My baby, no longer baby, toddler, or preschooler, is 5. I remember finding out we were having another girl- the ultrasound tech almost scared to tell me, because I was so convinced I was having a boy after all those girls. I cried. A lot. I cried for about 10 minutes solid in the parking lot, tried to pull myself together on the way home before my kids saw, and then cried multiple times after that- and not only because I was sad I wouldn't have another boy (because I knew that this was 5th and final), but because I was also feeling guilty about being sad. I know there are so many people who struggle with fertility, and we have been blessed with so many healthy children, so it felt a bit selfish to be sad. But sad I was.
However, I really couldn't have imagined how blessed our lives would be with our sweet Lily. She is one of the best little spirits. She informed me of all the activities she would like to do on her birthday including- have crepes for breakfast, give treats to her friends at preschool, go to the mall and have a slushie and ride on the little animal riders and look for fancy stuff, have a massage, get a haircut, and get a cake pop from Starbucks. She also wanted to go to dinner at Boston Pizza and get the cotton candy drink (aka eat the cotton candy and leave the drink). We absolutely did all those things, including opening her presents.
Her birthday party this year was with a few preschool age friends and she dubbed it a "girl princess party". They played pin the tail on the mermaid (resurrected from Mia's party about 5 years ago, and Ariel is technically a princess), freeze dance, and with the many girl toys that reside in this house. Lily is a great little hostess and was so gracious about her friends going first for things, and making sure they knew where the snacks were. When I asked her what her favourite part of her party was she told me it was the snacks.
Lily is incredibly mature and responsible for her age. She told me she wanted us to pick out a cake at the store, because she didn't want me to have to work hard to make her a cake and be tired. If she makes a mess, she'll get out the vacuum and vacuum up. She puts her coat and her boots away. She chides her siblings for bickering and reminds them to be peacemakers. She loves to be helpful and will almost always answer to any request with a cheerful "Yep, I can do that!" Once I came across her looking at her sister's things and saying to herself "No, I should not take things that don't belong to me."
Lily has absolutely loved French immersion preschool this year. She is so proud of all the French words she knows. She will start kindergarten in the fall, and is going to do the full time program. She misses her sisters so badly when they are at school, even when I make time specifically for us to play/read etc. She is the only baby to not have a pint sized playmate at home with her after school, and she's been doing the solo thing for 2 years now. Plus her current preschool teacher will take them in the afternoons for the full time program, and she is incredible, and Lily will be with some of her preschool friends, so it will be a big win for her. And very bittersweet for me.
Lily birthday interview:
What is your full name: mmm Oh Lily Grace. Lily Nish
What is your favourite animal: duckies and cats
What is your favourite colour: pink and light blue
What is your favourite movie: Kpop Demon Hunters
What is your favourite show: Bread Barbershop
What is your favourite book: Scaredy Squirrel- the 3 books, and the Hungry Caterpillar one
What is your favourite thing to do for fun: play hide and seek
What is your favourite thing about school: snack time
What are you scared of: lonk lonk- it's in my mind (this was news to me)
What would your super power be: transform into animals
What is the best thing about being 4: going to preschool
What are you most excited for about being 5: eating snacks and sugary stuff (unsure of what she means here hahaha)
Lily doesn't like to eat meals, so much as she likes to snack (if you couldn't already tell by her favourite thing about her party and school responses). She is the snacking queen. Her favourite snacks are things like pretzels and goldfish. If she could eat any meal on repeat forever it would be cereal- Rice Krispies or plain Cheerios in particular.
She can spell and print her name, and recognizes almost all her letters. She has started reciting letters to me off of books and asking me what the word spells. Whenever she says a letter on a sign that is part of her name, she will point to it and yell "that spells me!" She has also done a couple rounds of swimming lessons this year, and loves being in the pool (but only if her teacher is a girl).
She has been waiting to turn 5 to start doing judo with dad, Scarlett, and B. She just had her first class, and was over the moon excited. Watching Scarlett patiently teach her how to do a hold down was so sweet.
She is a huge performer and absolutely loves an audience, especially if she can make them laugh. She is always putting on dance routines, karaoke performances, or comedy shows. She loves to dress up, and get her picture taken. Her signature move is a double peace sign.
She came home from a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's once with this giant stuffed pink bunny that is larger than her. When I asked her why they gave that to her (because we do not lack for stuffies), she explained "because I did such a sad face when we were leaving, and so they gave it to me because I'm so cute." I think the real reason she wanted it was so that it could pass for a believable decoy for her in her bed when we have told the girls they have to sleep in their own beds. On more than one occasion bunny has been found tucked into bed instead of Lily.
We went to our first play this year- Frozen Jr at by the Grande Prairie Live Children's Theatre and she loved it!
She has a heart of gold. She loves showing affection and helping others. She is a good friend who puts others first and is willing to share. She tries really hard to make good choices, and doesn't like getting corrected. I'll tell her after the timer goes off for 5 minute tidy, that she can stop cleaning, and she'll say "I want to keep helping, so I can go to heaven". No toxic positivity comments, thanks. We are trying to teach our kids that we should give selfless service like Christ did, in this very self absorbed culture, and this is how she grasped it in her 5 year old mind. She just gets a lot of joy out of helping others.
