My Little Girl is Five!

My little girl is five!  And I am proud to say that I am getting this posted before she turns six.  Big accomplishment over here these days...however; this did take me three months to complete. Sigh.

  I really do love this age.  I love the conversations, the imagination, the silliness, the jokes, the fact that we can do so much more together now like play games, go on dates, go on bike rides, go to the movies, get our nails done, sing songs together etc.  Daisy is such a spunky, hyper, silly, loving, thoughtful, sensitive little girl.  She does still desire a ton of attention (er quality time...only child for nearly five years) and that can be a bit exhausting BUT, it's safe to say that I am never lonely when she is around.  hehe.  

Daisy was so excited to turn five.  She thinks that she gets to drive a car when she turns ten and move out soon after into her pink house so I think she is counting down the years? lol.  I use to do the same thing as a little girl.  I loved the idea of growing up when I was little.  It seemed fun and exciting.  I think it's great that Daisy is looking forward to the life ahead of her.  We had a little party this year for Daisy at a park on the weekend and then on her actual birthday we ordered take out sushi.  She seemed to really enjoy her festivities.  Since having another kiddo, life has gotten exponentially busier for me and it has been much trickier to be as present as I used to be but, I am trying my best to soak up every innocent moment I have left with my little girl.  I love her sparkly brown eyes, the dimply cheeks, the crinkle in her nose when she smiles really big, the way she often toots when she laughs too hard (she is going to hate me for this in 10 years:), how she just can't seem to figure out how to put her shoes on the right feet though she tries so hard every time.  I love the way she loves on her baby brother.  It literally melts me.  I love her resilient spirit and her passion for the things she loves.  Not a day goes by that this little girl doesn't give me a nice big belly laugh.  She is the best! God has used her to open my eyes to so many things and I am better because of her.  

Thank you Jesus for my sweet little girl! 

Now on to the long winded Five year old Stat report...

At five years old Daisy is still just as in to princesses as she was at 2, 3 and 4 years old.  Princesses, princess pets, baby dolls, cooking and imaginary play are a few of Daisy's favorite things at the moment.  She is incredibly creative and will often come up with very elaborate ideas for an activity.  Her ideas and activities are usually very messy now days (and I thought babies were messy!) but, I try to let her roll with whatever she comes up with as it seems to be her gift.  For example: she likes to get our cups, pots and dishes out when she cooks with her pretend food. She will literally cover the entire floor in dishes and play for 20 or 30 minutes and then I have to wash everything.  She will get pads of paper and a pen and ask me and Joey what we would like to order and she asks us to write our information down.  Then she delivers food to us...over and over again.  It's really cute though.  I hope she grows up to LOVE cooking.  I will happily surrender that task to her! haha Other times she will throw every pillow in the house on the living room floor and find every blanket that she can in order to build herself a fort.  Lately she has taken a liking to typing on Joey's Ipad keyboard.  She writes stories by keying furiously on the keyboard.  When her note page is full of letters she feels very satisfied that she has written a great story and then she asks us to mail it to our family or to post it on facebook...which we usually don't.  These things are priceless to us but, I am not sure that everyone on Facebook would agree:).  Regardless, I really love her creativity and I look forward to when Bruin is old enough that he can play with Daisy a bit more in some of her many imaginary activities.

Isn't she just the cutest little princess you ever did see?

Below this picture: she is having a birthday party for one of her baby dolls.  A hot dog bun was our "cake." lol

SHOWS

She watches a fair amount of TV and Netflixs.  I have a PBS kids and Disney ap on my phone and these days she prefers my phone over the TV because she likes to have control over what she watches.  She is really into a show called ODD squad right now.  It's so cute to see how fascinated she is with this show.  She also loves the Disney show Octonauts.  Some of the other shows in her rotation: all the older Mickey Mouse Disney movies from my childhood, Peep and the Big wide World, The Little Princess, Oscar the Lizard, Wild Kratts, Bernard and Curious George.  I'm surprised that she still enjoys Curious George as much as she does.  I love it:).  Daisy gets to watch a couple of short shows in the morning while she eats breakfast and gets ready for school.  We have had this routine since she was two years old, so it will be hard to change it someday if we ever need to.  She sits in her own recliner sipping juice out of her cup and snacking on breakfast while watching whatever happens to be on.  It's been a nice and relaxing routine and she enjoys the consistency so it's all good.  The only reason she isn't watching different shows is because I am still trying to keep a tight lid on what she gets to see.  She has such a wild imagination the less she is exposed to the better...for now.  :)  

