MadHatter is Five!

MadHatter and I were sitting at the dinner table alone one night (Stinkerbell had already gone up to take her bath with Papa) and she asked me, "Why do you love me, Mama?"  I wasn't really prepared to answer such an honest question on the spur of the moment.  It is a question that deserves thought and not just the top of the head answer she was going to get.  But I had an almost 5 year old and patience and time are not her strong suits, so I did my best.  I told her the reasons that were on the tip of my tongue:

Because she has the kindest heart of any person I know
She looks at the world with such a unique perspective that I she makes me see it in all new ways too...even though I have been around 40 years to her 5, she teaches me things every day.
Because she is honest and tries her hardest to always do the right thing.
She is an artist.  And even wants to learn from the best one day so she can become better.  To know that we all need keep learning, even as she turns 5, is pretty spectacular.
Because she is a beautiful, old soul.
She is my daughter.  Which makes my love a special kind of love - unconditional.  Which just means that no matter what I will always love her more than anything.  A concept she has just gotten her mind around and I am so glad she has.
Because she is silly, and fun, and such a joy to be around.
She is sensitive, and though it allows her to get her feelings hurt sometimes, it is teaching her empathy.  And she is now learning how to use that empathy to make others feel better.
Because she is the best big sister Stinkerbell could ever have asked for.
She is, more than anything, exactly who she was created to be and there is nothing more special than that.
Because, no matter what, no matter when, no matter how,  SHE is my first born.  She is the guiding light for her sister.  She is the one that taught me to be a mother. And because of that she will always be special.

She is a couple of days shy of turning 5 as I write this.  We will be celebrating her birthday on a Disney Cruise in the middle of the Caribbean so I have to write this before we leave - and have it post at a future date.  Something I have never done before.  I always write in the moment.  What I feel, when I feel it.  But MadHatter was always the one breaking new ground.  Why not on her 5th Birthday?

I will update her birthday with pictures when we have them.  Until then - Happy Happy Happy Birthday to my oldest baby...the one who has wanted to be 5 since she turned 3.

You made it!!!