Happy Birthday, Phoebe

Baby Girl turns 5 today.

Sigh.

Turning five is a big deal. It's as if she's taking that giant leap from babyhood to childhood. Five is when she'll open the door to being a big kid and walk through leaving behind the toddler you've grown to love. You still see them as your baby, but really, they're not.

This is the first year she's gotten this whole birthday thing. Last night, she counted up all the "special" things that were going to happen on her birthday (there are ten) and declared, "I'm not scared! I'm just excited!" This was the year she lost all her baby talk. (I'm so glad I wrote about it HERE!) She's grown long and lanky...taller than any of her friends. This was the year she finally figured out that the deer crossing sign had nothing to do with SANTA'S REINDEER. This was the year she started her last year of preschool. This was a year of a lot of "last times" and I probably didn't even realize most of them at the time.

And while I know that her fifth year will hold lots of wonderful times and at some point, I'll look back and remember when, right now I'm just a little sad that she's not five anymore.

Sigh.