A moment I thought of five years ago, as I held a tiny new baby during those first few weeks home, happened. My tiny little baby grew into a little girl. She turned five years old.
For some reason, it was this moment I have thought about so often. Now, it's here. Though the inevitable bittersweet thoughts rush through my mind, the sweet and beautiful things really emerge as the highlights of her turning five. Knowing this girl, watching her grow, and having the privilege and responsibility of being her mama has been more than I could imagine.
Even the most simple things, that all of us do or will eventually do, have been so amazing to watch her learn-brushing her teeth, dressing herself, buckle her car seat harness, draw, write, begin to read, help unload the dishwasher and feed the pets, enjoy books and music, and share in such fun, engaging, interesting conversations.
She loves her little sister. Siblings truly are the best gift one can give a child. Despite the tantrums and fights and not sharing, the joy and friendship they experience together is beautiful. They play for hours with merely a mention to me, as long as they catch a glimpse of me periodically. They work together, imagine together, make messes together, and from time to time share in some mischief together (like the time they emptied a whole container of baby powder and a whole container of hand sanitizer on a plastic tub I was filling with clothes that have been outgrown). She helps Kate and teaches her things (even when that help and teaching might be unwanted and unsolicited).
She likes to be silly. She enjoys her friends and misses them when she doesn't see them for a while (We joined a homeschool, preschool group that meets weekly this year. She has loved every moment. We have two weeks left of the school year. I casually mentioned this last week. She does not know what she will do without seeing them every Monday.). She loves to learn, and amazing facts just stick in her little mind. She wonders and carefully considers things she sees and hears and learns, resulting in great questions. She makes keen observations. She loves to play games. She loves to be read to, especially poems this year, and listen to audio books (her favorite audio books have been The Jesus Story Book Bible, Betsy-Tacy and Charlotte's Web).
She loves to draw and color and paint. She received art lessons for her birthday, which could not have been a better fit for her. She is bursting with interesting facts about artists and creating with different mediums after each lesson.
She loves pink and picking flowers. After our routine daily walk, I always have a fresh bouquet of dandelions and other "beautiful flowers" she found along the sides of the sidewalk or the paths where we walk or at the park where we stopped to play. She prefers sticks, rocks, acorns, sea shells, and card board boxes to play with over anything else, except colored pencils, blank sheets of paper, and adult coloring books (she thinks these are "so much more beautiful than kids' coloring books").
She would eat peanut butter and jelly for every meal, every day if I would let her. One day (and only one) she did. Oh, and, she can now make her own PBJ.
She loves her family and prefers to be with people rather than alone, though she is able to occupy herself in her room for a little rest time each day, always doing something creative. She asks to help me clean house (especially if I am doing it during rest time. It might be a ploy to get out of being in her room by herself, but she actually cleans with me.). I'm most always okay with this. She dusts and sweeps and squirts Windex, and wipes with Clorox wipes like the best of us. The only cleaning she doesn't like to do is to clean up her messes, which usually is due to the fact that she has every intention of coming back to it later. The biggest messes are art messes all over the kitchen counter or her bedroom floor. She's always in the middle of a project. This very night, she had papers and colored pencils laid out. She told me, "I couldn't write my poem (yesterday I bought her some Fancy Nancy books, one of which was Poet Extraordinaire. Now, she's trying to write her own poem.) tonight, because I couldn't keep coming in and asking you to spell all the words I didn't know, while you were putting Kate to bed. Don't clean that up and throw it away. Maybe you could help me tomorrow." She never actually came in to ask me anything, which was funny. I guess she knew exactly what I would say. I'm predictable I guess. After all, with her current spelling capacity, my guess is I would have had to spell (almost) the whole poem, letter by letter.
She loves to cuddle, especially when reading or watching a movie or at night, when we turn out the lights. The nights we stayed with her until she was asleep are gone. All she requires is a few minutes of cuddles in the still, dark, after prayers and a song, before a final kiss and quietly slipping away. Then she drifts off peacefully and quickly. Any moment I've tried to rush this time (which isn't often, I do recognize and enjoy this special time with her, but there have been those few harried nights when I was so tired myself), she will come out again and again. All she wants is just a few minutes of cuddles for perfect contentment.
She can be shy at first but is always so friendly. She loves to wave and say hello to people we pass on our walks or at the grocery store. She makes friends instantly (at the park she immediately says hello to other kids and involves them in some imaginary princess game with Kate and herself) and truly believes they are wonderful friends, even if we never see them again. It has been so fun to watch her stand up, every week and present to her little preschool class about a topic. She has never hesitated despite a little nervousness. Sometimes she is unsure of what she had practiced to say, other times she is confident and ready. One of the funniest moments during a presentation came when she was presenting on ancient Egypt. She confidently discussed the "Great Stinks" and other pyramids for five whole minutes. All the mamas were hiding giggles behind cupped hands. For the moment, it was too cute to correct.
More concisely than all of this, she is a beautiful, kind, smart, funny, creative, and sensitive. She is a gift from the Lord!
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