Hi Baby Girl –

It has been far too long since I’ve written to you, and i really want to talk with you on a regular basis so we can both remember the amazing adventures and accomplishments of yours nearly everyday… Let’s see what I can remember…

* I am calling you “bug” these days. You said tonight, “yeah, I’m your love bug” in a rather matter-of-fact comment.
* Since January, you have been spending Tuesday after school in swim lessons with your “sister” Sibhon, Wednesday’s & Friday’s with Kate and Delilah and Thursday’s with either Barbie or Amy. Here are some pictures to remind us about these days:

* You know all of your letters A-Z, the sound they make and how to write them. You really like to help me make the grocery list each week, and it melts my heart to carry that list around!! You write words by writing each letter but if you run out of room on the page in the middle of a word, sometimes you continue above the word, sometimes below, and sometimes on a different part of the page. : )
* You read your first word a few days ago, and you were so excited. The word was “for.” You were drinking milk out of a glass that said “Milk for Santa.” As I was attending to something else, I could hear you sound out the word – ffffffff….oooo…or… ffor. Mama, does this say “for”?!?!?” You were so excited – as was I.
* You jumped in the deep end during swim lessons last Tuesday. You haven’t passed the swim test yet, but it sounds like you are making awesome progress. You can swim back stroke quite confidently.
* We still rock and lay down in bed together each night. It’s a time I truly treasure. We often giggle alot! Almost every night you say, “Mama, if Daddy Jim snores, you can sleep with me.” Sometimes you get up in the middle of the night (say 2:30am), come into our room, and say “Mama, I have something very important to tell you.”” “What Sweetie?” “If Daddy Jim snores, you can come sleep with me.”
* I left for 3 days for a conference, and by the 3rd day you were getting sort of crabby… definitely not your sweet, wonderful self. You had a hard time listening to Kate, and Barbie said you weren’t yourself in school. The next morning after I got home, I gave you a stern talking-to about listening… letting you know that there would be consequences if you didn’t listen for Amy that day. You listened carefully, and then said most sincerely,
“Mama, what’s a quansiquence?”
“A quansiquence is when you don’t get to do something you like, like maybe you don’t get to watch tv for a week.”
Again, you paused and asked,
“Mama, how long is a week?”
Sigh – In some ways you are growing up soooo quickly, in other ways, you are still so my baby.

* One of your favorite private jokes between us is when I say something like, “You look a lot like my little girl, but she went to school all squeaky clean. You can’t be my little girl because you are so dirty.” And then you show me my favorite birth mark on you to prove that you’re my Sweet daughter, and we both laugh. You often ask me to “play that game.” I am so unbelievably grateful that you are really, truly my kid.
* Last week you rode your bike around the block. You are still using training wheels, and Daddy Jim ran next to you. You did a fantastic job, and you were so proud of yourself!
* You are still totally an outside girl – loving to pick flowers, build habitats for worms and pill bugs, collect rocks and sticks, and jump in puddles.

I’ll add pictures to all of these things very soon.
I love you Sweet Girl.