SIZE

Daisy wears size 5/6 in the older girl section (not 5T) and in some things she is wearing a 6.  She is usually 5/6 in shirts and dresses but a 5 in pants and shorts. She wears size 10 or 10.5 shoe. Just tonight as she walked out of her bedroom for the third time after being put to bed, I cuddled her and held her foot in my hand.  Her feet seemed so small until Bruin was born and now of course her feet seem so big.  She has the cutest little feetsies though.   I love shopping for Daisy and I am lucky that she doesn't really care at all what she wears because I get to have fun picking out her outfits most days.  I don't have a big budget to shop for her or get fancy things which would be SO MUCH FUN...but, it is a good thing I suppose, because if I could I would probably go a little overboard.  Instead we generally shop at our local consignment shops and enjoy the clothes we are gifted from friends and family.  My favorite places to shop on special occasions are Baby Gap, Old Navy, Target, Children's Place and Gymboree.  I enjoy shopping and dressing my kids so much more than shopping and dressing myself.  I know a lot of you Moms out there can relate:)

COLORS

Pink is still her favorite color but, she also LOVES purple, aqua and gold.  She is in this phase where she very strongly dislikes red, blue, green, black and white...yellow isn't a favorite either but, she will sometimes call it gold if she feels like it.  She doesn't like playing with toys in the house that are these colors and she is not a fan of wearing these colors.  I can still convince her to ignore those colors in her clothes most of the time but, for example she refused to wear green on St. Patrick's day and she almost refused to go to school if I was going to make her wear green.  I decided she won and we wore something with aqua and hoped it was a compromise:). haha  This chapter of super strong opinions about things is a rather new territory for me with Daisy.  She has never been one to care much at all about what she is wearing or what she is given etc.  I enjoyed the less opinionated season while it lasted.  

FOOD

Daisy has become super duper picky about what she eats over the past 6 months or so.  She used to be willing to eat and try so much more.  That all changed and I have no idea why accept that she is five and I suppose that is pretty typical for this age.  She pretty much refuses to eat all vegetables except steamed broccoli and even that I have to really encourage her to eat now.  It was her favorite for years.  I'm sad that she won't eat veggies but, I hope I can get her to again in the future.  She eats, mac n' cheese, chicken nuggets, burritos, nachos, tachos, sushi (but, now picky about that too!), corn dogs, chili, turkey and cheese sandwiches but, with no crust and pb and honey sandwiches.  The only fruit she likes is strawberries and watermelon.  She will sometimes eat cantelope and pears but, that is about all.  She loves chips and crackers and eating cereal dry.  She loves apple juice but, does not care for milk.  She likes pancakes, cheese, applesauce squeezers, and plain rice.  That is about it. It's exhausting trying to feed her to be honest.  I want her to eat so I try to serve her what she wants but, I also don't like serving different things for every meal.  She has also started chewing food for a really long time and she struggles with swallowing if the texture bothers her.  We have definitely found a few bites of food spit out in the toilet later in the evening. Sigh. Typical kid issues. 

MUSIC

She loves music and she has quite a few worship songs memorized from all of her car drives with Daddy and on her radio in her room.  I love that she enjoys worship music as much as we do.  She has a tendency to get the words wrong but, she presses right along and inserts her own words when needed.  That is EXACTLY what I did as a kid!  She loves the song God's Not Dead by Newsboys, anything by Phillip Philips, Mandisa, Mercy Me Shake and a song on the show ODD Squad. It's so cute to watch her sing along with all her might.

