To my 6-year-old

My sweet girl, you are 6. In so many ways, you seem like 16! We have been talking about your 6th birthday for so long, I have become desensitized to it in a way, but then again, I think of that tiny little perfect pink bundle in my arms 6 years ago and I just want to cry. Somehow, 6 seems so much older than 5. Kindergarten is almost behind you already, but it seems like last week I took you for your first day and cried my eyes out all day. You have no idea how much I love you, and when I tell you “no” so often when you want sweets or to do something “for just a little bit,” you don’t know that I do that because I want what’s best for you–not because I want to be mean.

Oh, you challenge us in so many ways. You are stubborn, you don’t listen, you are constantly climbing the walls, and you have an obsession with potty talk these days. You REFUSE to take medicine, you are a big baby about getting even the tiniest scratch, and you conveniently “forget” everything we tell you. You frequently try to get your sister to do things she’s not supposed to do. You like to do things you know you’re not supposed to do, too–especially when your friends come over.
But my sweet, sweet Jenna, how blessed we are. You are so good. You make me so proud. In school, with all your “super citizen” awards and your progress reports. With the sweet things you say. With the progress I see in you every day. I think you really try, and I love you more for it. You love to make us proud, although sometimes it makes me sad when you & Sarah ask “Are you happy with me?” That’s mostly Sarah, but you do it, too. You LOVE to help us do things like clean, cook, bake, of course, and anything else that we would rather do alone…but you don’t really like doing the things we WANT you to help with, like clean your room and put your things away! You have such an enthusiasm for life and I hope you never get over that. We ask you to calm down a lot, but I don’t want to squash your excitement–maybe just tone it down a little? You love to read books, and you’re getting better with reading the words yourself. I hope you never lose that interest, too…I only wish I had more time to read to you/with you. You like all books, but I love reading the Junie B. Jones books to you because there aren’t many pictures and you’re forced to listen. 🙂 You get frustrated a lot, and I’m sorry to say that will probably only get worse as you move on to bigger & better things in school. You like to watch TV, but I am glad you would always rather play outside, if given the chance. You like a lot of shows on the Disney Channel…Austin & Ally is your current favorite, and you like all the Disney/Pixar movies. You like the Barbie movies too, but we’ll work on that. 🙂
You are still a picky eater, but getting a little better. Your favorite is still pizza & chicken nuggets. You love fruit, which makes me happy! Almost any kind of fruit, but your favorite is mango. That’s my girl!!! I don’t think you love anything as much as chocolate though. Who could blame you? Chocolate, ice cream, cupcakes, cookies, CANDY…you have my sweet tooth, I’m afraid. You do like broccoli, when I roast it in the oven, but that’s about the extent of the vegetables you like. If bribed with a treat though, you will eat them.
You are not doing any sports right now–your only extra-curricular activity is your Daisies. You love Daisies, but since we figured out soccer isn’t your thing, we need to figure out what is. This summer you will be in some gymnastics camps, so maybe you can get more into that. I also am determined that this is the summer you will be comfortable swimming. Maybe you’ll follow your mama’s footsteps? Err, strokes? You get frustrated when you can’t do something, and you don’t like to take the time to figure out how. So I don’t really see musical instruments in your future, but we will still try.
You LOVE animals. You are so gentle and good with them. We call you the butterfly whisperer because you have the ability to get them to land on your finger. Most people can’t do that! You also like snakes and lizards. You pretty much like any animal you can hold! I wanted to get a rabbit or guinea pig for you, but I don’t think you’re quite ready for that yet…because I’m not ready for it yet. You are very sensitive–movies make you cry these days (Fox & the Hound, Lion King), and I think maybe that compassion is what makes you so good with animals. You can’t get enough of Maggie.

Every night, Daddy & I rotate with you & Sarah, but when I put you to bed, you have no idea how happy it makes me when you hug me, sing to me, want me to sing to you, and you don’t want me to go. My favorite is when you tell me “I’m glad God gave me you for a mom. I didn’t want any other moms.” I try to savor all those hugs and that sweet voice because I know it will not last. When I pick you up from school, it breaks my heart to have to tell you EVERY DAY that no, we can’t play on the playground, because I have to work. I am lucky to work from home and get to pick you up most days, but I sure do wish I could actually spend some time with you each afternoon. 😦
You & Sarah fight all the time, but you really are such a good big sister. You take care of her and try to protect her. You are lucky to have each other, and one day you’ll be lucky to have someone to talk to about your crazy mother. Sweet, beautiful, loving Jenna, I am so blessed to watch you grow and flourish, and I will be with you every step of the way. I hope you can always come to me the way you did when you turned 6. I love you so very much.

Love,
Mom

 

Stats

Bad, bad mama. Now that Sarah’s three, I’m getting around to posting her 2 year stats. Also her 3 year. And while I’m at it, Jenna’s 5 year stats, since she won’t be 6 until April.

Sarah has always been our “petite” one. She’s average, but Jenna has always been bigger, so we call her that. For 2 years:
Weight: 25 lbs, 40%
Height: 33″, 50%
Head 48 1/2 cm, 75%.

For 3 years:
Weight: 31.2 lbs, 50%
Height: 36 3/4

We started going to a new pedia, and they don’t do head circumference, or maybe they stop doing that at 3…I don’t remember. Her BMI is 16.8 though.

