Keeping Up with the Davis': My baby girl is turning 5!

Brace yourself. This is a long one.

Five years old. Seriously? Are you kidding me? Somehow, the little princess in my life is already turning the milestone age of 5. In less than one month I will be signing her up for kindergarten, as if the first day of preschool wasn’t hard enough. She is certain that on the morning of her birthday (less than 1 week away – Feb 27^th), she will wake up and be bigger, smarter and ready to take on the world all by herself. She often says things such as “When I’m five, I will be this tall” (as she reaches up to the 4 foot mark on the growth chart), “When I’m 5, this dress will fit me perfectly”, or “5 year olds don’t throw fits, when I’m 5, I won’t throw fits anymore, right Mommy?” Somehow, someway, I fear that she may be exactly right (although, I pray the ‘no more fits’ statement is true!). After all, it does seem like the last five years have gone by in the blink of an eye. My girl is growing so quickly. Time flies when you are having fun and it is evident that it won’t be long before I am looking at her beautiful face on her wedding day. You may be thinking I am jumping a little ahead of myself, but I have quickly realized my babies will only grow up one time and I don’t want to miss a single moment of it! Although daily life as a Mommy isn’t easy and is by far the most difficult job I will ever encounter, I am forever grateful that I am going to be able to focus primarily on just being a Mommy (and wife, of course!) for a while.

As you can see, the next several days (especially February 27^th) are going to be emotional for me (not to mention that being 8 months pregers severely amplifies these emotions!). She has taught me everything I know so far about parenting; she has been our little guinea pig. She accepts Kevin and me for who we are and loves us in spite of our imperfect parenting (I pray I will still be able to say this when she is a teenager!). She is such a kind-hearted and loving child. I am amazed that she is MY daughter. She is such a little blessing and I am certain that this world will be a better place because she is in it. What an impact she has already made in my life within the previous five short years!

To my little Peanut,

My precious baby girl, oh how you have changed my life! People told me over and over that there is nothing better in life than being a mother and while I believed them, I did not have the capacity to completely understand it until the day you were born. I had so many emotions on that day, I was terrified, overwhelmed and exhausted, but none of this could hold a candle to the amount of love I felt for you. I love your Daddy so very much, but I had absolutely no idea that I was capable of loving another human being as much as I love you. To my surprise, the more I learn about you and the person that you are, the more that love grows. You bring so much happiness into our lives, for which I am eternally grateful.

I have learned and continue to learn so much from you. This whole “parenting” thing certainly isn’t as easy as it seems and I admit that I screw up often. For some reason, you still love me. I pray that you will remember that you, too, are going to make mistakes in life and no matter what those mistakes are, I will always be your Mommy and nothing could ever change the love that I have for you.

You are a smart and beautiful little girl. Most importantly, you are so kind-hearted. You somehow always say the right thing at the right time. Today, for example, you looked at me while I was getting you out of the car to see the eye doctor and said “Mommy, you are beautiful. Even though you are old, you are still beautiful.” It was just what this pregnant Momma needed to hear today. My all-time favorite line you have said to me was when I was sad about the loss of my dear grandmother, you crawled in my lap, cuddled with me and said “Don’t be sad Mommy, you will see Mommu again one day, when you get to be with God.” You tell me on a regular basis that you love me “infinity” or that you love me “all the way up to God, all the way back, all the way up to God, all the way back….” and you say it over and over.

Not only are you such a sweet little girl, but you are incredibly funny as well. Every night, Daddy and I reminisce about something funny you said or did that day. I love how you say things like “Mommy, that is gisgusting” when you don’t like something and how you tell me when I am “clever” or when something isn’t so “clever” (like when Daddy was trying to punish you). When playing babies or house, the baby or kid is referred to as the “honey” (I think you get this from us calling you honey all the time). You will so seriously say “Mommy, you are the honey and I am the Mommy.” You really have no idea how much laughter you bring into our lives.

You are an extremely routine child, which I blame entirely on myself. Our clocks could be set to our schedules, from wake-up time to lunch-time to bed-time. I think it makes you feel more confident about the days and what to expect. Everything is routine for us, including what we eat for breakfast, the prayer we say before meals and even the last thing we say to each other before bed. I giggle to myself when I think about putting you to bed tonight. I tucked you in and you, so matter-of-factly, moved the pillow sham off the bed and laid the pillow next to you down, “because that is the way they (the extra pillows) always are”. As I close your door, we repeat to each other “Good night, I love you, sleep good, ok, bye.”….in that exact order. Bedtime wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t.

I have to admit that disciplining you isn’t the easiest job I have ever encountered. While you are a sweet, kind-hearted child, you are also VERY head strong. You don’t back down easy and are not afraid to speak your mind. You have a bit of a temper and get frustrated quickly when you can’t do something (sorry, baby, you got that from me). It amazes me what a mixture you are of Daddy and me. While these attributes make for difficult parenting, I am up for the challenge because I am certain they will serve you well as an adult.

I could type for hours about all the things I love about you. However, I want you to know (and I want to remember) all of the things you are doing and love to do right now.

School:

-You have been writing your full name for quite some time. Ms. Katie (your preschool teacher) has bragged many times on your excellent hand writing skills

-You know the sounds for every letter and are already starting to sound out words. You can easily read words that end with “at”, “ed”, etc. You are also starting to really take off on reading other words as well. Likewise, you can also hear sounds/letters and tell me how to spell words. You even already know how “th” and “sh” sound. You are so close to being able to read; I think you may have some of the early books mastered before you start kindergarten.

-A favorite game right now is to ‘go shopping’. We work together to write a receipt for the items we purchased. You sound out the words, write them on the board, write the cost of each item and add up the total. I love playing this game with you too!

-You can add and subtract single digit numbers.

-You follow multiple step directions well. Ms. Katie says your ability to listen, understand and follow 3 or more steps is great.

-I, of course, think you are a little genius (although I honestly have no idea what you should/should not know at this point). You simply never seize to amaze me with what you know and what you can learn.

Activities/Play:

-You LOVE to play dress up, school, barbies, babies, put on “dance shows” and do any craft or cook any food (especially sweet things!).

-You really enjoy dance class and look forward to it every week.

-You have played one season of soccer and it wasn’t nearly as fun as expected, but we are going to try again in the spring.

- You don’t watch much TV, but when you do, you like a wide variety – from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to Good Luck Charlie.

Growth/Eating:

-As always, you are still an excellent eater. I have never had to force you to eat vegetables or fruits. You eat just about everything I cook for dinner.

-You especially love toaster strudels in the morning. However, only Mommy can fix them just right – you have a morning meltdown if the icing isn’t spread perfectly or if they are burnt in anyway.

-Your favorite vegetable is broccoli, fruit is just about anything – but you have been eating a lot of apples lately, meat is chicken, dinner is tacos, pizza, or hamburger helper (I admit I am a bit embarrassed that you enjoy it so much - you informed your entire class at your Thanksgiving party that this is what you were thankful for) and any dessert (just like Mommy!)

-We go to the doctor on March 16 for your 5 year check-up. I will make another post then about your height/weight, but you seem to be of average height and weight up to this point.

As you see, baby girl, you are nothing short of the joy of my life. You, your brother and your soon to be baby sister are everything to both Daddy and me. It isn’t easy being parents and every day certainly isn’t bliss, but we wouldn’t change a single thing. On February 27^th, 2007, you came into our lives and made us “Mommy” and “Daddy” for the very first time. What an amazing day that was. God has blessed me beyond words by letting me be YOUR Mommy. I love, Peanut.

Below are just a few recent pictures of my sweet girl.