5.5 and 2

Dear Kendall, 

You are five and a half today! Say what?! I am pretty sure you were just born yesterday. :) You are growing into quite the little lady! 

Oh, you have some precious personality traits! You are so witty and have a smile that lights up a room. I love the way you greet familiar faces so eagerly with a wave or a hug. When someone is hurt or upset, you overflow with compassion. You have more questions than I have answers for, and while that can be wearing on my ears at times, I am so thankful for your depth of understanding and desire to ask. Inquisitive is truly a word to describe you! 

You have always been a pretty independent child, lately that independence is growing by leaps and bounds. Most of the time, you want to pick out your own clothes and fix your own hair. This one is a hard one for me, so we are working through this together. :) A couple of days ago, I sent you into the BCM to get change for a dollar, and you handled it like a champ. Just today, you came home from school and proudly made yourself a peanut butter and honey sandwich with no help at all. Those are all such big girl things to do!

You are finally a real, true, READER. While you have been interested in letters and words for so long, your reading came about because of pre-school. You started bringing home sight words and were doing so well with them, I decided to dig out some early reader books I had tucked away. In one evening, you breezed through two Biscuit the Dog books with very little help. We are so proud that you have learned to do something new and hope your love for books and reading is lifelong.

Dress up is still your favorite, and you still sing and dance constantly, although lately a lot of gymnastics has been thrown into the mix. Right now, you are trying to nail that perfect cartwheel. You played the spring season of soccer and we are convinced that just isn't your thing. We thought about signing you up for softball/t-ball, but three tries at a birthday pinata convinced me we would be wasting our money. We'll do swimming lessons again this summer and see what activity we can come up with for the fall. 

Your big sister skills are awesome. Arden is your best buddy and honestly, you girls play together so well. Of course, there is the occasional argument, but you are generally happy to include her in most anything you do. You like to tattle on her, and that kind-of drives me crazy, but I guess it comes with your age. You will learn eventually. I hope. :) 

Lately, you tell us what you want to be when you grow up. It changes all the time. Sometimes it's a teacher, sometimes it's a mommy, sometimes it's a gymnast. Just the other night, you were telling me when you grew up you wanted to work at DC Cupcakes and be on TV. I reminded you that I didn't care what you became when you grew up, as long as you love God more than anything else and the you are led by Him when you choose a career. After I said this, you answered with, "But if I work at DC cupcakes, then I can just tell everyone I work with about Jesus!"  Oh, how much we love the spiritual wheels turning! 

What else can I say about five and a half? You wear size 6 in most clothes (except for a few pants/shorts because you are SO skinny in the waist!) and a size 12.5/13 shoe. You still eat really well, but especially love all things sugary. You go to bed around 8 and wake up like clock-work around 7 every day. You love playing outside, especially on the swing and trampoline. And lately, you've wanted mommy to sit by you at dinner--which is a HUGE win for me.  :) 

Oh, Kendall Grace! We LOVE you!!! 

To our Arden, 

You are our precious little two year old! What a perfect mix of sweet and ornery! 

You love to climb on everything, jump off anything, and get into so many things you shouldn't. Two seconds later, you are climbing in our laps--loving and snuggling up. I am pretty sure we fall for it all the time. 

Much like your sister, you talk and sing constantly. Lately your favorites are Victory in Jesus, Jesus Loves Me, The theme song from Veggie Tales, and A Bushel and a Peck. Your voice is often very loud. You are also showing a lot of interest in baby dolls. I can't think of anything much sweeter than watching you carry the dolls around, wrap them in blankets, and talk to them. Melt my heart! You are also becoming more and more interested in dress up. Just yesterday, you insisted on napping in a tutu. 

You absolutely adore Kendall. She is IT to you. You are her little shadow and want to do everything she does. Even if you are too small, you try anyway. Sometimes, this scares me to death. Like when you say, "I do trapeeze" and I find you standing on the swing. My favorite, though, is when we pick Kendall up from school and you spot her in the line. You yell things out like, "I see Kendall!" and "There's my Kenny!" or "Hi, Kendall!" over and over. One of the prayers I pray continually for you girls is that you will grow up and stay close to each other!

Oh, you talk! You say the funniest things! You use words like "giant" and "awesome" when you speak. Our neighbors have a small dog and the first time you saw it you said, "Mama, that is a tina-tiny dog!" The other day, I was unloading the dishwasher and you were climbing on the door. As I was trying to close it, I said, "Back it up, back it up, back it up!" and you replied with, "I like to move-it, MOVE-IT." I nearly died, and nobody else was here to hear you! One night last week, we were eating at the table and somehow we started talking about Colossians 3:20 (Children obey your parents, for this pleases God.) Kendall said, "Arden, what does that verse say?" and you replied with, "I can't obey. I eating supper." Of course, we all just cracked up at you! We also like to hear you say the word "lizard" because you sound like Fez from That 70's Show. I can hardly get enough of your two-year-old voice. I ask you questions all the time, just to hear it because it's so precious.

You can count to ten and sing a lot of the ABC song in order. You can also recognize several colors--pink, green, red, orange (comes out "oranges"), yellow, and purple. I figured out you knew pink because we were outside one day and you said, "I like those pink flowers!" You are also a book-lover. We spend a lot of time during the day looking at books together and you love the library as much as your sister does! 

We have started potty training you and for the most part it's going okay. Potty training is just HARD work and so unpredictable at times. I have to remember it's called training for a reason, right? You have had ups and downs with it, but you are finally getting the hang of it, I think. After starting Kendall a little early on the potty, I wasn't sure I would do the same thing again, but you girls are just too verbal and have incredible understanding. I realized I needed to "go for it" with you when you walked to me holding my cup saying, "Here, Mama. It's empty. It needs water." I mean, if you can communicate that a cup is empty and needs to be refilled with water, then surely you can understand how to use the potty. And, like I said, you are doing great. It's just SUPER hard work for a parent. :)

You are a good sleeper. You enjoy your food more than any person I know and can eat as much as a teenage boy. You still don't sit still long enough to watch much on TV, but you do like Barney, Strawberry Shortcake, and Tinkerbell. You are growing into 24/2T size clothes and wear a size 7 shoe. (Your foot is big and has grown from a 4 to a 7 since last August! CRAZY!) You sleep with a little pink monkey and books every nap and at night. 

Arden Abigail, you are darling and we love you to pieces!