Dear Gibson,

Today is one of those days as a mom where you want to drop your kids off at grandma's house, go home, and take a long hot bath.  For three days.

You and your sister have been fighting all day.  It's funny - sometimes you are such buddies, and then days like today it's all tattling, hitting, hitting, tattling.  Grrrrr. 

But, every cloud has a silver lining and there were a few good things worth mentioning.  We got a new game for the Wii, called Just Dance 2.  In a nutshell, it's hilarious.  You wanted to dance, so I put on the game and you danced a few songs and really tried hard to follow the moves.  But then you gave up and just started dancing.  You tend to be pretty uptight sometimes, and have trouble letting loose so it was nice to see you have fun.  On that note, I want to tell you a little story...

When I was little, according to everyone in the family, I was a hoot.  I was funny, made people laugh...had a big personality.  But then, somewhere along the line, I got shy.  Not a debilitating kind of shy, just the kind of shy that made it so I didn't have a lot of fun.  I was afraid of what other people would think.  And sadly, sometimes I still feel that way.  But further down the same line, I realized that I was missing out on a lot of great experience because I wasn't letting myself be...myself!  I started having fun, regardless of what other people thought.  But the funny thing is this - do you know what people thought?  They thought I was fun!  I know it will take a long time for you to be comfortable enough with yourself that you can just do what feels right...and I will be here all along the way to remind you to let loose.  But know that it is worth it. 

Plus, it completely makes my day each time I see you laughing in spite of yourself.  See?  Silver lining!  But seriously, stop bugging your sister.  It drives me crazy.

Love,
Mommy