I know it seems like such a cliche', but I just can't believe that our sweet baby girl turns 5 tomorrow. The days, weeks, and months literally seem to be passing more quickly these days and we just try to savor each one. She continues to grow and change so much. She's still thoroughly enjoying her time in her Montessori school--learning life skills, some basic math and early reading, and plenty of important life lessons as she navigates the various personalities of her classmates. She is very open (when she's in the mood) about sharing challenges and joys from school. As her wonderful and insightful teacher has remarked, Caroline really "takes it all in" and is both very observant and loyal. She continues to push the envelope on her independence and sincerely believes that she should have all the rights that Joshua and Madison have (e.g., staying up later, riding in a booster seat, not napping). She is such a lover of books and can still easily keep herself occupied for close to an hour flipping page by page through a mountain of books. I am excited to see how the world opens up to her once she starts reading on her own. Before bed tonight she asked that I read one of our all-time favorites, "Owl Babies." This is the book that she first memorized and "read" back to us when she was less than two years old. So nostalgic for me...
Caroline told me tonight as I was tucking her in and remarking how big she is getting, "You're not ready." "For what?" I asked. "For me to turn five. I'm too BIG...to sit in your lap...for you to hold me. But even when I'm ten, I'll go with you, and I'll hold your hand, and I'll sit in your lap."
Just for posterity's sake, here is a picture of little C on her BIRTHday
And a shot of her on her 1st birthday
Her 3rd birthday
And one just recently...such a beautiful, strong-willed, loving big girl now.
And one who will hopefully always let me at least hold her hand.
