I can't believe my girl is five today.
Five is a totally new world. She is no longer a baby, but a strong girl who loves to run, play, draw, and learn. She is so determined to be bigger, smarter, faster, stronger and all of that seems so far away to her that it makes her want it even more. She can't wait to start school next year, can't wait to read chapter books, can't wait to be in the next gymnastics class, and while I'm so proud of her energy, and I know it makes her the strong person she is today, my birthday wish for my girl is to slow down.
I know that is an impossible thing to tell a kid, and especially my kid who hasn't really had a slow day since she was born. (This is the kid who was born less than ten minutes after we got to the hospital...) I want her to enjoy how magic five will be. I want her to enjoy this year where she'll start kindergarten, probably finally lose that already loose tooth, meet new friends, and all the amazing, new things she'll do this year.
It's a lost cause, I know. Already she seems older and it's absolutely intentional. This morning we stopped by Top Pot for a birthday doughnut treat and she started to ask for her usual favorite pink rainbow sprinkle and then stopped.
"Now that I'm five, I'm going to try something new. I'll have that one," she said, pointing to a chocolate with maple frosting. And then she added "Please!"
But after we got it and she'd taken a few bites, she put it down. "Don't you like it?" I asked.
"Actually," she said. "I don't like it. It smells like coffee--it doesn't taste good." And then she took a breath. "And because I'm five, I'm not going to get really mad about it. But I am really sad about it."
At this point, I was ready to go back and get her the tried and true pink rainbow sprinkle, but knowing that I'd blow the whole thing, I held back, too.
However, maturity of the day was forgotten when at bedtime, after a deadly boring Dora video (according to Tali, that's actually a birthday treat) and ice cream, she had a fit when I turned off the television.
"What happened to behaving like a five year old?" I asked as I lifted her up from the floor where she was freaking out.
She stopped crying and looked at me. "I am behaving like a five year old." she said frankly. And then laughed.
Touche.
So then I took her suddenly snuggly five year old self to bed where she promptly fell asleep.
Happy Birthday to my dear, dear five year old. I guess we'll both learn this year how fast and slow can play nice with each other.
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