She can be a pretty sensitive soul, and is a big daddy's girl. If Gordon has to go out of town for work she'll cry that she misses him. Then sometimes when he gets home from being out of town she'll also cry and you ask her why, and she tells you "because I just missed him so much, and I'm so happy he's home." She always bolts downstairs to give him a hug and a kiss before he leaves for work early.
She also adores Mia. She often refers to Mia as her "best friend". When I had to bring Mia to Edmonton for a dr's appt, Lily said "Bye Mia, I love you SOOOO much."
Do not make the mistake that she is a pushover though. As much as she likes to spread rainbows and sunshine, she can dish out quite a bit of sass and stick up for herself.
-My dad was joking with her about something, as he often does. She pointed a finger at him and said "Don't start with me old man!"
-Another time I was asking her to do something and she glares at me and says "Don't sass me!"
-Her siblings affectionately call her "Bean" or "Beanster", and once when Isaac asked if he could be her best friend she told him "Only if you don't call me Bean. You can only call me Queen Bean....or Lily."
-Her line to me when I'm cooking something for dinner she doesn't like "You're not the best chef anymore!"
-She was asking me for nachos for lunch and requested "the original nachos". I explained I didn't have much cheddar cheese left. Her solution "Well then just do a little bit of chips, with a little bit of cheese. See? Easy peasy!"
-The car ride to school is always primetime for squabbles and Lily will frequently try and keep the peace by yelling things like "You guys stop fighting this moment!" or "Fighting doesn't make us happy guys!"
-Lily asked me a question, to which I replied "I don't know." /"but you know everything!"/"no, I don't."/"well.... you know 1+1!"
-loudly declares at a double birthday party where there were probably 30 kids "Well I'm definitely not having this many kids at MY birthday party."
-she always wants the free cookie at the bakery from Superstore. But there aren't always staff in the bakery to give her a cookie. On one such occasion, I explained that she would just have to forego the cookie today. Lily was not okay with that. I turned my back for a second to pick up some bread, and when I turn around she had marched right back behind the bakery counter yellling "hello?? Is anyone working in here that can give me a cookie?!" Serves me right for trying to instill a healthy dose of independence in her.
-me catching Lily in the medicine cabinet "Why are you in there?"/"I'm getting a bandaid"/"Why? Are you bleeding?"/"Well yeah, eventually."
-Brooklyn called her weird for not liking muffins. Lily replied "We all don't like different things, and that's okay. I don't like muffins and you don't like...socks." (socks and B are arch enemies).
-putting on a sherpa sweater before school that was about a size too big "Look at me! I'm fat! I look like a panda!"
-me telling Lily not to do something. She starts doing air quotes with her fingers (who taught her that?!) and says "well I don't have my listening ears on yet, so I can't hear you."
-Gordon, Isaac, Scarlett, and I were in the middle of a Mario Kart tournament. Lily decided that was a good time to give Gordon a spa treatment, so she started to remove his socks to put cream on his feet. I warned her "Be careful, dad has troll feet". Without skipping a beat, and with the sweetest smile plastered on her face, she replies "and you have a nose like Gru" (and if you don't know who Gru is you can google it, and if you do, then you know how much pride I had to swallow to immortalize this moment in writing).
Because she has 4 older siblings, she often speaks like she is older (or wiser) than she is. She is quite a chatterbox and can hold a conversation better than most teenagers.
-after climbing a large inflatable which required a lot of effort "Mum, do you know how I did that? I listened to my heart".
-yelling in the middle of Costco "look mum macarons" (even pronounced correct). I didn't even know she knew what a macaron was. Her favourite part of Costco is "the makers" aka people handing out samples.
-her trying to convince me to get a girl elkhound "Mum, we have to get a girl elkhound puppy. It will be the perfect touch for Ace!" (Ace is our 4 year old dog)
-me stepping out of the car "ooohhh it's cold out!" Lily "I know! It's NOT amazing!"
-she put on a overall dress without a shirt, and I told her she probably didn't want to show everyone her "boobs" when she went out. She replies "saying boobs is inappropriate"/"no it's not, it's a part of your body."/"well I call them nibbles" (nipples)
Other fun words she tries to use
-cracknucker (nutcracker)
-hopgrassers (grasshoppers)
-bagesium (magnesium)
Lily is an animal lover, and usually not shy when it comes to being around them.
She does love being a part of a big family. Someone asked her how many brothers and sisters she had and she replied "4 girls, 1 boy, 1 daddy, 1 mommy, 1 cheep cheep (our bird), 1 elkhound (our dog), and 1 kitty". We were at a birthday party and she found out someone had two kids. Her reaction was "Only two kids?! That's all it? That's sad." And we would be so sad if she wasn't a part of our family. I could probably keep writing for hours more than the hours I've already spent, she's just that fun. We are beyond blessed to have her be the caboose to our crazy train.
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