Turning SIX

Today is the big day. My one and only beautiful, head strong, opinionated, sassy, and spirited girl turns six. She never thought this day would come. I never thought this day would come this fast. It seems like just yesterday she needed my help with everything. Now, she can and wants to do it all on her own. It makes me proud. It makes me sad. Mostly proud.

Yes, my girl is loud. Yes, my girl is can be bossy. Yes, she pushes hard for what she wants. Yes, she can turn your words around and use them against you, and make sense doing it. All things that I might consider annoying, infuriating, and frustrating now. But as I sit back and ponder on what this really says about her, what her attributes really are underneath, I come away with: Determined, Opinionated, Thinks outside of the box, good user of words, a person not afraid to stand up for what she believes in. These are all qualities I think any employer would want from an employee, and any husband would desire in a wife. (At least any husband worth keeping.) If I could only get her past wanting to be a dog when she grows up!

Sometimes she is all the girl I need. Sometimes, she makes me want another girl.

She can be loving. She can be a bully. She can be soft. She can be hard. She can be shy. She can be loud. She is everything. She means everything to me.

 I like to watch her live. To see her choices play out. To see how she thinks. It takes patience. I don't always understand her choice until she explains it to me. Then, it makes sense. I like to see her excited. I like to see her concentrating. I like to see her showing her brothers how to do something. I like to see her clean up their scraped knees. I like to watch her sleep. To think about how big she has gotten. How big she will get.

I need to stop. I need to listen more. Take time to just be with her. Save the dishes, the email, the hold-on-a-minutes and take time to live with her right now. To remember her just as she is now. To soak it all in. To relish her likes and dislikes, her good times and bad times.

I really look at her. She isn't as big as I thought she was. I really look at her. She isn't as small as I thought she was. She is somewhere in between.

Her chocolate eyes tell me so much. Her smile makes me smile. She has her catch phrases, the words I love to hear roll off her tongue. I still remember the catch phrases from old and replay them in my mind. Trying to remember her small again. To remember her face when she said them so seriously. "Mom....I'm seriously."

She is serious. Serious about life. Serious about living it. Serious about trying to make choices for herself. Seriously not a fan of criticism. Seriously beautiful. Seriously wonderful.

She is my one and only. I wouldn't change her for the world. (Just don't ask me this when she is having one of those days...)

Happy Birthday Princess Gril...I love you!!!