Kathryn Grace Turns 5

My little girl has been with us for half a decade; she turned 5 on May 16th.  That does not seem possible.  Sometime within this past year she has became a girl- not a preschooler, or a little girl- but just Kathryn.  It feels so strange.  She is starting kindergarten next year and although I am excited to have her with me at school every day, she is not excited about not seeing Grandma and Papa as much.

I have been thinking about what to say about Kathryn at 5 years-old and I am struggling.....I don't know how to capture her in words.  She continues to be timid but she is coming out of her shell more and more.  She is becoming more willing to try many new things.  She will swim without holding your hand (and loves it), she took her kindergarten shots with zero tears or complaining, she is willing to go across monkey bars without you holding on to her (but you do have to be close by).  She even played soccer AND scored a goal.

Kathryn is still so sweet and empathetic.  If she sees someone hurting, she will frequently say "I feel so bad for them."  She will do almost anything to make her brother feel better (like give her candy away when he has not earned any).  Kathryn gives frequent positive reinforcement.  I hear things like "you are the best mama ever" on a daily basis.

Kathryn is also incredibly intelligent.  I know that all parents say that but she thinks about the world in a different way and processes/observes things that I myself do not see.  I suspect she will excel at school.  Kathryn continues to LOVE art.  Recently we went on a really fun field trip and after school she painted canvases with Mrs. Baldwin.  The painting was her favorite part of the day.  She also loves science and sometimes I think that between her conversations with her daddy and grandparents and her reading Ranger Rick that she knows more about nature than I do.  While at school, she always reports that Recess is the best part which is drastically different from last year when she was not even willing to play.  Kathryn seems to love playing with all kids and frequently talks about new friends while being loyal to the old ones.

Kathryn is trying hard to find the line on how to be sarcastic and funny.  Sometimes she is just outright sassy/disrespectful but most of the time she is not sure how to approach the idea of sarcasm.  Sarcasm seems to come naturally to her but it is hard for her to find the line of what is appropriate. After she gets in trouble for something she frequently wants to understand why what she said was not ok.  Her sense of humor reminds me of Ben so much!

If Kathryn had all day at home to do whatever she wanted, I think she would watch cartoons all day.  It is by far her favorite thing.  However, she also loves just about anything else that you mention. She loves playing with anything that takes imagination (house, school, doctor, etc).

Just like last year, I asked Kathryn a series of questions.  Here are her answers:

• Favorite food: mushrooms
• Favorite color: purple, blue, red
• Favorite toy: windup toys (I have never seen her play with these, no idea where this answer came from)
• Favorite place to go: Grandma's house
• Best friend: Mattison, Olivia, Elania, and Lauren
• Favorite snack: Cheez Its
• Place she wants to go on vacation: Grammy and Gramps
• Favorite song: Any of her silly songs CD
• Kathryn is really great at: giving hugs
• Kathryn Loves: Grandma
• Kathryn is thankful for: Mama :)

What I didn't include is the huge number of "I don't know" answers.  She is so literal and she did not want to list something if it was not her absolute favorite.  Once I changed the question to something that you like a lot then I got better answers.  She is quite a perfectionist.

For Kathryn's birthday, I took a half of a personal day and took her to the Ozark Community Pool with grandma, Jack, and Kathryn's friend Elaina.  The kids had so much fun!  After that we stopped and got ice cream and then went and picked up cupcakes to have after dinner.  For dinner, Kathryn wanted steak and mushrooms.  I begged her to just pick a restaurant but she preferred this meal.  We got her an alarm clock, hats, a frozen lego set (her first set of little legos), "magic" pens, and a headband making set.

Over Memorial Day, Judd and Cindy came in and so we had the entire family over to celebrate Kathryn's birthday.  Clay and Elissa's new puppy May May even came.  We got together on Memorial Day and she picked flowers to go on her cake.  All of her cousins came over and it was a fun time with water balloons, a pinata, and just generally being crazy kids.

We love you Kathryn Grace.  I can't wait to watch what you do as a 5 year-old.  I can't wait for lots of love, smiles, and fun!