Ayla, And her year of being Four.

Ayla. Her name makes me smile and so does her laugh. I just have to think of her and I smile, involuntarily. She makes me happy and almost always has.

She turned Five yesterday. I have been telling her since she turned four that she Can NOT turn five, it was forbidden. But, she went ahead and did it anyway. It makes me sad/happy to see her grow up. I am sad for her to be five because it means that next year she will be in full day kindergarten and I will miss her, oh so much. She is getting so tall and her hair is growing long and she doesn't look like my little, itty, bitty bug any longer. It makes me happy that she has learned some some self control and that she knows just when she needs a nap and that she will take it, even if it is in the middle of the kitchen floor, while friends are over.

This last year of her being four has been the year of the bumps. She has had the chicken pox and Molluscum Contagiosum. It sounds awful doesn't it. Well it hasn't been as contagious as it sounds but it has been since last April or so that we first noticed them and they will not go away. The dermatologist has given us a special topical to put on with a toothpick it is so potent and even though it hurts her badly, she still asks us to put it on her "bumps". When someone else notices them on her leg or arms, she says, it's okay, those are just my bumps. She is so nonchalant about them and they are just a part of who she is right now. I love her acceptance.

This year has also been about preschool, Dora the Explorer, Lanie- her American Girl Doll, playing with Natalie Asay, cinnamon apples, and gymnastics.

She has taught me so much about going with the flow, being comfortable with who you are, forgiveness, acceptance, happiness, and playfulness. “A true man never frets about his place in the world, but just slides into it by the gravitation of his nature, and swings there as easily as a star.” Ayla completely exemplifies this quote for me. She is an amazing person and I feel honored to be her mother. I love you little Ayla Bug.