As Time Goes By

It’s hard to believe that nine years ago right now, I was going through this. It seems like only yesterday. I can certainly remember it like it was yesterday. And now, in less than four hours from now, my daughter will officially be nine years old.

My daughter is bordering on being a pre-teen. A tween. That’s scary. But as scary as that is, I know that my daughter is kind (to everyone but her brother – but that will change as they get older, as it did for my sister and me), my daughter is loving, my daughter is creative, my daughter is imaginative.

She is also stubborn, emotional, and tends to avoid homework at all costs. But when she does well, she does REALLY well. When she loves something, she loves it passionately. She is good with animals and loves to sing (even if it’s slightly off-key at times). She loves to draw pictures and doesn’t care one whit about drawing within the lines.

She loves eating strawberries, and yogurt, and buttered noodles. She doesn’t like red meat very much and yet will devour Sloppy Joes with abandon.

For her birthday this year she has invited a handful of friends to spend a couple hours with her at Chuck E Cheese. In lieu of gifts she is asking people to bring canned goods or non-perishables for us to take to our local food bank. While the initial idea of doing this was not hers, when I mentioned it she quickly choose which organization she wanted to help and jumped on board with it.

She loves to sleep and can sleep through almost any noise. Even now she loves hugs – both giving and receiving. I love that she still occasionally wants to hold my hand in public. She is a Daddy’s Girl through and through and thinks the sun sets with her father.

And even though she sometimes whines too much, or stomps her feet in frustration, or slams her bedroom door when being sent to her room as punishment, those moments are few and more than made up for with her many, many examples of sweet-natured goodness.

Was it really nine years since she was like this?

And this weekend she was like this?

Amazing. We love you, Cootiegirl!