Just The Mays Family: My Baby Will Be 4 Soon!

Gosh, I cannot believe it is already September! Just thinking that Samantha is going to be 4 this month makes me want to cry! Looking back at all her old pictures...I just never thought of her getting older. I just always saw her as...my Baby. And she still is my Baby, but she is my Baby who can walk and run and jump and dance and play! She does art projects that she thinks of on her own! She has all kinds of creative ideas! And she makes her toys talk to each other, and it makes sense! She holds real conversations with her friends, especially the older ones. Heck, she holds conversations with me! Real conversations. Not just the usual, "How are you?" kind of talk. We had a conversation about the planets the other day! I don't want to say she is "so smart" because 1. Everybody thinks their child is "smart." and 2. There is no real measure of "smart." Anyway, she just...she has her interests and she gets really into them and she goes with it until she has learned what she wants, and then she moves on to something else. And it is AMAZING because she teaches me so much! And she just has real passion for what she is learning...I don't know how to describe it...

Her personality has really evolved since she was a baby. She has so many of the same qualities, but so many different ones too! She has always been an constantly hugging, constantly kissing, saying, "I Love You" every 10 seconds kinda kid. And I LOVE IT! She has always been a quiet kid. She Loves to read and do art. She has a real interest in anything that has to do with nature and she really Loves to show off her nature collection. When there are other kids around, she will be active and play with them. So I think she has a good balance when it comes to quiet time and active time. One thing that is a lot different about her is that she is more vocal in a group! She is the most talkative kid in class this semester! And, of course, she still Loves to be on that stage!

If she were going to go to school, she would be starting pre-k this year. In fact, most of her friends are starting school this year, pre-k or Kindergarten, so her and I had a talk because I knew she would be asking about it soon. But she simply said to me, "No, mama. I don't want to go to school. I am homeschooled and I would rather stay home with you and learn what we want to learn." Whew. Dodged a bullet there because I was really fearing the question, "Why can't I go to school?"

And physically, she has REALLY REALLY gotten big! She wears a size 6 now. I got so emotional the other day at a consignment sale when I looked at the size 4T clothes and thought, "Those are so small!"

I just can't believe it...It seems like just a few months ago I was in school, trying to figure out how we were going to make it after we graduated. Changing diapers and making bottles. And shopping for baby clothes and toys. By far I Love this age the best, the older she gets, the better it gets, but I can't believe I went from learning to comfort a crying baby or deal with tantrums, playing pat-a-cake and anxiously waiting for all the "firsts" to sitting out on a pretty day playing tic tac toe in the dirt or pointing at the clouds as they go by and trying to figure out what they look like. And learning to deal with things like "How do we answer this question?"...all in the blink of an eye.