lily // sweetly six

Here she is, all of six.

My darling Lily, my only daughter and my first born. I kinda love this kid like crazy! She has been a delight to parent these six long/short years. So patient with us as we muddle our way through this parenting gig and 'experiment' on our first baby!! 

Oh, Lily. You are something else. Filled with sunshine, the sweetest heart and a social savvy that often leaves me in awe. You truly have a heart for Jesus, as evidenced by your recent 'Jesus' themed birthday! You love to plan and organise and manage... yes, you are definitely my daughter in this respect, and I imagine you will soon outpace me!!! Always checking on the time, reminding me of things to be done, heehee!

You have the most tender heart. You care so deeply for those around you, always concerned for others. I love hearing your post-school chatter, as you share your day and the various interactions. Your deep desire to look after others, to do right and to try your hardest flavours all you do. I am so grateful for your kind and loving heart. You love to learn, you give it your everything and I hope I can always encourage and nurture the hard working, adventurous spirit in you. I love watching you lead the way in your learning, eager to soak up all the world has to offer. You love to learn, you thirst after it and challenge yourself daily to create and do more. 

Lily, you are so aware of those around you. I am kind of in awe of the subtle social cues you can pick up on, how you can move through various social situations, how you easily empathise with what others are feeling. Your distress when others are upset is acute. Your joy in others happiness is total. You have a lot of heart for such a little girl.

You have a heart for dramatics too, I must admit - my emotional little one! Shades once more of your mother, I confess! We are going away to the beach for a week later this year (during the school term) and at least once a fortnight you check if this is still happening, then sob (literally) at the thought of missing a moment of school. As if a week by the beach was a punishment!! Oh, my girl :) 

I love how you dote on your brothers. You love them utterly, you love to play with them and be with them and protect them. I have never heard you shriek like you do when you fear one of them is in danger. Your inner 'Mama Bear' is already released it seems! How blessed they are to have such a tender and caring sister. I have no doubt that you lead them in your gentleness and a good part of the loving way they treat you and each other is because of how you display it to them. What a precious example they have. What better big sister could there be?

You are so silly at times. You love to monkey around, to joke and giggle, perform and be utterly crazy. You love singing and rhyming and dancing. Wrestling and climbing. You are tender, gentle, thoughtful. Strong, resilient and resourceful. Sweet and precious and amazing in every way. 

Happy birthday, my darling daughter. How grateful I am to call you this. How blessed I am to mother you, to watch you grow, to nurture you while also learning so much from you. Your innocent yet wise little soul is utterly beloved.

I love how you are your very own mixture of YOU. You love dresses and sparkles and princesses and yet you will not let yourself be defined by them. The other day while I was doing your hair for school you mentioned 'Some girls at school, they ONLY like Princesses and princess things, like they always choose princesses! I like lots of other things. I mean I DO like Princesses' you hastened to clarify, perhaps concerned I was going to clear all the princess-related paraphernalia from the house 'but I just don't ONLY like Princesses, I like lots of things!' Oh, what a relief to hear! And how good to know you wont let yourself be narrowly defined as one type of girl. You are your own glorious mix and I love that you are still free to explore the parametres of what that means for you everyday... relatively free of commercial pressure. You are a mighty girl, and as long as you can be you, I am happy, whether that includes sparkles or not!

Likes

Rhyming, joking, creating crafts/box construction, writing letters and cards, drawing, rainbow looming, Lego, Lottie doll, holidays, singing, playing with friends.

Dislikes

Feeling embarrassed or laughed at, spinach, seeing her brothers in 'danger', running late (or even imaging she could possibly be late!).

I was recently clearing out a bunch of 'stuff' in the spare room and dredged up this bunch of lillies we used at our wedding (a display somewhere). Yes, Lillies were our wedding flower almost a decade ago. It was my favourite flower, and before we even married, Mark and I would daydream about one day having a little girl named Lily. I never even thought we would have a girl in reality, as Mark comes from a very boy-dominated line, but... here she is. Our little Lily :) The flowers are pretty old now so I am planning to give them away, but before I did, I wanted to take a few photos of our Lily with the lillies from our wedding day.

Who could have known way back then that such a precious child would one day be ours? 

An Interview with Lily 

What are you going to be when you grow up?

A gymnastics teacher

What’s that going to be like?

I like it because I get to help kids

What are your favourite toys?

My Snoopy and my Lottie doll

Who are your best friends?

Addi, and Elsie

What makes you happy?

When its my birthday, and when Mummy gives me a hug

What makes you sad?

When someone dies like when my old little fishie died

When you dream at night, what do you dream about?

I dream about whats going to happen the next day. and also dreaming what its going to be like.

What do you like to do with Daddy?

Have horsey wrestles

What do you like to do with Mummy?

I like to do my home readers with her

What do you like to do with Eli?

Play with him on the trampoline

What do you like to do with Miles?

I like to play in the playpen with him

What’s your favourite colour?

Silver and gold

What’s your favourite book?

'How they make the TV news'

What does Daddy do during the day?

He goes to his work and does what his boss says and he writes on some of his paper, or sticks or glues some of his papers.

What does Mummy do during the day? 

She looks after us and sometimes she goes to meetings. 

What do you do during the day?

I go to school and I go to gymnastics and swimming class

It's good to be six because.....

I like it because I get very tall!

The collage - six years of my sweet Lily...