Madison turns 5!

It is really wierd to me that I have a 5 year old. It makes me feel old actually.It also amazes me to see how much she has grown. A lot of people say she is my little duplicate and so far she doesn't aeem to mind the comments. One day she will be a teenager and I will be old news. Tears just came to my eyes as I thought about all of that. She was my first born and I didn't think it was possible to love another child as much as I loved her. Luckily that wasn't true. But we have a special bond becasue she was my first I think. We were away from all of our family and Rob was working two jobs so my world revolved around her. *****
*Maddie is a sweet girl with a great imagination. She is always coming up with something to make us smile. Or saying sweet things that make me feel so great. She loves to snuggle with me and just talk and in my rush to "get things done" I know these times are worth stopping for.
*Maddie has such a strong spirit. When I was feeling sad over the death of someone special, she told me that she felt happy because now he would be in Heaven with his wife. She puts things in perspective for me.
She is such a great helper. What a perfect big sister. She asks me if Cheyenne can stay in her room to play. Cheyenne can be quite a handful but she is always there to tell me when Cheyenne is climbing the stairs, eating play doh, or playing in dog food. (Cheyenne is a whole different blog:)But she also includes her in her play. She is also great at teaching AJ new things and playing "imagination" with him.
*She is a little bit of everything. She will play dress ups,makeup, baby dolls and tea party one day and the next play dinosaurs, firefighter, and catching bugs.
*Maddie is brilliant. She memorizes poems and songs almost instantly. She will sing all 3 verses of songs as I use the song book for help. At school she memorizes the monthly poem the first week. Also unlike me, she will recite it front of the class.She is starting to read sight words and sound out words and I am thrilled to see her reading small sentences because reading has always been my passion.
*We get along maybe because we are similar. That may not always be the case as she grows. She does have this strong stubborn streak that baffles me. I was taking a walk the other day and had a thought that maybe I should be writing the kids a letter each birthday. A way to remember that year and the things they were doing and saying, and what was going on in their lives. Especially to include the feelings I have for them. Maybe one day when she is a teenager she will have those letters as a memory as well as a comfort. I will also have them for those same reasons. Happy Birthday my "Maddie moo"!