My "Baby" Turned Five!

My youngest woke up yesterday morning, the day of her birthday, and had one simple question to ask..."Can I read now?" Apparently, in her mind, she thought that something magical was going to happen overnight. She was a little disappointed when she realized that she still has to actually learn to read. And she was also a bit confused as to why she wasn't taller yet. Isn't there just something so special about the innocence of a child?!

Yup...my little girl went to bed a baby and woke up a "big girl"! I have always (for some unknown reason) felt like "5" was such a big year. I guess probably because they can no longer be classified as a "baby" or a "toddler". Nope...they are then officially "big kids". Sadly, though, you can still tell she is the "baby" of the family. She has been allowed to carry her blankie around longer than any other of my girls. And we tried hard to "wean the thumb" (sucking) much sooner than with her. And I was more insistent with my other girls that they walk holding my hand, rather than be carried around on my hip. Not Lexy...she still begs to be carried most of the time via the hip. I can only think of how strange that must look to other people, with her big, long legs dangling down mine. Ah, well...I can only say that by the time she graduates high school none of these things will still be occurring...I hope. We prepared her weeks in advance for changes that would take place when she turned five. I carefully warned her that blankie would have to stay home when we took trips out. And last night, when we were getting ready to head out the door to church, I must admit that even I had a hard time leaving that pink, ratty looking thing home. (For her sake, of course, not mine!) And I am happy to report that she did just fine without it! There were a couple of times where she came to me with those puppy eyes saying, "I really want my blankie, mom!" But was alright when I told her we'd get it when we got home. And even today, when we went to run errands she couldn't take it, did fine without it. Phew!

In celebration of her coming of age, we enjoyed a day at the beach. We packed up her presents, her cake, all necessary food items, toys, chairs and floats and partied in the sun! The weather was just absolutely gorgeous. Family met us there, and we all enjoyed the afternoon relaxing and watching the kids play. Jillian proved herself to be the avid fishergirl and mighty frog huntress that she is. (Although, one frog may have been caught a little too "aggresively"...he was released after an episode of unresponsiveness and was seen floating down the stream to froggy heaven...) She spent at least 3 hours hunting and fishing! Although the lake was cold, the older two decided to do a little bit of swimming. And Lexy? She mostly roamed around without a specific cause, begged to open her gifts ("Mom...can you please stop eating?" she asked at lunch when she saw my hand go into the chip bag...she knew present time could begin when everyone was done eating!), and then when they were opened whined to go home! She seemed to like the whole beach party idea, but was really interested in getting home to play with her gifts and get her "Webkinz" logged in on the computer. It really was a nice, fun way to celebrate a birthday!