My Nora is Four

Four years ago, I held my first daughter in my arms for the first time. It was a completely different experience, almost like being a mother for the first time again, but without all the insecurities. Nora has been such a sweet, calming influence in our family from the moment she joined us.

I keep telling her she can't grow up because I won't let her. I just want to bottle her up and keep her as she is forever. When I told her I might just put three candles on her cake so she'd have to stay three, she was indignant. Instead, she told me, there would be twelve candles on her cake. Yeah, right! 

Nora is always ready to go- anytime, anywhere. When we were planning our trip to Utah, we didn't even think about the fact that we'd be traveling home on her birthday. I feel so bad about it now, but she just went with it and had no expectations for the day, other than spending all of it in the car watching a few new movies and eating junk food.

The next day after getting back, we had a pretty low-key day of presents (Elsa was the predominant theme this year, naturally).

 And because it was an ordeal to even get to the store to buy milk (we were out of pretty much everything when we got home) before I could make a cake, that didn't happen either.

 So instead of the promised princess castle cake, she picked one out from Coldstone. You can tell she wasn't over the moon about it. ;) Sometimes I think I take for granted how easy this girl is.

 Nora is a little shy around new people, but also extremely social. She is delicate and feminine, but also loves digging up worms and playing ninjas with the boys. She is very refined and poised, but she's also earned the title as the "aggressive cuddler" of our family. She loves anything fancy- I think the 'Fancy Nancy' books could have easily been written about her. She is spunky and silly, but obedient to the extreme. She hates to be in trouble for anything, and will slink away to her room, quietly sobbing if she feels like I'm mad at her for any reason. She is good natured, forgiving, and easy to delight. She has a strange obsession with blood, and gets visibly excited whenever someone gets hurt. She even stopped crying after getting hurt recently, when she realized she was bleeding. I think a profession in the medical field may be in her future.

It sometimes shocks me how not little she is anymore. She is a chatty girl, and talks to me incessantly with her high-pitched, little girl voice. I'll admit I tune her out sometimes, mainly because I get busy or I like to live in the solitude of my own thoughts. But when I do listen, I hear her fascinating insights and ideas. She knows way more than I generally give her credit.
If having children just like you is karma, then I certainly don't deserve this one. I'm a lucky mama to have her. And as much as I hate to see her grow, I am excited to watch her become the woman she came here to be.