Thursday, July 25, 2013

Five Years In

birthday_girl

Kimani turned five years old in June. I measure my life in milestones like that. Another chunk completed, wrapped up, tied off with a birthday ribbon.

opening_panda

She has changed, noticeably, with this birthday. The baby Kimani, the toddler Kimani... is gone.

She has never had a haircut. As I brush it, I imagine that some of the soft golden hair on her head belongs to my infant girl.

She can say pretzel, no, out, help, yes, done, drink, bath, yogurt, and my personal favorite, mama. She can repeat several other words such as sauce (for applesauce), banana, puff, pop, more, down, cookie, cake, berry, and cheese.

saying_cake
(Prompting herself to say "cake”")

She will refuse a single pretzel and throw it back at you. She must have three. And Lord help you if you try to give her a broken one.

She loves to sit on the piano and will play it with her feet.

pianist

She has never been back in the hospital since being discharged at 4 months old.

She likes to chew on sticks, pinecones, dirt, and stones... and pretty much everything else she is not supposed to put in her mouth.

hands_full

She hates to wear shoes and will take them off as fast as you can put them on her.

She watches Masha. She wants to be like Masha. She will pull me over to the swing that Masha uses. She touches the seat, tries to climb onto it. I help, she screams. We do this everyday until one day she lets it be put under her butt and with her feet still on the ground she wiggles back and forth, and then she yells no no no and stops. The next day we are back to just touching the swing. But she doesn’t give up the idea, and that is what counts.

She can see better than she used to, and the CVI hardly seems to affect her now.

eating_cake
(Don’t be fooled by how sweetly she is eating her cake... I have a camera that is faster than her throwing arm.)

She has superpowers and uses them for evil. No joke. She can spot a Starbucks’ logo from across the room and grab/throw/spill that latte without ever leaving the top of the piano. She can remove her shirt in less than 1.63 seconds while strapped in a highchair. She can escape shoes that are tightly buckled using the first notch without anyone seeing her do it. She can hit anyone seated anywhere at our huge dinner table with a mouthful of food that she has decided she doesn’t want to swallow.

getting_in

She loves to watch the screen when I play Bejeweled or Candy Crush and will tell me to play more if I stop.

She is the biggest thing in my world. She challenges me to think on different levels. She makes me sad, gives me hope, scares the crap out of me, frustrates me, makes me ache with love, and drives me to do.

behind the fence

11 comments:

Lisa said...

Beautiful.

Becca said...

Oh, beautiful... What an incredible picture you paint of your girl with both camera and keyboard - Happy birthday, willful, feisty, BEAUTIFUL girl!!

Anna said...

What a beautiful tribute to such a sweet little girl. I love her spunk!

Mary Elise Dedicke (aka "Mel") said...

that piano looks familiar <3

Leah said...

So beautiful.

Deanna said...

so sweet! Love this.

Unknown said...

So beautiful...just like Kimani.

Anna Theurer said...

A beautiful post! That of Miss Kimani climbing the crib was hilarious--made me think of my Ellie. The two of them together would be trouble--a lot of throwing and a lot of climbing. Happy birthday, Kimani.

Tara said...

This was beautiful. She is beautiful. YOU are beautiful! :)

She and Bo would be fast friends...if they stayed clear of the other's flying food!

Anna said...

She is breathtakingly gorgeous! Happy Birthday Kimani!

Anonymous said...

Where did you get those pajamas?! I would love a few pairs, my 4 year old needs them on backwards just like that as well :)

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