Today is a busy day. I’m teaching BODYPUMP, throwing a combined birthday party (for Della and Simon because they’re always so close to Thanksgiving, which means Simon never gets a party unless we do a combo deal), and working a market event for Paint and Prose.
But I couldn’t let the day get pass without bragging on my newly minted 5-year-old!
I know some of you have been reading M is for Mama (way back when it was still Five days…5 Ways) long enough to remember the first time that I posted this shot of Della.
She was seven months old in this pic, and I think I posted it my first month of blogging.
Cuh-razy-ness.
Because here’s what she looks like now.
How????? How is my baby girl so tall and slim and poised?
Despite having 3 that are younger than Della, some little corner of her brain has considered her my “baby” since she was born.
And that pretty much never changed…even when she started using big words like, “Incredib-wee” and “Fwust-wating.”
Baby? Really, mama? My size 6 pants are too short!
We had a bit of a rough go of it at the very beginning of age 4. After being the world’s sweetest, most pliable child for 3.95 years, things went a little haywire. But they’ve since smoothed out, and little miss Adelaide is back to being a ray of sunshine.
In fact, a few weeks ago, she came to me, looking shy, and said, “Mama? Do you know what I just did?”
“No, baby. What?” I said.
“I just asked to become a child of God.”
And I could tell by the serious look in her storm blue eyes that she meant it.
I sat her down, and we talked (again) about why we needed Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins that we could never pay, but she was saying everything practically before I could ask the next question. I know that she will continue to grow in knowledge and truth and wisdom and familiarity with the Bible and her walk with Jesus, but that was the moment I will remember as Della’s at least having an inkling of her need for a Savior. And it was a good one.
Truth be told, Della can get a bit lost in the shuffle. She’s happy to tag along with her brothers or “direct” her twin sisters, and she rarely needs me for entertainment, so, unless we’re reading a book on the couch, doing her school together, or having a discipline issue, I can go whole days without doing much more than greeting her in the morning and then making sure that she’s fed all day. Of course, there’s more interaction than that, but it’s not always as meaningful as I would hope.
Which is why I was thrilled when my mom took the oldest two boys and the twins, leaving me with only Della and Theo to run errands, eat lunch together, and just generally get to enjoy my newly minted 5-year-old’s hilarious comments (she wanted to get the wispy pieces around her eyes cut because: “they make it hard to get to my ear wax.” Well, exCUSE me!) and take a moment to really drink in the fact that she’s no longer a baby and that she is inhabiting the role of big/biggest girl in our house so very well.
Oh, and speaking of those darn ear-wax blocking strands, I did give in to her request for a haircut because A) I was thinking she needed one already (the ends were scraggly), and B) I’ve always had a subconscious goal of her getting to 5 before we cut her Rapunzelesque locks. And we aaaaaaaaaaalmost made it!
Here’s the Before
And the almost-during…
Aaaaand the after:
Can you tell a difference? I definitely can, but this pic doesn’t do it much justice. We cut off about 4 inches, and it looks great!
I’m so glad the Lord gave me such a sweet, cheerful little 5-year-old to love. His mercies are endless.
Beautiful post!
Oh, my dear! 9 or 10 years and you are in trouble, with a CAPITAL “t”! Your comment about 4….my granddaughter (now 26) was 4 when she and her mother dropped in. Daughters greeting….”thank you , mom.” You’re welcome but what for? ” for not killing me when I was 4!” I’ve always said four is the hardest.
I have been very fortunate to have never known age 4 to be troublesome. if anything, it is precious. one can have some great conversations and lunch dates etc and they have not been to public school yet so they still think mommy and daddy are still precious relationships.
thank you for sharing such precious news She invited Jesus into her sweet little heart !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is as beautiful as her mother. Happy Thanksgiving
Happy birthday! I’ve been reading so long, that it doesn’t seem like she could possible be this big!
Also, GIRL, that pic of you is my fave way I’ve ever seen your hair. Rock on, mama to a 5 year old girl!
oh.my.goodness. she could seriously be a model! That is so encouraging that she is a child of God!