Happy Birthday, A!!

6 years old?!! This is my baby. In just a month, she'll start first grade! What can I say about A? Here are 10:

• Spunk personified. She can hold her own in an older boys' game of Jedi, makes a mean Lego ship, and still manages to keep her lip gloss looking fresh.
• FUNNY. Just the other day I asked her what language she wants to study since she's given up Japanese. She poo-pooed French because she "already knows it" - example she offered: "Ze roll is in ze toaster"
  
• Loving. Every night, everyone in the house gets hugs before bed. Sometimes (if we're lucky) we even get a big wet smooch!
• Shares my love of plants. We often go out and pick flowers and see what's blooming and give the droopy ones a little drink.
• Surprising. I can't write a script for this one. Each time I think she's going to zig, she zags. When I decide she's mellow, I get days of hyper. She won't be pigeonholed.
• Resolute. One day we showed up at piano lessons and she declared that her "piano playing days are over" and they were.
• Tricky. She's spent quite a lot of energy convincing K and me that she can't read - her school told us otherwise and the fact that there was a text-only message on the TV that said "Flash Flood Warning" and she said, "Are floods dangerous, Mom?" is making it harder and harder to keep up the charade. Secretly, I think she so loves to make K read stories with unicorns and princesses and fairy dust (complete with voices... I laugh so hard) that she won't fess up until well into middle school.
• Sensitive. This side of her is less-often seen but when she realizes that she hurt someone's feelings, she sobs (and sobs)
• Artistic. She draws, she paints, she sings. The chorus to one of my favorite A compositions is "You can think what you wanna think but it doesn't mean it's gonna happen" I pitched it to Sesame Street but they didn't bite. They didn't even want to see the accompanying dance moves.
  
• The absolute best possible youngest kid this family could have hoped for. She's patient, forgiving, adorable, and stubborn.

We love you, Banana!