Jenna seems to go down a bit every year. She started out in the 97th % as a baby, and it keeps dropping. At her 5 year checkup:
Weight: 41 lbs, 70%
Height 41 1/2, 50%
BMI 16.7 (85%?)

This morning, we took the girls for their 6 month dental exams. They HATE the dentist, just like their mama. I don’t know why, since my hatred and irrational fear of anything related to dentistry comes from my bad experiences. They don’t have any of those yet. They did OK–we need to do a better job on Jenna’s teeth because she had too much plaque. Poor girl-her teeth are so squished together, it’s hard to get between them, and since her 6 year molars are in, they’ll get even more squished. She has lost her bottom two front teeth, so those are permanent. The dentist talked about the possibility of extraction to make room for them all, but I REALLY hope that doesn’t have to happen! We seriously would have to put Jenna under for that…and maybe me, too. Bleh.

 

 

Sarah’s Three!

This post is all about Sarah. Even though Jenna has had some milestones recently, like losing her first 2 teeth, starting Kindergarten, and starting to read, Sarah just had a birthday so I’ll reserve this one for her. Someday I may even post about something other than them, but since the only other thing in my life besides them is work and knitting, I probably won’t. Nobody wants to hear about that and I probably don’t want to remember it. 🙂 Since Sarah’s my baby, I guess I’m a little “OMG, my BABY is 3” but then again, sometimes I think she should be 5 by now. Oh, Sarah, how I love thee. So sweet, so cute, so cuddly sometimes, and also…such a pain! I’ve mentioned that though, so I’ll dwell on the good stuff. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how excited she gets about things. I don’t want that to ever change.

I look forward to telling her things I think she’ll like because I love to see her reaction. Sometimes she squeals, but she usually gets a BIG smile and jumps up & down. She does that when we tell her she’s going to her friend, Isabella’s, house.

She also loves dresses, hats, and anything to with dressing up, really.

I don’t think she would be quite so into dressing up or dresses in general without her sister’s influence. Jenna gets really upset if she has to wear pants. She would wear a dress every single day if I would let her…and I usually do. But Sarah has to wear a uniform to her Montessori school, so she changes as soon as she gets home every day. Sarah does like to do what her sister does…isn’t that what big sisters are for? When Jenna lost her second tooth, I wanted a picture of  her new smile.

Sarah didn’t want to be left out.

They both love to run around, wrestle, talk about poop, make a mess, and FIGHT. Sarah is actually pretty good about playing by herself, as long as Jenna’s not around to ruin it. Synergy. Sarah’s our little hoarder. She loves to take a little purse, bag, box, whatever, and just fill it with junk and carry it around. She’s so funny. Jay & I teach her class every other Sunday at church, and she even does it there. She’ll find anything she can stuff with…STUFF, and be perfectly content. That’s why I hate games and puzzles around the house, because you can guarantee she’ll divide all the pieces among any number of bags or boxes, and there’s no telling where we’ll find it.

Both of the girls LOVE their sweets, although Jenna more so than Sarah. Sarah loves to eat pizza, chicken nuggets, and just about any junk. Vegetables, though? Forget it. I haven’t found one yet that she’ll eat. She doesn’t even like fruit, unless it comes out of a can. She does love her milk, though. Very disappointing for me because I tried so hard to get her off to a healthy start. I made all her baby food, graduated to making healthy meals for her, and tried to avoid giving her junk for as long as I could. Somewhere along the way though, she learned that she had no use for the healthy stuff. 😦 I guess that’s why she had so much fun at this gingerbread house decorating party.

Christmas. I am sure it will be Sarah’s favorite time of the year. She loved all of it. This was really the first year she was old enough to “get” everything. She did talk a lot about Jesus and she loved her Christmas hymns, but what kid doesn’t love Santa, candy, Christmas movies, and all the pretty, shiny decorations? She loves to sing (LOVES to sing), and still claims that Joy to the World is her favorite song. I think we will be singing Christmas carols to her at bedtime all year long.

Sarah had to get glasses in December. Obviously, most of the pictures in this post were post-glasses. Her teacher said she noticed one of her eyes crossing, so of course I was VERY concerned about that. It took a while before we noticed it, but after a couple of weeks, it got worse and worse. We took her to have her eyes checked, and sure enough, she’s far sighted like her mama. Fortunately, not as bad, but still they’re pretty thick. She did not want to wear them at all at first, but she has gotten better about it. I hope & pray she’ll grow out of some of it, because I don’t want her to have to go through all I went through. I’m sure she won’t completely grow out of it, but it would be nice if her prescription could be a little weaker as she gets older. Sigh.

Hmm, what else does Sarah love? Chipotle, Chuy’s, dancing, swinging at the park, Maggie, Mimi & Beebaw, going to Nana  & Pops’ house, church, Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty, Dora, my camera or phone, and various movies. She rotates through her favorites, but right now, Despicable Me is at the top. She loves to say “Boo Ya!” like the villain in that movie. Super cute. She loves her “babies.” She always wants to have a baby with her wherever we go. It could be an actual baby doll, it could be any stuffed animal, or even a blanket. Unfortunately, she also loves her thumb. I don’t know how we’ll break her of that, but she constantly has that thumb in her mouth. Also unfortunate – her early internal alarm. She wakes up around 5:15 every day, ready to go. Ugggh. She also loves birthdays. Kids are so fascinated with birthdays. Of course, she was even more excited when it was her own. I didn’t try to play that up, so I could see her squeal, at all. 🙂

Happy Birthday Sarah