Happy Birthday, Molly!

Today is Molly's 4th birthday.   Look out world!

She is feisty, spunky, outspoken, silly, delightful, frustrating, hilarious, clever, a sugar addict, independent, and most importantly: our little girl.  But, not for long.  She gets quite annoyed with anyone who refers to her as a baby.  She is not a baby.  I'm sure she will soon be annoyed with the adjective "little".   But, she is all girl.  Pink is her favorite color, but purple will do in a pinch.  And though she likes to dress up like a princess, she also begs to run hills, ride her tricycle really fast, and even subbed in during a game of driveway basketball.  Granted, we have to convince her that she should really do the latter activities in something other than her princess gowns...

This year she has traveled to several states, started wearing glasses,  taught herself how to spell her name (which she will write anywhere and everywhere.), learned how to do dot-to-dots, practiced drawing stick figures on most writing surfaces, developed a love of baking, wrote her first song ('When You Gave a Dog a Bone!' Actually, kind of catchy), and completely embraced the role of older sister (probably why she will constantly correct anyone who deigns to call her: Baby Girl).

As I said earlier, she can be frustrating.  She is more head strong than the boys.  She is also a bit on the sneaky side.  I will discover her cutting open fruit snacks...you know, so she didn't have to bother me...right.  But, frankly, I'm proud of her.  I'm proud she is so sure of herself.  She knows exactly what she wants and does not wait around for you to do it for her.  If she wants hot chocolate, I will hear the scrape of the kitchen stools across the tile and walk in to find her precariously leaning over to get a mug and the Swiss Miss.  She does something similar to get certain paints that are suppose to be out of the reach of kids...

Being around Molly means practicing patience.  But, the more you are around her, the more you understand how she operates.  She lights up our lives so many times in a day.  She likes pretty things and will exclaim: It is SO BEAUTIFUL!  I will even get this compliment on occasion.  I can nearly always count on it if I put in earrings.

Molly loves music and dancing.  I love hearing her sing.  I didn't even mind sharing the piano with her during our Christmas caroling (it was a bonus I could sort of blame my many mistakes on her).  I loved looking down and seeing her beam up at me as though our 'duet' was the best piece of music out there.

Molly is such a special little girl.  I read a quote recently that went: I live in my own little world, but it's okay, everyone knows me here.  This is so true for Molly.  She goes through life with a smile on her face ready to meet each day head on.   And the fact that over the last few weeks I feel more like her ally than nemesis, I am looking forward to meeting this next year head on with her.  Plus she knows where all the good snacks are.

Dear Molly,
  We love you so much!  Keep dancing and singing and laughing and smiling and finding everything exciting, because you take the rest of us with you.  Have a wonderful 4th birthday and eat lots of cake!

Mom