to my sweet, sweet girl

These last few weeks I've been thinking about how much I love this girl. For almost three and a half years she has been the center of our lives. I went to the doctor today and he told me the new baby was coming soon. I'm not due for another three and a half weeks and I was a week late with E, so I don't really believe him but it made me stop and think about how all our lives are about to change.

I want E to know how much I love her. Since she was born I have felt like it was always she and I, together. She has become my best friend (which is something I never thought I would say about someone who still eats their own boogers.) We've lived together in five homes and three countries.

I love when she snuggles up to me and tells me, "I love you so much."

I love that she can't seem to grasp the pronoun "I." Yesterday on the way home from school, Abe was trying to get her to say, "I have a sandwich" instead of "me have a sandwich" and she finally just said, "Me 'ready said, me have sandwich. Me 'ready said it!"

I love how she says "hi" and sometimes "sah-wah-de-kah" to people we pass on the stairs or in the street. I love how she is so friendly. I love how if I point out someone she should play with, she really tries to play with them--no matter who they are, what language they are speaking or whether they are trying to run away from her.

I love how much she loves dinosaurs and how she is always asking new questions and wanting to learn more.

I love that she is a total sucker for fairy tales and loves the lame ones I make up for her.

I love that she loves books and is willing to stay in bed at night at the promise of a new book from my book fair stash.

I love how she runs into school everyone morning with a huge smile and runs out every afternoon, gives me a big hug and says, "Me miss you so much, Mommy!"

I love how much she just loves to play. To play at the park, to swim in the pool, to play with her friends. She plays as hard as anyone.

I love that she cares so much about others. The other day we were walking to the train station and we saw a lady sitting at the bottom of the stairs to the station, holding a cup. I'm embarrassed to say, unless I have change in my hand I want to get rid of, I usually just walk by. But that day E said, "Why that lady have no food, Mommy, me give her food?" I didn't realize she had picked up on so much. A few coins of baht is never going to matter to me--I find myself shoving them in E's piggy bank when my purse gets to heavy with coins anyway--I need to be less cynical and more willing to see things as she does.

I love that she thinks the word "cheeky" refers to someone having cheeks and is always pinching my cheeks and saying, "You so cheeky." I find especially funny as both the true meaning and her own meaning definitely describe her.

I love how excited she gets about simple things. Even though we swim almost everyday, when I tell her we can go, it's always like Christmas. Everyday when Rocky gets home from work I'm worried she's going to pee her pants from excitement.

I love her mischievous streak and that glint she gets in her eye when she's about to do something to make someone laugh or that might possibly get her in trouble.

I love how excited she is to meet her sister and how she often has conversation with my stomach--though they are always one sided and generally end up with the baby telling she can have something she's not supposed to or that she can go somewhere we just told her she couldn't.

I love her so much and have been so thankful for the time I have had to spend with her, just the two of us. She is so special and I feel so blessed to have her as my daughter--even when she tells the entire primary what she just did in the bathroom.