I leave my acoustic guitar out in the living room so that Daisy can pick it up if she ever wants to play.  She was also spoiled with a pink guitar of her own for her birthday this year (thank you Lulu and Papa!) and now it too sits by the fireplace so she can pick it up and play it whenever she has an urge.  That's what started me on my musical journey as a teenager.  My mom had a classical guitar and I would pick it up and strum it here and there and I taught myself a few chords.  We also had a piano growing up.  Though I wouldn't consider myself a very musically gifted person (AT ALL), I really do enjoy playing instruments (poorly) and writing simple songs when I am alone.  I would love if I could pass that joy on to Daisy. 

DANCE

She loves to dance...on her own terms.  She doesn't really want anyone telling her how to dance which is why I am not sure if she would really even enjoy a dance class at this point.  She isn't the most coordinated when it comes to following an instructor (also like her mommy) but, she loves to boogie to her own beat.  We have a lot of family dance parties around our house.  Fun times!

SCHOOL

She currently goes to preschool five days a week from 9-1.  Overall she really enjoys it and she has learned so much from preschool over the past two years.  Like most kids, I would say that her favorite thing about school is playing on the playground with her friends at break time. lol.  She also loves the special event days and party days.  They had a beach day recently and she was SO excited about it.  So cute to see her excited about school as a lot of the time she does want to stay home with me instead of going in the morning.  I think she enjoys it once she is there though and I think it has also really helped her socially.  She is still learning how to play with other kids and not just direct them but, she has come a long way.  She has made some really special friends and we will be sad not to see them more often once Kindergarten starts up in July.  We only have another two months left of preschool.  I seriously cannot believe that my little girl is old enough to start elementary school.  I'm in denial over here.

PERSONALITY

Daisy is a home body and she LOVES being home with me and Bruin.  I think if she had a choice she would stay home with me every day and skip school, church, even play dates or whatever.  She just likes hanging out with her Mom, Dad and bro.  Home is her happy place and as much as I want my daughter to be more extroverted than I am, I think it is pretty sweet that she enjoys being home with her family as much as she does.  Now, I realize this will soon pass...or most likely will.  Perhaps that is why I do not rue snow days or vacation days quite as much as some...because as exhausting as those days can be, I love having my little girl around.  She is my little buddy.  Daisy likes to be the one in charge.  Typical of the eldest child I would say.  She likes to tell other people how to play the game or activity and she finds other people's ideas rather boring most of the time. lol  She doesn't like to lose when we play a game.  This is somewhat our fault as we often let her win as a little kid and now she thinks it should always be this way.  We have some training to do over here but, she will get there in time.  Daisy is very sensitive to praise or lack there of.  I definitely think that words of affirmation is one of her love languages.  

The other day after an adult friend/family member left our house Daisy asked me why they don't like her.  I asked her why she thought that and she said because they didn't talk to her but, they smiled at and talked to Bruin.  I of course told her that they do like her but, that not all grown ups remember to talk to little kids when they visit.  I am beginning to realize how much she values adult conversation and participation.  She tends to feel left out and even unloved if she is not included.  Tis  the way of life when you are the only kid in all of the families for nearly 5 years.  Adults become your friends!  

Daisy is extremely observant even when she seems to be distracted..she is always taking things in around her. She comments on hairstyles, eye colors, outfits, shoes, the way people talk, the cars that people drive etc.  She is a stubborn kiddo when she doesn't want to do something.  I've been trying to teach her the basics of reading and site words for two years..we have gotten no where but, I know that all of sudden when her desire really kicks in, she will learn it overnight.  That is just how she is.

She is very nurturing to her baby dolls, her cousin and her brother.  She is gentle, thoughtful and very helpful.  A little mommy in the making for sure.  She kisses boo boos and says the sweetest things when people are sad, mad or hurt.  She really does have an incredibly loving heart.  I thank Jesus for that!  

She is super silly/goofy too.  She would rather make goofy faces than pose pretty for a picture 99% of the time.  She loves making people laugh and will do the silliest things to try and draw laughing attention to herself sometimes.  She is a ham:).  She is also so so so girly.  She loves everything a girly girl would love. Gliter, sparkles, princesses, pink, purple, dolls, frills, dress up etc. And on the other hand the kid can kick and hit a ball like no ones business.  She can run fast, climb high and she has a very adventurous streak in her...as proven by the roller coaster at Disney land that she rode and loved.  So, I would say very girly with a nice dose of athleticism.  

