Holy Cow! You're 5!

My big girl, you are 5 today. Can I tell you how every year that your birthday rolls around, my heart flutters a bit? It reminds us of that trip we took to pick you up. It reminds us of the anniversary of your arrival to our family. It reminds us of the anniversary of your adoption-- right on your very first birthday! How cool was that?! (Especially cool since it was hovering sub zero temps with a nasty snow storm!)

"Can I tell you sumpin? I like you. I love you to the sun, the moon, the stars and back." That's a lot of love, my friend. Daddy does, too. (You tell me this all the time, too.)

When you came to us, you were just a wee bit of a thing. You were 6 pounds 11 ounces and 19" long. That's not really big. Now? Well, you are 44" tall and about 46 pounds or so. You wear a 6x or 7/8 top because you are so long waisted. You are thinning out on your Buddha baby belly, but you still need a 6 for a hair bit of tummy space. You love leggins. You don't like "hard pants (jeans) because they aren't compie." Your foot. Sweet little thing, that foot is going to give you a tough road to go forever. You wear a size 11 1/2 right now, but you have a narrow foot, a narrow heel and a high arch. Finding shoes for you is no easy task. You will hate this more as you grow up. You have long brown hair. You want to grow it out like Rapunzel or Pocahontas. That's fine with Daddy and me. The deal is that as long as we can brush it and care for it. You don't like a lot of things in your hair. Mostly, you prefer "down hair." Occasionally, you'll want "small pigs, big pigs or horsey hair." That's pretty rare, though.

You are a pretty good little girl. You are a big helper and are good at cleaning up. You love to bake and help your daddy build things. You put your clothes down the laundry chute without being asked. You have chores and do them when I ask. Someday, they'll kick in automatically. In the past few days, you've been in a NO streak. It got you in trouble at school and at home just now, too. You've lost privileges and that's no fun. Soon enough you'll learn that the NO thing didn't work before and it ain't kicking it now, either.

You are having a Tinkerbell party. You have been telling people for months! I'm sad that your siblings aren't going to be there. We've talked about it and you understand now. We're honest with you about stuff. We tell you the truth, because we want you to always trust us. Sure, mommy and daddy don't always get to pass on sunshiny stuff, but we're as honest with you as we can be.

You are so caring. You run up and hug people and children all the time. We've had to tone this back a little. You've freaked a few kids out a bit. (I just told you to ask if it was okay.) A little girl was beating you up in school, but you didn't want to tell because you didn't "want to make her sad." I had to remind you that it isn't okay for people to hurt you. Friends have bad days and maybe C- was having a bad week, but that's still not okay.

You can color in the lines. You can do a great job. You are just worried that you are going to miss something and you scribble. You know all of your ABC's, can write your name in caps and lower case and have done a great job with your last name. We're working a bit harder on numbers, but just like the ABC's, it will all click.

You have so much energy. You can run in circles for hours and never tire. Your energy amazes people. So does your caring touch, your big smile, the one left dimple you have and those ever-changing green eyes.

Can you believe that you are going to go to Kindergarten next year? Oh baby, the places you'll go.

I love you. I love you so much that a mama can't even tell you. I love you so much that it makes me cry just to think about it.

Happy birthday, my big girl.