Five!

EB turned five years old today! She woke up this morning, looked in the mirror, and said to me in a slightly disappointed voice: “I don’t look older, Mommy. Maybe I’m dreaming that I’m five.”

This girl just cannot wait to grow up. As for me, I just want to preserve her childhood forever. I get choked up just thinking about EB as a five-year old; something happens when you cross the boundary from four to five. For one, five years old is when you attend Kindergarten, or what I perceive as real school. As in I would need to worry about dropping her off on time, whereas now, I have no qualms about dropping her off 15-20 minutes late. Mathematically speaking, five is closer to ten than it is to one. Meaning, she’s just that much closer to entering the bratty tween years.

But for now, I won’t think too much about how quickly my baby has grown up. Rather, I want to take this moment to capture what she is like now, what makes her tick and what makes her the unique little girl that she is today.

• EB loves all things superhero. Unlike most other girls her age, she considers princesses “boring.” She wants to be where the action is and save the world , and her favorite superheros are Spiderman and Spidergirl.

• She loves treats—nothing lights up her face more than the prospect of eating candies, cupcakes and ice cream.

• Despite the fact that she loves her sweets, she has iron willpower. She will not eat any treats without consulting with me first, and if I allow her only three jellybeans, she sticks to those three.

• Along the same lines, she is obsessed about the idea of eating healthy food. She never tires of asking me which foods are healthy, which ones are not. In fact, She is so interested in this topic that she has proudly declared to me that she is an “expert of being healthy.”

• EB is insanely competitive, which drives me bonkers at times. She's even tried to be competitive with me, claiming that she is a better "drawer" than I am.  I was, however, very quick to point out that she is not a better artist. In fact, since I don't believe she should have an inflated self-esteem, I told her that there's probably not a lot of things that she can do better than I can at this point. The Tiger Mom's got nothing on me. 

• She is a good egg. Above everything else, she wants to please me and K. We feel lucky, although sometimes we wonder if and when pleasing her parents will drop off her priority list.

• She's had her first crush. Of course, she does not yet understand the meaning of a crush. But by the way she talks about this guy in her class, I recognize the signs of an early crush from a mile away.

• EB loves her little brother, and has surprisingly shown almost no jealousy.

• She also has an imaginary brother – her big bear Ian, whom she takes great pleasure in bossing around.

• EB knows how to work me and K. Separately, she will coyly tell each of us that she has a secret to tell us, dramatically motion for us to come close and then whisper in our ears: “I love you more than anybody.”