five. 5! FIVE!!!!!

My "baby", my first little girl is turning 5. Everything about this monumental occasion blows me away because it seems so huge. The truth is, hanging out with her is like hanging out with a 10 (sometimes even 18) year old, but I know she is still little. Except now she is not little anymore - she is five and she will go to school full time and be a kid and it is a big freaking deal!

So, to my five year old...
I love you. I cannot figure out how we were so blessed to get such good kids, but I am sure not going to question that either! I think a big part of why your younger sister is so good is because of you. You are so sweet and loving, it is hard to be anything other than filled with joy in your presence. You have the sweetest smile that comes on in a little wave - starting with a small curve of your mouth and then working its way through you until your teeth show and your eyes light up with happiness. You love to make people laugh and are getting very good at remembering jokes. This is perfect actually, because your daddy loves silly kid-level jokes!

You are mature, so mature for your age. It is beautiful and heartbreaking really. I worry that your maturity and intuitiveness combined with your sensitivity will make you too vulnerable later in life. It is also hard to watch you try and find yourself - you want to be silly to get people to laugh (like the munchkin does), but that child-like silliness does not come naturally to you. When daddy was painting recently, he pretended to paint you and the munchkin. She laughed and screamed "no", but you looked at me and said "he is so weird, right?"

For Christmas, Grammy took you to get a haircut and you got this short bob that came down longer around your face and it was amazing how that haircut transformed you from a little kid to a big kid! Your feet are growing, your body is growing, and you trip over things and run into things all the time. This is tough because you are so sensitive and it makes you cry every time you get a bump or a scrape. That does not stop you from running around and playing hard - and you have plenty of bumps and bruises to show! Your knees are almost always scabbed over and we love it because it means you are playing hard and getting dirty.

Your vocabulary is as strong as ever and is still a constant amazement. You are phenomenally well spoken and now you are moving into the reading stage. You want to write all the time and are constantly asking how to spell things. We are doing word flash cards during meal times and you cannot get enough. We have to force you to take breaks and eat or else you would go all day. Words are not your only interest - you also love the addition and subtraction flashcards (very exciting to my math-loving self!). We have been collecting coloring and activity books for years and you just recently discovered how fun the activities are! You are a master of identifying the "different" picture, love playing tic-tac-toe, and are really getting into word searches, fill in the blank, and other word puzzles.

Personality-wise, you are frighteningly similar to me. You are super organized, you get up early and wake up ready to face the day (as opposed to daddy and the munchkin, who take a while to hit their stride). You have a love for learning and can sit quietly and color for hours. Once you learn to read, I imagine we will be forcing you to close the book and go to sleep (something Grammy and Pop-Pop had to do for me!). You are a bit shy sometimes, something I seriously struggled with, but not the point where I worry. You are intuitive, inquisitive, and sensitive. It is awesome how similar you are too me in personality and I get a kick out of looking at you and thinking "where did you come from?!" only to realize how much you sound like me!

I am looking forward to this next phase, to seeing you go off to school and learn and grow. You make friends so easily and are such a sweet girl, I think you will do well in Kindergarten. I cannot wait for you to master reading and start devouring books. You cannot wait to lose a tooth! I imagine you have some other things you are looking forward to as well, but that is the one most-voiced.

Happy Birthday, Princess!

Thanks for listening!
~Erin