F*I*V*E

My Rosie, you are so big!  Your smile during your entire little birthday celebration lit up the room whenever you were in it.  You came up with the guest list of your little friends and asked for a "flower birthday" that was "teal and pink."  Your sisters and the other big sisters of your friends were welcome as Helpers and they were really good at helping so that mommies could visit and eat and sit with their babies.  It was your idea to "Pin the stem on the flower," although I changed it a little by making it a bee we were pinning to the flower because I thought it would be easier to decide who was the winner that way.  I loved watching you and your friends decorate and create flowers, and eat sandwiches and play on the tire swing.  What a happy day!

You loved your pink cake and I overheard you taking your friend Rex over to see it, saying, "My mommy made it for me!" Birthday cakes are a fun tradition now in our family and even though they might not always (or usually) turn out exactly the way I had hoped, YOU loved it and that's what is important to me because I want you to know that I am so happy God gave you to our family now and always.

When I look at your face I can see that you are not a baby anymore but are a big girl.  I know I should just plain be happy about this, and oh, I am so so happy about how big and smart and special and beautiful and funny you are growing up to be, but I also remember all the times when you were littler and how special those times were and I miss them.  I feel this at all your sisters' birthdays too.  Time is a funny thing, how it slips away, and no matter how carefully I am trying to treasure up the time and the days, it still escapes my grasp, and I am left breathless waiting for the day when I will catch up and feel like I understand how you are growing.  I don't think that day will come, but somehow I keep waiting for it. 

So now you are five and as wonderful as can be.  You love to entertain us with stories and songs and little plays.  You love to dig in the dirt and make people laugh and you say the most beautiful original prayers in the way you know that God really hears you and cares what you have to say.  Your prayers are a good reminder to me of how to pray. You are learning to read after begging to be taught, and then oh, boy, the joys of reading will be open to you so soon!  I love you, my darling Rosemary Joy.  Grow straight and true and be brave.
Love,
Your mommy