Where were you five years ago? We were at the hospital, greeting daughter #3 into the world. Man, has it gone by fast.<\/p>\n
L. has always seemed older than she is, and when we\u2019re reminded of her actual age it\u2019s always a surprise. Recently, as I\u2019ve been thinking about her birthday, I always have to pause for a second and think, \u201cWait, she\u2019s just now<\/em> turning five?\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s what spending your life chasing after two bigger sisters will do. From day one she\u2019s watched them, processed it all, and when she\u2019s felt the urge, she\u2019s jumped right into whatever they\u2019ve been doing. Every so often she\u2019ll push too far, realize it, and get scared, running to us for safety with tears in her eyes. But that\u2019s always been the exception. Most often she sees no reason not to be doing exactly what M. and C. are doing.<\/p>\n Like everything else, she talked early. And while she\u2019s not quite in M.\u2019s league when it comes to volume of words, she doesn\u2019t have many quiet moments, either. Once she gets comfortable around someone, she has no qualms about chatting them up. I always think of when she was approaching two and I saw our neighbor standing in her backyard, leaning down. After a moment she began laughing, and I wondered what was cracking her up. I peeked around the corner and saw L. there, holding court on some topic or another.<\/p>\n One reminder of her true age is how she talks. She has trouble with and R\u2019s and W\u2019s. She builds \u201cfowts\u201d in the basement. Her friend Maggie is \u201cshowt\u201d. Something that is difficult to do is \u201chawd\u201d. She has favorite, or rather \u201cfavowite\u201d, \u201cshowts\u201d she wears whenever they are clean. And so on. It\u2019s super cute and makes us laugh, and when we repeat the words back to her, she gets indignant. \u201cDad, I down\u2019t tawk that way!\u201d Which makes us laugh harder. Remember these moments when she has to go to therapy.<\/p>\n But she also busts out big words all the time. Yesterday, when C. had a friend over while M. was at soccer practice, L. found me and complained, \u201cC. is excluding me!\u201d Well ok then.<\/p>\n As I\u2019ve documented plenty of times, L. is our, self-proclaimed, Tom Boy. She asked for Spider Man web shooters, and Ninja Turtle and Power Rangers stuff. At a friend\u2019s birthday party two weeks ago, nothing made her happier than running around in a Wolverine mask. Every now and then we can get her to wear a skirt or dress to school, but she much prefers either baggy shorts or jeans and a t-shirt. We have had some pretty intense wrestling matches lately, and she\u2019s developed some wicked moves to pin me. I\u2019ve never wished for a son, always completely content with how the chromosomes worked themselves out at conception. But of the three sisters, she\u2019s definitely my little buddy.<\/p>\n As the youngest, her getting older has a different poignancy to it. Where M. is always pushing our family out to the next step, L. is closing the door on things that have been routine since M. was little.1<\/a><\/sup> But enough of that. L. is five today. Showing how she\u2019s her own girl, she requested Chinese food for dinner. We have cake and ice cream lined up. And she\u2019s got some pretty cool presents coming her way. I just hope we don\u2019t end up regretting the web shooters…<\/p>\n
\nAt each step we\u2019ve been thrilled to give up diapers and bottles, pull-ups and nap times. But I must say, I\u2019ve loved the 3-4 age range, when kids\u2019 minds are expanding and they\u2019re constantly learning something new but they also require you to be with them through these experiences. There are moments of frustration and annoyance, but those are far out-weighed by the moments of delight. Not that she, and her sisters, won\u2019t still be delightful. But along with giving up the neediness of the toddler\/preschool years, we\u2019re also giving up a measure of closeness with them. Snuggling will happen less and less. They\u2019ll want us to watch them do things, rather than join with them. And so on. I must admit I\u2019m already missing some of that stuff.<\/p>\n