Happy Birthday, Anna!

Happy birthday to my wonderful first born!

Four years ago to the day you made me a mommy. I loved when I finally got to hold you, but afterwards, I just really wanted a really, really long nap. Perhaps it was foreshadowing, as your energy in these past four years has earned you the nickname "The Blonde Tornado".

You are a joy to be around. Your enthusiasm and engagement with life was there from the beginning. You were howling before you were even fully out in this world. Then when you were still very little, when something would excite you, you would do this full body spasm wiggle-squeal that was amazing. Even now as a big girl, your enthusiasm for life is impossible to miss. You are enthusiastic about everything and everyone! You are most enthusiastic about your little sister and so far no amount of threats or bargains have kept you out of her face. Luckily she is a very tolerant little girl.

Now that you are a big girl, you are smack in the middle of fantasy land. We can't finish a meal (or really even an hour) without you saying, "can we pretend we're on a train....that I'm a baby....that we are in the mountains...etc." and I'll tell you a secret, it's easy to oblige you because within a few minutes of playing pretend you are so far into the fantasy that I can sneak off and you forget I exist.

Another big girl development is your chores. You are the queen of unloading the dishwasher. In fact our first casualty occurred just today in the form of two broken plates. You felt so bad but your wise daddy told you, "it would only be a tragedy if you didn't learn from it!" You are also required to put your dishes on the kitchen counter and pick up your toys when it is time. If you do this all week, you get EIGHT quarters!!!! (Quarters are so much more exciting to you than dollars ever could be!)

You aren't as much into dress up at the moment but will still do it given the chance. Your princesses are your favorite things followed closely by pretty much any toy you can play pretend with. You would still watch TV every second if we would let you. We won't. You have taken quite the shine to simply digging in the dirt in the backyard. You like your life somewhat predictable. Without being told a story at bedtime or "night-night" water by your bed I'm not sure you would ever be willing to go to sleep. Your dad and I try to make up good stories every night. Some nights they are lame. You tell us so. (using other words, of course)

Elizabeth is so lucky to have you for a big sister. Your total love for her is very obvious. You try to "help" her all the time although many times it is slightly less than helpful. But you keep at it. Your energy and zest provide her with lots of entertainment as when she is not playing she is watching you play. You are teaching her to throw herself into life full-tilt which is good since she is a little bit more cautious. Thanks for being a great big sister.

We love you and have loved watching you grow!

Enjoy the pics of our birthday girl:

One:

Two:

(I KNOW we have birthday hat pictures somewhere for her second birthday. I will re-edit the post once I find them ;-)

Three:

Four: