Oh Lydia. My heart. There are not enough words in the whole world to express how much I love you. So, to quote YOU, "I love you one-hundred-much!"
Five and a half is such a good age. Obviously, there are the tantrums, whining, boundary-pushing, brother-bugging, "mom-you're-the-meanest-ever", and never-wanting-to-go-to-bed. But also there are the hugs, kisses, learning to read and write, watching her teach and love and play with her brothers, snuggling while reading books together, finding love-notes in her 5-yr-old handwriting, "mom-you're-the-nicest-mom-ever-and-I-love-you", bike-riding together, and pure love and happiness that only a 5.5 year old can have.
I thought about not writing a 5.5 post, because at some point we will probably need to start transitioning to just yearly "official" updates for our kids. But there are just so many good things - that even if it's simple, I wanted to write down some of them.
She thrived at preschool, and loved her teacher Miss. Allyson. And after just a few short months, she was ready for her first day of Kindergarten that she has loved just as much! I can't believe how big she is, riding the bus every day. She comes home singing songs that Miss. Johnson has taught her and has already improved so much in her reading and writing.
She finished her gymnastics class in late-spring. She did a little performance and was wonderful.
-She learned to ride her bike without training wheels in basically less than a day. She asked if we could take the training wheels off, and with just a few short tries - she was off! I couldn't believe how quickly she learned. But that's Lydia, she's brave and can do whatever she wants to. (And she's always had great gross-motor skills). She loved riding her bike all summer long.
-I've always love this Lydia-girls with a fierce mama-love, but recently our relationship has been evolving into such a sweet and special thing for me. Being two girls in a house full of boys is pretty wonderful, and I look forward to the relationship that she and I will have as she continues to grow.
(She'd been asking to go to the Fox Hollow movie night almost every day for a week, but I kept telling her it was too late at night and that Daddy and I had a date so we couldn't go, but then we cut our date short so I could take her and she was SO thrilled. We cuddled up on the gym floor and watched Despicable Me (the Minions might have been the real reason I was so resistant to going, and should be a testament to how much I love this girl that I was willing to go). She has talked about that night more times than I can count. It was such a special thing for her. I'm SO glad that we went.)
-She's an adventurer, she likes to lead the way, she likes to explore new places, and she likes to climb trees.
-She loves swimming and has gotten really good at it this summer. When we are in our pool in our neighborhood she doesn't even need to wear her floaties/lifejacket because she's good enough to swim around the shallow part and can even jump in the deep end and swim to the side. I love the water so I especially love that she loves it, too.
-She's turning into quite the artist. This is a pretty big change from even a year ago when she wasn't really interested in coloring or anything. She loves to draw things and has started telling us that she's going to be an artist when she grows up.
-Haircuts at our house involve watching your favorite show on the computer and then getting a "haircutting treat" after. I love her short hair, and I'm grateful for YouTube for teaching me how to cut it!
-Every morning that David goes to work, after trying to block him at the door - she waves to him from the front window as he drives away. On days that he's taking the train, she comes to the back window and watches for his train to pass so she can wave. This girl loves her dad.
-As a special Daddy/Lydia date this summer, David and Lydia spent the day at Lagoon together. They have such a special bond and we think it's so important to spend one-on-one time with our kids. She loves him, and he adores her. They had a great day, but it's only one of the many (smaller) dates that they've been able to go on this year. It's special.
-She's found a new passion for Unicorns. It started when she won a stuffed unicorn that she named "Sparkle" at Lagoon with David and has snowballed from there.
We found a book titled "A Unicorn Named Sparkle" that we just had to buy, about a goat that thinks he's a unicorn, and she's completely memorized the whole thing. Sometimes, when Caleb is feeling sad and needs some attention, she will run and grab the book and bring it so she can read it to him. It's the sweetest thing, especially because he almost always calms right down as she reads through the whole book.
She loves "reading" books on her own, and especially being read to.
-At our house bathtime is more about playing, and a time-filling-activity, that it is about getting clean. Lydia loves the bath and can happily play in the water for an hour or more. She's such a good big sister. She plays so well with Austin and always loves when Caleb can join in the fun.
-She got invited to her first friend-from-school birthday party and it was so sweet! She's full of spunk and it's such a pleasure to watch her growing up and making new friends. There's a line in one of our bedtime books that goes something like "If I could keep you little, I'd pick your friends for you... But then I'd miss you finding friends you like, you like you, too!" My mama heart wishes a tiny bit that I could keep her little forever, but it's also very proud and happy to watch her growing up!
-Lydia is such a good sister. I can't even express how much she loves her brothers, how well she plays with them, and how much care she takes with them. They are lucky to have her.
A few other picture of my girl, just for good measure:
We love you Lydia!
