Dear Gusta,

.... You turned 6 years old over 3 weeks ago now!!  I used to write these letters on or before the actual day of your birthday.  That doesn't happen anymore.  Instead, you have 2, soon to be 3, younger siblings who you adore!  (And, who I don't think you would trade for "on time" birthday letters)!
Before you get close to turning 7, though, I want to record what you are like these days.  You still have the huge, caring, heart that you've always had, gently encouraging your younger sisters when they are sad or need help with something.  You are becoming quite a big help to me!  You can do most things, like brush your teeth, get dressed, get buckled in the car, and even shower sometimes completely by yourself.  You even help the little ones do their daily care, too.  You can't wait for your baby brother to get here, and you say you are going to help me with him by holding him while I put the little ones to bed.  You can straighten entire rooms in the house by yourself - like your bedroom or the playroom.  You can make your bed and put away your clothes.  About a month ago, you declared Tuesday "Christa Cleanup Day."  That was an AWESOME day!  You helped me with lots of house work, and I thought it was going to happen every Tuesday, but for some reason, we just had that day that one time :)
You are definitely moving from "big toddler girl" to "little lady."  You pick out your own clothes and are very modest.  If something is sleeveless or the neckline is anything other than a crew neck, you insist on wearing a tank top underneath.  You do not change clothes in front of anyone.  You do insist on wearing two piece swim suits, but we've agreed on the tank-ini. 
This year in school, you learned to read!  You are a great reader, and you learned all of your sight words with almost half of the school year to spare!  You are getting ready to go into the first grade.  I struggled with this decision for you a little bit.  Your Kindergarten class was split pretty evenly between kids who are going on to First Grade and kids who are repeating Kindergarten.  You have a summer birthday, and are still very petite for your age, so I could have easily made an argument to have you do a second Kindergarten year.  You are very smart academically and a hard worker, and you've already made some great friends who will be your First Grade classmates.  But part of me likes the idea of having you home an extra year when it's time to go to college, and in some ways, I think that allowing you to be one of the older kids in the class, instead of one of the younger ones, would give you so much more confidence!  You do not love to work at things that are difficult for you, but will do "easy" things meticulously and often.  You are a perfectionist, insisting on just starting over if you make a small mistake.  We're working on those things, as we do some summer prep work for the Fall.
You love to cook, and one of your favorite things to do is watch Giada with Daddy on the Food Network.  You also love makeup, as you requested for your birthday!  You don't really wear it that often, other than a little chap stick if you find some lying around, but you love to have the makeup, and will occasionally dress up with it with your sisters.  You still like to carry a purse or bag around, and you stock it with things like gum and lip gloss.  You got a leap pad from LaLa for your birthday, and have figured out how to use it much on your own!  You get very frustrated with it when it doesn't do what you want, and it's a little funny to watch you "yell" at it.
You love being with your friends!  You are now at an age where if your friends are around, you are perfectly entertained without any further effort on my part.  You are very friendly and outgoing, and you now request to spend the night at Mimi and Pa's house regularly.
You still carry Duck and Blanky around, and they are well loved and showing their years!  They don't even get clean anymore after a wash, which you won't let me do very often.  They stink most of the time, and Blanky is a shredded mess, that I constantly worry will be mistaken by a babysitter for trash.  They are so dear to you, still, though.  You quit sucking your thumb during the days leading up to your class slumber party in May, but have slowly picked that habit back up.  You don't suck your thumb if Duck and Blanky aren't around, but I don't have the heart to take them from you just yet.   Maybe soon, because we need to break that habit for good :)
You are asking to take piano lessons, but also want to continue ballet and add gymnastics.  There's no telling what your new school will offer that you will decide you want to do, and we are definitely not committing you to 3 activities at once!  You don't seem very interested in athletics (like soccer), which is probably just as well.  Between your Daddy and I, I don't have high hopes that you are going to have a lot of natural talent in that area.  Plus, you don't like to work at things that are difficult or scary (like swimming in the deep end or flipping at the gymnastics center).  You'd rather just skip those parts and stick to the things you are comfortable with.  I can relate, my girl, but I do hope that over the years, you'll build your courage and confidence and not let your fear of not doing it perfectly the first time stop you from doing fun things!
You are a beautiful young lady, and you like to wear your hear down and straight, or "blonde," as you call it.  Your sweet personality just makes me so proud every single day, and even if I weren't your Mommy, I would still want to be around you as much as I could be!

I love you!
Mommy