and you have invited your cousins and friends from school & nursery. We hope that you’ll have the most amazing time and understand just how loved you are.

You have an excellent spirit and favour is upon you. Your dad & I are so proud of you and know that you will continue to soar high with wings like eagles. 

You are SMART

You are BOLD

You are BRAVE

You are FAVOURED

You are LOVED

And always remember, “never let anyone dull your sparkle“! 

Lots of love & cuddles from mumma