2014 - Year End Review

Happy you-now-need-two-hands-to-show-how-old-you-are, my precious little peach.

You are the girl who made me a momma. You are the girl who mirrors many of my flaws and the girl who inspires me to be better. You are the girl who leaves me in stitches and the girl who leaves me wanting to pull my hair out. You are the girl my heart needed.

Here are your Top 10 lists.

Top 10 Things You Love:

1. Big kid chapter books (Nancy Drew, Ramona Quimby, and the Boxcar Children are your current favorites)
2. Singing (you get so into singing that sometimes I expect you to put your finger in your ear a la Christina Aguilera and erase an imaginary chalkboard with your other hand)
3. Church
4. Doing (most) anything with Charlie
5. Playing on my Kindle
6. Rainbows
7. Drawing (you say you want to either be an animator or an illustrator when you grow up)
8. School (thank the Good Lord!)
9. Francesca Battestelli
10. Legos

Top 10 Things You Don't Love:

1. Trying new things (sadly, this is one of my less desirable attributes that you inheirited from me. You hate making mistakes and you feel that if you can't figure something out within two minutes, you'll never figure it out. You like the familiarity and predictabilty of doing things you're good at.)
2. Beans, cumin, steak, avocados, rice, and yogurt
3. Jeans ("Oh Mommy, they're just the worst things in the WORLD.")
4. The dark (You've slept with a lamp on in your room for years)
5. Storms (they're magnified by our house's metal roof)
6. Sweating (clearly the apple did not have far to fall with this one)
7. Bad guys in movies
8. Waiting, taking turns, and sharing
9. Dresses that don't twirl
10. Bugs

Top 10 Things You're Good At:

1. Reading
2. Unloading the clean silverware from the dishwasher
3. Writing notes and stories
4. Being too big for your britches (I know it's hard to believe, but I have a mom. Daddy has a mom. Charlie has a mom. And none of those mommas are you, my love.)
5. Sleeping (except you have been known to come back out into the living room after being in your room for only eight seconds complaining that you had a bad dream ...)
6. Telling stories (your flair for the dramatic really shines)
7. Cleaning your bathroom 
8. Thinking of others (you love drawing pictures and writing notes to practically everyone you know)
9. Praying (although you don't usually like to do it in front of anyone other than Daddy, Charlie, and me)
10. Jump-roping

Top 10 Things You're Not Good At:

1. Using your indoor voice (BEING LOUD IS FUN!)
2. Playing without an audience (doing things independently is something you've always had a hard time with)
3. Being creative (And I don't mean that as necessarily a negative trait of yours - you just like clearly laid-out directions. "Make a house out of blocks" thrills you. "Make something out of blocks" frustrates you.)
4. Making decisions (it usually ends with a teary "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO PIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!")
5. Tying your shoes
6. Being sick in silence ("Mommmmmmmmmmmy! I don't FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL well! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!")
7. Thinking before you speak (this has been something we've been working on a LOT this year ... and will continue on for at least another year or twelve)
8. Differential equations (six years going strong)
9. Washing your own hair ("It's TOO HARD, Mommy!")
10. Asking for something only one time ("Mommy, can I have a cookie?" "Mommy, can I have a cookie?" You don't even give me time to take a breath before you ask again.)

This year was a pretty eventful one, my love. You started ballet, graduated preschool, learned to put your head under water in the pool, and started kindergarten (I hear your teacher is pretty rad, by the way). Some things I didn't think would give you trouble, did (swimming) and things that I thought you wouldn't like, you did (school). Both swimming and school involved learning new things, but one was met with tears and bribery and the other one was met with excitement and eagerness. This just confirms that I still haven't gotten you figured out. And that's OK. I'd probably turn into a lazy momma if I had you pegged this early on in your life.

One thing that sticks out in my mind is church. You love church. The kids program at our church is amazing and they do such a good job at feeding, nurturing, and encouraging the kiddos. A few times, you've come to big church with Daddy and me and you LOVE it. You're not a fan of sitting quietly and listening to the message, but you LOVE the singing. And you know most of the songs because you've heard them on the radio/Pandora. To watch you standing up, arms raised out, belting out the words and so openly worshipping our Great God is a humbling moment for me. You are unashamed about expressing yourself and you just look so free. It's a moment that's tucked away in my heart forever.

You are emotional, kind, helpful, responsible, sensitive, and curious. You are moody, dramatic, snuggly, expressive, and sensible. You are hilarious, thoughtful, energetic, insightful, impulsive, and nurturing. You love to learn, you love to be tickled, you love to succeed. You like to be alone, you like to be with people. In short, my girl, you are the Queen of Overreacting, the Feeler of All the Feelings, and the Follower of All the Rules. And Daddy and I are the Luckiest Parents in all the Worlds.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy