.six.

My favorite girl turned six on Saturday. Last month she was swimming in a cake pan because we didn't own a kiddie pool and now she's waiting for her first tooth to fall out.

Every March 28th I take her picture at 1:40, the minute she turns another year older. It's neat to look back and see what she's doing at that time every year because it really shows what she's into. She LOVES coloring and drawing right now.  

She had a lot of first this year. She graduated from preschool and started piano lessons. She did her first group sport and danced in her first recital. 

She got her first headache, first case of HFM and went to the eye doctor for the first time. She went to her first VBS and on her first camping trip. I feel like she's done so many big kid firsts this year. She's somewhat adjusted to me working and not being home to tuck her in every night. Most nights she waits for me to get home to fall asleep which is slightly annoying but honestly makes me happy because it's so sweet. 

She still has a wild imagination and an assortment of imaginary friends. Her original group of Goldbug, Garby, Carla, Azelia and the baby are no longer part of her imaginary rotation but I refuse to let them die off. She brings her brother Matt on every trip and I always ask if she's going to bring Goldbug and Co and she says no. I know she's going to say no but I ask anyway.

She loves coloring, playing outside, snugging the cats and collecting stuffed animals. We have more stuffed animals than we know what to do with but every time I try to get rid of some she notices. She loves history and doing science experiments. We're still working on reading and her handwriting leaves much to be desired but we're getting there. She's started to sound out words and write us notes and letters and I love it. She loves jokes and making puns. She would listen to kids podcasts and audio books all day if I let her.

She adores Christopher. All day long she asks how long it is until he comes home. They still go on Daddy Daughter Breakfast every Saturday morning and sometimes they let me come but I know she prefers when it's just the two of them.

I'm not sure how much she weighs but she's around 47". She has her 6 year well check tomorrow morning at 8:30 which was VERY optimistic planning on the part of pre-quarantine Sarah. I guarantee you I thought we'd get the appointment out of the way, then have time to go to the library and do some school before swimming lessons. Now we feel like we're really living it up because we get to leave the house at all and drive to the doctors. How the times have changed. 

I love this picture from the cruise because she looks like her two-year-old self and I cling to every little bit of babyhood. ''What a surprise that you don't want her to grow up" said no one ever. 

We've had some rough patches lately because she's started to think she is more of an authority figure in our home than she is. We've always given her the respect of listening to her thoughts and opinions but as she's gotten older it's become apparent that she assumes she has more influence on daily decisions than she does so we've had to work on that. I want her to know she's an important part of the family but she isn't a third adult. I never imagined I'd make it 6 years into parenting and only have one child but here we are. I was never someone who wanted to have children close together because I wanted to enjoy each child as a baby and toddler and we've gotten that with Sesame. As I say to her every night, she's my best girl.