We have a 5-year old!

Sadie turned five yesterday. Five is a big milestone, in my opinion. Important things happen when you’re five. Kindergarten, new friends, lots and lots of new experiences. I’m excited for the year to come, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I’m a little apprehensive about it as well. She’s just growing up so fast. Last night at our little family party we sat down to watch the video of Sadie right after she was born. I couldn’t believe how fast the memories came flooding back. There she was, right there on the TV screen, a red-faced newborn with a scream to rival the loudest babies around. And yet, I could look across the room and see my 5-year old girl sitting there, watching her tiny self on the TV with a big grin on her face. It was a little surreal. Those five years happened so fast.

She’s grown up a lot this past year, that’s no surprise. Each day she gets a little smarter, a little more independent. I’m getting more and more glimpses of the kind of person she’s going to be. Usually it's exciting, once in awhile it makes me a little nervous. She keeps me on my toes, that's for sure!

Here are a few other random things about Sadie at age five:

She’s not as excited to read at this point as I always hoped she’d be (then again, I’ll admit I had high expectations – I loved reading at her age), but she’s definitely progressing. Lately her big thing is writing. She’s been asking me how to spell and write different words and it’s fun to watch her whip out the four words she knows by heart: mom, dad, Sadie, and Ellie. My favorite is when she writes a bunch of random letters together to make a “word” and then asks me to read it. Umm… “bdkiealm” says…(what? What am I supposed to say to that? J)

She’s also decided that she likes to write stories. And by “write” I mean she rips out a bunch of pages from a notebook, draws the pictures in her story, and then asks me to write the narration. So maybe illustrating and telling the story is more accurate. Then she staples it together and, voila! – she has a book. She's always been quite the storyteller, and I think it's exciting for her to have discovered this new way of sharing those stories.

The girl is a dreamer. She just is. It’s hard to get her to focus on anything because the next minute, she’s off in la-la land. Cleaning her room is the worst. There are too many distractions, too many opportunities to act out some scene in her head.

She adores her little sister, even though it's sometimes hard to tell. The first question she asks me when she gets home from preschool is, “When is Ellie going to wake up?” The two of them are true siblings, which means they are either best buddies or worst enemies. There's rarely an in-between. And Sadie is a true oldest child because that girl can boss her sister around like it's nobody's business. I've noticed that bossiness coming out while she plays with her friends as well, although she's not quite as assertive about it. (And yes, we've had our fair share of talks about how we need to let sisters/friends make their own choices. Maybe someday it will sink in.)

She is one of the most kind and thoughtful people I know. She is always asking to draw pictures or write little notes for friends, grandparents, mom and dad – anyone she can think of who might need a little something. If she sees a friend or any little kid being sad, she will always be the first to offer them a toy (often one of her own) or anything else she can think of to make them happy.

Basically, she's your typical fun, silly (and yep...still emotional and a tad dramatic) 5-year old girl and we can't imagine what we'd do without her!

Happy Birthday, Sadie!