My baby is FIVE… (well, she will be tomorrow)

And I’m loving every minute.

Kaitlyn is a Mama’s girl and while it means she only wants me if she wakes up in the middle of the night and climbs onto my lap by the end of every meal, I wouldn’t change a thing.

There is so much I could write about our sweet little firecracker, it’s hard to know where to start. 

EAT

I try not to label my kids’ food preferences, but if I did, I’d call Kaitlyn the carb queen. Her favorite foods are mac and cheese, rolls with butter, tortillas, and yogurt. For her birthday party she got to choose the kid menu: corn dogs, mac ‘n cheese, and applesauce. It’s funny to me that it’s really more savory carbs than sweets, too. She’ll leave half a piece of cake on her plate or abandon a muffin halfway through but will demolish a bowl of rotini and marinara.

Despite her preferences, she is not a picky eater. She has tested me more in the eating department than Hailey ever has, but I stuck to my guns and it’s paid off. While I still don’t expect her to be excited about meat or asparagus, she will happily gobble up purple cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, fruit of any kind, salads, and avocado toast. 

SLEEP

She has never needed as much sleep as her big sis, and it’s still true today. She dropped naps so long ago (before age 2, I believe?!), but generally sleeps pretty well at night. I like to keep claiming the girls have a 7:00 PM bed time but between homeschooling and the extended sunshine hours of spring, it’s generally closer to 7:30/7:45. 

She likes to lay in bed with her Leap Frog Pen, listening to stories and animal facts and reading books (mostly looking at pictures). She usually falls asleep around 8:00 PM on a normal night, though has no problem hanging until 9:30 PM or later when we stay out with friends. She typically wakes up at 7:15 AM/7:30 AM ready for the day.

It’s also worth noting (for my own memory sake) that she does not always sleep straight through the night. Over the past year she’s gone through streaks where she’ll wake up every night for a week or two. Usually it’s “I’m scared” but sometimes it’s just to tell us she got hot or cold, had a funny dream, or can’t find ____ (fill in the blank with whatever thing she actually doesn’t care anything about but yet needs desperately at 2:30 AM).

She still sleeps with her bunny lovey, Mimi, and nothing warms my heart more than peeking in on her and seeing them cuddled up together.

PLAY

Spoken like every mom ever, Kaitlyn is smart. She has the advantage of being the little sister and soaks up a lot of what Hailey and I work on. She reads beginner reader books, writes us notes, gets really frustrated if she doesn’t spell something correctly, and can ramble off random animal facts like Steve Irwin. She seems to really like math and often asks for more of it. She’s doing simple addition and subtraction mostly and really enjoys the snippets we read and answer through Bedtime Math.

Kaitlyn is feisty. In fact, I just signed her up for a trial karate class because she’s been begging to try it. She often punches and kicks- not out of anger, just embracing her inner… super hero? She’ll grit her teeth, scream hi-ya!, and just start swinging.

The best part about her aggressive ways is that it’s coupled with a deep affection for all things “fancy.” She adores long dresses, make-up, earrings (“earlings,” as she calls them), necklaces, and rings, high heels, and tiaras. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she listed out all these “fancy” things, being sure to add in at the end- “oh! And some blush. Mine is getting low.” 

She is a natural leader. She uses her charm and grit to get people to do what she wants. I’m equal parts proud and terrified of this. 

When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, her current answer is: “spa person.” I love this because it means she spends time practicing by brushing my hair, giving me “massagies” and “scratchies” on my back, and rubbing lotion on my feet. 

She brings such sunshine and spunk into our lives. I love how independent she is, but also how much she misses her sister we they are apart. 

I’m so proud to be her mom and look forward to all that FIVE will bring our way.

Happy birthday, Goose. We love you!

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