Molly is 5

Molly turned 5 a week ago, and thoroughly enjoyed her much-anticipated birthday.  She has been living, breathing all things birthday for a long time.  The month-long wait between Tucker’s birthday and hers was excruciating this year.  But the big day finally came, and I was surprised that it met her expectations and that all the huge build up didn’t result in any tears.  She was enraptured by her pink princess cake I made, and of course, all the presents.  She has a different present-opening style than Tucker—she takes her time and squeals and enjoys each thing in its turn. 

Molly has acted like a 5 year-old for quite some time.  She fits right into her kindergarten class, and her teacher says that even though she is the youngest, her work is among the most advanced.  We did have to adjust her bedtime when she started school as she was just too tired at night to hold it together—but she behaves exemplary at school.

Molly loves all things princess, ballerina, fairy and pink.  She loves to dress-up and wore a blonde wig to church school on Wednesday night, complete with pink lip gloss smeared in a big oval around her lips, Elsa dress, and high-ish heels.  She loves to dance and if you watch her ballet class you’ll see she’s one of the few in the class who moves with a sense of grace.  She loves crafts and is very detailed; she will spend hours coloring postcards made for adults to color.  She loves to write notes to everyone that usually say a variation of “Molly [heart] Mommy.”

Molly has a huge imagination and you can find her lost in her own world, in a pink cape, talking quietly to herself while she arranges things on the top of the slide, or in the sandbox, or on the craft table.  She and Tucker play well together; they make forts and play baseball with their stuffed animals and do crafts.  She has a natural desire and ability to organize things.  She is still little enough that she loves to be swept into our arms for  big hugs and frequently requests 20 kisses when we tuck her into bed—and always one extra kiss “to grow on.”  She tells Austin that she likes driving home with him when it’s dark outside because he’s so big and strong.  When we pray with her at night, she will thank God for a huge list of things, which is touching.

Molly’s favorites:

Color – pink

Friend – Luke

Food – fried plantains

Book – Princess, fairy, ballerina books

Show – Princess shows

What does she want to do when she grows up – Be a mommy

What is her favorite part of school – Getting to do math homework when she gets home (seriously, she loves this – makes her feel 10 feet tall!)

 

And here are some highlights from Molly’s ballet class this fall:

Soccer

Molly and Tucker are both playing soccer this fall.  Molly is very into ballet—a phase she does not seem to be growing out of yet—and while I’m a fan of my kids only having one activity each week, I don’t want Molly to reach age 9 and decide she doesn’t like ballet and yet never tried any other sports.  So I’m signing her up for sports and ballet now (if she’s interested) when the sports are only 1x/week.  So far she has been lukewarm about soccer.  She liked spray painting her shinguards pink.  She likes running up and down the field in games.  I’m not so sure she touched the ball in any of the games, though.

Today both kids spent a good couple hours after lunch with their soccer balls.  Tucker was chipping his ball over the rebounder, trying to see how much air he could get.  Molly named her ball “Bally” and held a birthday party for it.  I thought it was a good illustration of their different approaches to soccer.

September Photos