Lydia Carol is 5!

 My little lady just turned five years old! What a lucky lucky mother I am to have this little girl for mine! She is the most brilliant little five year old I know. :) (I can say that because she's mine.) She keeps us all on our toes and she never misses a beat! She remembers everything you say and everything you don't say, making it difficult to ever kind of gloss over something just to ease her mind so you can move one to something else...she will remember that previous thing and want more explanation later. She is independent as a five year old can possibly be and she is just like my little baby bird just dying to fly away! She will, no doubt, but I am fighting to hold her down as long as possible! :) She surprises me every day with the things she says and does. She is extremely creative, gifted on the piano, and very empathetic toward others (most of the time...). Lydia is so very thoughtful and puts her heart into almost everything she does, which is very sweet, but it makes it difficult to ever sort through all of her drawings (they are so meaningful to her that she doesn't understand why I can't keep every single one...) or to convince her that she doesn't have to give the neighbor gifts every day, etc.

It is so fun watching her personality blossom. She has always been such a spunky little thing and now that she understands humor a little bit more, she is getting to be quite silly! I love catching her little moments of "True Lydia", like when I'm watching her dance around and she throws in a extra silly little shake of her booty and then giggles to herself or when she falls down and instead of crying she stands up and continues walking, but in the goofiest walk you can imagine. She is beginning to laugh at herself when she messes up instead of being so incredibly hard on herself and that is a relief to me! She still expects way too much out of herself, but I hope that she just continues to grow in confidence.

 Lydia loves being in the spotlight. She started giving talks and saying prayers and things in primary this past year, and most kids get kind of shy up in front of the group and require help the first couple of times, not Lydia. She speaks clearly and seems to enjoy placing herself in challenging situations. Such as the whole doctor visit. She needed her shots to be ready for kindergarten this year and she was relishing in the whole idea! She was so excited for it...? Then she would put on this act that she was just so nervous and scared, but she was really itching for the chance to prove her bravery. She did well. The nurse had her sit on my lap and had me hold her legs between mine just in case she decided to kick. But she didn't hardly flinch. You could tell it was stinging her, her face got red and her eyes teared up a little bit, but she was very very good! She certainly proved her bravery. :)

 Yes. Behind that beautiful smile and those big brown eyes, there is a little bit of a stinker bug! :) The things that get her water boiling the most is when she gets in trouble for teasing Miles, when she has a glorious idea that is perfectly formed in her mind, but does not go as anticipated, and when she has to put any clothing on that touches her skin in the "wrong" way (just about everything, socks, shoes, shirts, pants, dresses).

Some of Lydia's favorite things at 5:
Color: salmon pink color (she really likes almost all colors though, doesn't like "boy" colors)
Food: she will answer chicken nuggets and french fries without even thinking, but honestly, what she eats the best is salad, and she really likes asian type food like teryaki chicken, and sesame chicken salad.
Loves playing with Miles and especially Faith.
Loves sweets
Movies

 Lydia wants to be a nurse when she grows up. She also can't wait to be a mommy and also says she wants to be an artist.

She is very excited to start kindergarten this year. I think she is ready. She writes quite well, draws very well, uses scissors proficiently, we are beginning to work on her reading and telling time, she is pretty good at adding and subtracting and she loves learning new things (even when she complains about learning time).

Lydia's Size at Five:
3'6" tall (50%)
37 lb. (45%)

 Her favorite thing to play is pretend. I started doing a little thing with her we call "Fun Fridays" where I will drop everything and do whatever she chooses for about a half hour to an hour. She chooses to play pretend almost 95% of the time. I always end up having to be her horsey and we travel through woods and pastures and escape witches and wizards and monsters. She also loves to prepare play tea parties for me or pretend breakfast in bed.

Lydia is a natural leader and I enjoy being her mother! I am so very proud of the person that she is becoming. She is a great example to her little brother and sister and takes her "big sister" responsibility very seriously. She loves her little brother and sister very much and does so much at home to help me and to help them.