And just like that, you are 6!

Happy 6th Birthday, Baby!!!!!

Each year on your birthday, I always love sitting down and reflecting on the year and all you've done and accomplished and struggled with and conquered.  OMG, I'm almost overwhelmed at the list of things you've done on what was only your 5th year on this planet.  But I will do my best to recap...

You had one more year of preschool at CEC.  You made some wonderful friends and graduated with smiles!  Mrs. Miguel taught you so much and you went from shy and clingy at the beginning of the year to happy and confident at the end.

You started KINDERGARTEN last week at Limestone Elementary School.  As we mentioned in last year's post, we red-shirted you for school.  Sept 1st was the cut off so instead of starting school at 4 turning 5, you started at 5 turning 6.   There is not 1 single ounce of me that regrets doing this because the growth that you had emotionally this year was HUGE.  You started kindergarten confident and excited and I couldn't be happier with how well you appear to have transitioned to big-girl school.

Teeth!  I could not believe my eyes when not far after you turned five, you got your first wiggly tooth!  I guess it's early to get, early to lose cause I remember you had a mouthful of teeth at a year old when some of your friends didn't have a single one.  Then 3 more fell out so you have the cutest little toothless smile right now.

The first little WIGGLE
Omg #loosetooth

Thanks to my good friend, Lauren Donovan for snapping this cute pics of my toothless wonder!

You learned to ride your bike with NO TRAINING WHEELS.  At CEC, they had a trike-a-thon where you bike around the parking lot raising money for St. Jude Children's Hospital.  A few of the girls in your class didn't have training wheels and you did so you came home and made the decision that it was time to learn and you did it in about 10 minutes.  Just like walking and almost anything in life, you like to wait until you are absolutely ready and then you just do it.  It was the same for walking...you waited until you knew you could run.  You don't like making mistakes, you are a bit of a perfectionist so you like to do it on your own time when you know you got it!  Don't be embarrassed or ashamed to fail.  You gotta hit some lows to appreciate the highs.  I get it though...I'm the same way.
Lookey here! #notrainingwheels #brennaboo

Dive:  You have been diving for a little over a year now and competed in 3 dive competitions.  I was soooooo proud of you because these are like real competitions and you were always one of the youngest there.  They are quite intimidating and just the fact that you competed and did 6 dives each time is something to be soooo proud of.  You're not so eager to try new dives but you really enjoy perfecting the ones you know.  Here you are at your 2nd competition where you got a gold medal :-)
Soooo proud of my little gold medalist today!!!! What a difference in 6 months in terms of guys and confidence!!! #3ddive

Here was your first unassisted front line up off the 3 meter board. GUTS!!!! I can't imagine being so brave First unassisted front line up off the 3m. Guts!!!!! Love my girl!

You participated in 2 dance recitals this year.  A sugar plum fairy in December's Nutcracker and a Bluebird in the Ugly Duckling Ballet in May.  You really were awesome...you totally paid attention and did all the moves.


Notice how you give your friend Sofia a little shove to get going at the end...lol, you know your cues!


In addition to dive and dance, you also played T-ball this year and Daddy was your coach.  You looked so little out there and you were adorable and loved being with Daddy.  You wore #2 just like he did when he was little.  I loved watching this special time for you and Daddy.  He loved it too and was a great coach!

Great season dolphin-mermaids!!!

This year was the year of FROZEN.  It came out in theaters in October and I think we had a constant loop of the soundtrack playing in the car from November - July.  Like every other girl your age, you love to sing "Let It Go"  And you are pretty darn good at it too.



This year was also the year of YouTube, specifically Kindereggs and playdoh art tutorial.  You can watch Kindereggs being unwrapped for hours and you love watching tutorials on playdoh creations.  You've turned into quite the little Playdoh Picasso but what I love most of all is catching you playing alone and pretending you are giving a tutorial on youtube..."Hi, My name is Brenna and today I'm going to be showing you how to build the perfect Mickey Mouse out of playdoh"   Ugh, could you be any cuter!
Brenna the Playdoh Picasso

Oh, another big deal this year was getting your ears pierced.  We went to the mall one day and ran into two friends randomly (Caroline and Cameron from CEC) and they sort of spur of the moment decided to get their ears pierced.  You FREAKED out during your 5 year old shots so I knew there was no way you were going to let 2 holes be poked through your ears.  Peer pressure or not you were not having it.  So we went home but to my surprise you woke up the next morning saying, "Mom, I want to get my ears pierced...I just need to wear my Brave Maeve shirt."   And so we went that day and did it.

So speaking of Brave Maeve and for anyone who might not know...Maeve is the little sister of one of your preschool classmates and I have become friends with their mom, Megan, who is one of the most brave and articulate moms I know and she oh so eloquently shares her journey of having a child with Type 1 Diabetes through facebook journal entries and community fundraising events and you are soooooo interested in Type 1 Diabetes and anything to do with Maeve.  You watch their YouTube videos and when you play house, you are always the "Big Sis who has Type 1 Diabetes."  You "check Lily's blood sugar" in the bathtub.  Megan texted me after she gave a little talk at CEC on Diabetes and said that you are bound to be an Endocrinologist when you grow up because you knew everything there was to know about the disease.  Your Grandpa Les has it too so you are very interested in it.  Your charitable heart is so special.  You were faced with a difficult decision this year because there was a Saturday where you had a T-ball game, a dive meet, and the Brave Maeve walk.  It wasn't difficult for you at all....the Brave Maeve walk it was and you scooted that whole 2 miles with your friend Dagny.  Daddy had to coach the team and you wanted to be with the Brave Maeve team.

You are an amazing big sis.  You and Lily have your share of arguments at home but anywhere else in public you are SUCH a good sister.  Always watching out for her and loving on her.  I'd take you both to a morning of gymnastics camp and you'd always tell me that you hung out mostly with Lily and took her to the potty whenever she needed to go.  The camp posted a picture of circle time on facebook and she was sitting on your lap.  You are her "Baba" even though she can say "Brenna" just fine now.  She loves her "Baba" so much.

Can you believe what a year you've had?  You have done soooo much in just 1 year's time.  I love you so much.  You make me so proud and yet can also drive me so crazy.  You continue to be so emotionally intense.  You are so sweet and kind but can also become very upset and angry (especially if sleep deprived)  This year was not a great one for you in terms of sleep.  You ended up on the floor of our room almost every night.  Even after Daddy built you the most beautiful bunk bed ever, you just didn't like it so we changed everything back to the way it was to try and get you sleeping better.  I'm really starting to see just how true the saying is "the days are long and the years are short."  Keep shining, baby.  You are so special and I am so blessed beyond measure to be your mom.

I heard this song in the car yesterday and I feel like it totally sums up how I feel about you right now.  So proud of you and I feel like I catch glimpses of you growing up before my eyes.  So bittersweet.