And here we are, into November, and my little Lily turned 6 at the end of September. Over a month behind on documenting it, but whatever, she isn't graduating college yet, so I say I'm doing fine.
Overall, she had a great day. Grandma and Grandpa H had sent her a check with birthday money so she could go pick out something she wanted from the store. When they watched the girls back in August, they reported that Lily just was enthralled with ads and commercials and kept pointing out the things she wanted, so they thought it'd be fun for her to go pick one. She knew right what she wanted, and she convinced her daddy to get up bright and early on the morning of her birthday, "as soon as the toy store opens, Daddy," to pick out what she wanted. My parents and Gigi were able to come spend the weekend with us, and we had a great time playing together as a family, celebrating with presents and cake, and enjoying being outside.
We had a birthday party for her last year, for her 5th birthday, and I think she was hoping for a party this year also. She handled her disappointment well, no complaining, but the sensitive momma side of me could tell that she was sad we didn't have more people over. I am adding this paragraph for the sole purpose of stating a fact that I can cry about later when she's in college.
So far, she loves being six. She honestly seems to be living each thing with new wonder, every single day. I wish I could live this way. Everywhere we go, though she's been 6 for a month now, she states, "this is the first time doing xyz since I turned 6, isn't it," or, "so and so hasn't seen me since I turned 6, have they." Lily also got her ears pierced a few days before her actual birthday- more on that in a minute- and we can tell she just loves it. She will mention that her friends just will not be able to guess what's different, or, "do you think they will noticed I have my ears pierced?" She seems to really be a little girl now, completely gone of the toddler years, and I am having so much fun with my oldest girl. We can sit and have good conversations about a ton of stuff- both light and silly, to serious- and play anything she can daydream, and then sit down and focus in on a specific challenge with a lot more attention than I ever had. Jesse and I got her a pile of hemp, beads, and a book on different knots to make friendship bracelets, and she just loves it. I don't know what is normal for 6 year olds, but to me, her dexterity is fantastic. She braids everything, and it's a good solid braid, and can tie shoes well. One of her presentations at school for our community day was to show/teach her class how to do something, and I suggested she take her doll with long hair in to give her class a demo to braid. She loved that idea, and while she was practicing for Jesse and me one evening, couldn't figure out how to both show her class (Jesse and me), and successfully braid. After trying a few things, she sat the doll in her lap backwards, and announced she'd just show us, and then proceeded to braid backwards towards her audience. I can barely braid backwards as an adult, and I think my jaw hit the floor.
So Lily expressed interest in getting her ears pierced around her 5th birthday. Jesse and I talked about it, and decided she was old enough for that if she really wanted it, after I described in detail what they would do. I'm not big on sugar coating the truth to my kids, and try to tell them as much of the truth as I/we feel they can handle at their respective ages. After I told her exactly what would happen, she decided on her own to wait. No problem as far as we were concerned, this was now absolutely her decision, as we wanted it to be. She talked about it off an on for most of the year, deciding that 8 would be the perfect age to get her ears pierced. We encouraged her that whenever she felt she was ready, we'd make her an appointment. A little before her birthday, she decided she was ready. I had fully planned on taking her to a tattoo/piercing place to get it done, and I barely could say piercing before they said no, absolutely no piercing on people under 18. With that out the door, we drove immediately to the mall and got them done. She was a champ. She teared up, I told her she could cry if she wanted to and that I was proud of her, and Emma and Kaylee cheered her on.
Lily is caring, has a fabulous memory and attention to detail, and loves her people. And all people are her people. She asks me about everyone she has ever met, I think. When I show her pictures of my friends, she knows who they are right off the bat, and typically asks if we can call them to say hi. Heads up, friends, we may start doing that.
