A picture, a thousand words, you know the saying

I mean seriously people.

This kid.

She picked out everything she is wearing herself.  I take NO credit.

And as I took this photo she said to me “Put your hands up, Mama!!”

Can I put my bathing suit on first, please?

She had a bow in her hair for a bit (thatdidnotmatchanything), to keep the bangs out of her face that she refuses to let me cut.  But any bow or hair “clippie” only lasts a very short time with her. She’s girlie but she’s not, you know?  Must be what happens when you have two older brothers. I was the same way (plus one brother).

That shirt, she picked out herself at Crazy 8.  It is a size XS from the girls’ section.  She didn’t want anything with a “T” on it.  And those boots, so last winter but she SO does not care.

Before she proceeded to put me under water-gun arrest we took a short walk around the neighborhood and I pulled her in the wagon, while she pretended to sleep on her best lovie, “L.C” (short for Lamb Chop).  When she does things like that it is easy for my Mama mind to recall her as a baby and too see her as one still.

But she is not.  She’s an almost-four-year-old little GIRL.

And she says she wants a Rainbow Princess Unicorn birthday party.  I wonder if there are ideas on Pinterest for one like that?

Probably.

Anyway, we have days alone again now and I am trying to remember to “suck all the marrow out of life” (thank you, Thoreau) and soak up all the little-girl hugs and kisses and even the numerous “I need a snacks”s and Dora and/or Sophia episodes with my last baby.

And I cannot really complain about a kid who dresses herself and attemps to take out a tree with water guns, now can I?