Four

In four short years, we've gone from this...

...to this...

...to this...

...to this...

...to this.

This kid. She is rotten and overly dramatic and sassy as hell. She fights with me when I ask her to do something that she doesn't want to do. She tells me she doesn't want to clean up her messes because it will be 'too hard' for her to do by herself, even though she had no problem making the mess all on her own. She asks for things over and over again, even after I tell her no. 'Trust me, mommy, I really want a treat!' she'll tell me, not quite getting that I don't doubt she wants whatever it is that she's asking for, but this still doesn't mean she's going to get it. She won't share her toys with her sister. 'This is really super tiny, mommy, I should probably keep it away from Baby Caitlin,' she'll say sweetly, completely disregarding the fact that she was playing with the exact same toy at the exact same age, no matter what I've told her. She ends up in more time-outs than I'd care to admit, following complete meltdowns after I've told her something as mean as 'no, you CAN'T have dinner right now because I haven't made dinner, yet, so you'll have to wait until it is finished. Also, it is only 4PM. Why didn't you eat lunch, you fool?'

I am really very terrible, obviously.

But she also tells me she loves me, completely unprompted. She throws herself into my arms when she's incredibly excited to see me and gives me the biggest bear-hug she can muster. She's named her scooter 'Pasta' because that's what she was eating at the time she was trying to name it. 'I'm going to go ride Pasta, ok mommy?' She gets the biggest, brightest smile on her face when she sees her baby sister in the morning. She talks about all of her friends from school, about the 'new Mia' in her class, which is a different Mia than the 'Mia from her old class'. She loves the new Mia, apparently. She also loves her next-door neighbor Bennett, but for the record, she doesn't want to move in with him anymore because she would miss her mommy and daddy.

She likes to feed the dogs, and help me empty out the dishwasher, and pair her clean socks to be put away. She wants to read to her sister before bed. She loves to find leaves when she's outside to bring back into the house to give to Steve and I. I have a plastic bracelet that I wear every day because she told me to put it on and 'keep it forever and ever.' Who am I to argue with that?

She helps me pick out my lipstick in the morning when I'm getting ready for work. Her preference runs along the pink and shiny side of the spectrum, but I can get a little red out of her every once in awhile.

She is smart and sweet and thoughtful and stubborn and funny and better than anything I could have ever imagined having in my life. She is my Brigid, my favorite Brigid in the whole wide world, and I love her with all of my heart, and then some.

Happy birthday, sweet pea. Thank you for being you.