They Grow and Grow

Ammely is four.

She has lived four entire years on this planet. 

How does that happen? How is it possible? 

The years have flown by and I'm not sure I know where they went. 

Didn't I just come home with a baby from the hospital? 

Oh yeah. I did. But it feels like I just came home with her. Not my THIRD. Holy cow!

I do know that those four years have been some of the best in MY life. 

This sweet girl put my maidenhood to rest and gave birth to my motherhood. 

There are only about a million ways that has changed me but seeing as it is her birthday I think I shall stick to talking about her and a few of the million things I love about her.

She is so easy to please - she gets excited about everything and that makes even the smallest effort worth it.

She has an excellent memory - it doesn't matter if it's an obscure episode of a television show she watched once or if it was the most magical Christmas of her short life, she's going to remember the details.

She is smart - she can spell her name verbally and can make an almost identifiable attempt at writing it out. She's pretty good at counting things up to about 20 or so. She does really well at coloring within the lines, knows more animals, colors and shapes by name than I do and is constantly asking questions to understand even more. 

She is funny. She has started telling knock-knock jokes, enjoys the whoopee cushion as much as her Daddy and is thrilled if she can make you laugh (even if she doesn't know why). 

She is organized. She really likes things to be cleaned up and put into place - there are many times she'll initiate clean-up all on her own.

She is a helper. She constantly jumps at the chance to help me. Her favorite is helping me cook (she uses the magic words "la-la-la-la-PRESTO" when things are too dangerous/hot to actually help) but she is also eager to help with vacuuming, sweeping (she has started to master the dust-pan even!), dusting, window washing, and moving laundry around. She's also GREAT at helping me with her little siblings -fetching diapers, burp cloths, etc. She also is our magic light changer when we're driving - she will say "May I have a green light please?" any time that we come to a stop and we're so grateful she is there to get us the green lights that we need!

Right now we're struggling with sharing and putting others' needs before her own. She also has gained some attitude recently that makes me fear her teen years (the eye rolling has begun!). But everybody is working on something and as much I worry and struggle with her, I try to remember that she IS a good girl. I don't have to turn her into a good person because she already is one. I just have to teach her correct principles so she can keep growing and blossoming and overcoming the battles we all face. 

She fills my heart. She lights up our home. She is our precious Ammely girl and we thank Heavenly Father for sending her into our family.