five. (and some change)

To my little babushka...at five years old.

You love to sing and dance so much, Greta. Always singing. Making up your own song. Dancing to the beat of your own drum. 

Gram and Papa took us on a Disney cruise to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. (I am so bummed my camera broke the first day of the cruise.) You loved every minute of it. Except for getting in the water with a dolphin. You didn't want to do that.

Your birthday party was pretty epic. It was a beautiful day, you were surrounded by friends and family, and Mr. Dave played and sang "Happy Birthday" to you. You have loved him and his music since you were a baby.

You began taking guitar lessons with Mr. Dave and although you don't practice like you should, you really enjoy it. I think you enjoy the singing much more than the guitar playing.

You are in kindergarten! How!? Your teacher is Mrs. White and there is another Greta in your class who is (sometimes) mean to you. You tried to make sense of her bullying by telling me, "I think she just misses her mommy." Because you are a voice of reason and wisdom and when others are mean to you, you want to understand why.

We also went to Disney World and Vero Beach with Gram and Papa. Your favorite rides are still Dumbo and It's a Small World. You seriously wanted to go on it over and over. And we got to go trick-or-treating around the park for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween. So fun! We even got to eat breakfast with all the princesses, you lucky gal, you. The thing I think I'll remember most about that trip is there was a great big water slide at the Vero Beach resort and you must have gone down it about twenty times. You loved it so much and had so much fun swimming in the pool there.

When we went apple picking, I was going to put the deer sweater on Estella, as it looked a bit small for you. You cried and begged to wear it. So, I think you have worn that sweater apple picking since you were two. Perhaps a bit small, it was still adorable on you.

You love “Hotel California” by the Eagles and often will ask Alexa to play, “the Seagulls” and you love the Beatles because Daddy does and your favorite is “Here Comes the Sun” and you also love “Beautiful Boy” by John Lennon...which we replace with girl in our rendition, of course.

You narrate what you’re doing, even in pretend play. For example, today, while you and your sister were pretending and Estella was a dog, you got her some water and said, “and then, she got the doggy some water and she appreciated it very much.”

You find beauty and shapes and animals in the everyday. You see animals in the clouds. (That does look like an elephant, Greta!) You put your heels together when you’re sitting on the floor and say it’s the bottom part of a heart and then lean over and curve both hands to make the top part. A hair curled up hair on the side of the tub looks like a seahorse. (It really did!) "Mama! Take a picture of the moon!" as you gaze at it and say it looks like a fingernail and close one eye and hold your thumb to the sky to compare.You spotted a leaf in the garage that looked like a heart and taped it up in your room. I love that these simple things make you so happy. My heart swells with pride and I am left in awe and the wonder that is you.