Nine years ago you were born. I was so nervous and so was dad. You were late, taking your time, so we went to the hospital and lied.
I promise the doctor told us to lie. Because you were almost two weeks late. We were going to lie so they would let me stay at the hospital. That way the doctor could come and start my labor. You don't want the details on that.
The trick was on us though, because I was in labor. Of course I was, you still are usually one step ahead of me.
For a first baby you came pretty quickly, you were born in less that 12 hours. And it was almost painless. Thank you very much for that.
But then the real work began, and I promise you kid, even on my worst days, I'm working as hard as I can for you.

Today is amazing because we are both nine! You are nine in human years and I'm nine in mommy years. You'll understand one day when you are a mom... Like 30 years from now, when you're married and ... more on that later. Maybe you don't feel any different from being eight. Maybe you think nine is just the same. I'm here to tell you you're wrong! You have grown so much in the last year! There are so many things you should be proud of.

This year you became a reader. I know you really hate AR, but this year you figured out what kinds of books you like. You figured out what interested you so that you could read for fun. That's awesome, and very hard to figure out for some people.
This year you started combing your own hair. Which might not seem like a big deal ...