Dear Cabot,
We are all so excited to celebrate your fifth birthday. Benson has been talking about it for days and Ainsley for weeks (because she's prepared like that). Ainsley made you a card and birthday decorations. Benson tried to convince Baba to let you stay up late and watch the tablet using your birthday tomorrow as the excuse. We've wrapped your presents and we'll bake a cake tomorrow. Saturday we'll swim and celebrate with extended family.
You have brought so much joy to our family. You are such a happy guy. You're silly and often wearing that infectious smile of yours. You love attention and like to have us watch you do things...anything...like take a bite of food. You love super heroes, The Incredibles, Power Rangers, and Paw Patrol. You like wrestling with your brother and singing and dancing with your sister. You ask for Jie Jie when she's not home but you won't give her a kiss and a hug at night. You think it's funny when she pretends to get mad. You will happily give Benson a hug and kiss because you're a stinker like that.
Speaking of kisses, you like to do the "triple kiss" - right cheek, left cheek, then lips. You pull us in for hugs now. You still ask to be picked up and held and even want to be carried around in the baby carrier. We're more than happy to indulge this affection. You like to do fist bumps and "blow it up." You are SO ticklish.
You've started wanting to pick out MY clothes and shoes and seem to (unfortunately for me) love the color yellow. You still wear your shoes all the time, much to the detriment of all the rest of our toes. You still love ramen noodles but will eat most things now and you have a BIG appetite. You especially love popcorn. You do NOT love slime (making you my favorite kid 😉).
You still suck your finger at night and you still sleep with mom and dad. You love to look through our photo books and have us tell you everyone's name (even though you already know them). Sometimes you'll find a picture of Benson and declare that it's you in the picture. We don't tell you that it isn't.
We met you 86 days ago. Eighty-six. That's not a lot. You spent 1,724 days in an orphanage starting at just 10 days old. My heart aches for every one of those days. It aches for the four birthdays we missed. Because I never got to hold baby Cabot. I never smelled your sweet newborn head. I can't reminisce about the day you were born because I wasn't there.
I can't change the past. I'm not sure I would even if I could. Because THIS is our story. This is YOUR story. And I know it's been written exactly as it should be. So I'll still grieve over the things we missed but I'll also find joy in what's ahead.
Happy, happy birthday sweet Cabot. Thank you for all you've given us. We can't wait to spend ALL the rest of your birthdays with you.
All our love, always,
Mom & Dad