Daisy has a lot of friends and I  would say the ones that she is the closest to are the ones that we play date with the most usually after school.  She does still struggle with the concept of letting other kids call the shots or playing what other kids want to play.  She likes to direct the activities and otherwise she is quite content to play by herself or wander around alone at a park.  She is social for sure but, she also values personal space.  She hasn't yet made a friend on her own that has really stuck other than the friends that I regularly expose her to at church, school and our outside play dates.  

Today in between household chores and tending to Bruin, Daisy and I played a few games of Frozen- Chutes and Ladders, we colored a picture or four, ate pretend food over and over again, played guitars, watched a show and like always and she talked my ear off.  It's absolutely exhausting and absolutely wonderful all at once.  Things have changed a bit around here since little brother came along.  I just don't have as much time or energy to give to Daisy as I once did.  It's been a challenge transitioning for both of us I would say but, when I do have time and energy, I absolutely love spending it with my girl.

She loves hanging out with her Dad and he often spoils her.  He recently bought a little toy helicopter and Daisy asks him to fly it almost every day.  Then she yells out, "pretend that it is chasing me Daddy, pretend that it is chasing me," and she runs around squealing with the brightest smile as he "chases" her with the helicopter.  Daddy is the one who wrestles, plays video games, tickles, is technically more fun than I will ever be (I can be rather boring when compared to Daddy).  Daddy takes Daisy on jeep rides at night when I have to tend to Bruin.  He plays hide and seek and reads her bedtime stories.  Daisy loves her Daddy to pieces and I think one of her favorite things to do is visit him at his office on her way home from school.  She loves to draw pictures at his desk and tape them to the wall and she loves to make pretend calls and act like she is working.  She asks to go to his work ALL time.  Pretty stinking cute if I do say so.  She is much more rough with him too.  She spanks him just for the heck of it.  Tickles him whenever she gets the chance and tries to tackle him at random.  They just have that kind of bond.  Father/daughter silliness.  

Daisy has had an imaginary sister named Kezia, for at least a year now.  She talks about her from time to time and all the things she is doing or how old she is but, she never talks to her or seems to engage the idea when she is alone.  It seems to be more of a thing for her to talk about with me and Joey than anything else.  Perhaps she really hopes for a sister someday or perhaps it's just a little phase.  I humor her and play along.  I think it's sweet and harmless.

NURTURER

Daisy is an amazing big sister and cousin.  I'm not just saying that because I am her mom:).  She is endlessly giving Bruin his pacifier when he cries, giving him a toy, covering him with a blanket if she is worried that he might be cold, turning on the fan to give him something to look at, asking if he can come and lay on her bed so she can cook him pretend food.  She helps me with almost every diaper change.  She gets so excited to see him every day when I pick her up from school.  She kisses him constantly and holds him as often as I will allow.  She is an awesome big sister and Bruin ADORES Daisy.  He is always cramming his neck and arching his back to get a look at her wherever she might be.  It's so cute.  I really pray that I can help foster this love as much as possible as they grow.  Daisy also adores her cousin Avery and has a tremendous attention span for playing with her.  Avery is only one and Daisy is five so I am surprised that she can play with her as long as she does but, she loves when they get to be together.  She is already counting down the days until they can have their first sleep over.  Too cute!  Love that she is so nurturing and gentle with other babies and kids.  This is one of my favorite qualities about Daisy! 

 

GATHERER

 She still loves to gather rocks, leaves, flowers and other random treasures when we are in the yard or at a park.  She hands then all to me and asks me to keep them safe.  She often stores little trinkets in the drawer of her step stool until I find them months later and sneak them into the trash. shhhh.... 

Not a day goes by that my hubby and I don't look at each other and say, "she's so awesome," with a big smile on our faces.  Yes, she's a super high energy kiddo that chats our ears until they are literally raw some days but...she really is so fun and adventurous.  She has added so much joy and amusement to our lives.  

Daisy Love, we adore you and thank God for every day that we get to watch you grow.  May God bless you all the days of your sweet life. xoxo  Happy five baby girl.