The Blessings of a Daughter

The day I found out about you, that you would one day be a part of our family, was the day my life changed forever. Words can not describe the joy I felt! I was thrilled beyond belief!

Even before you were born, I loved you. I talked to you just as if you were already here with me, and I eagerly awaited the day when I could actually hold you in my arms.

Finally that day came!




I loved having you with me! (I still do!)













Once, when I needed to hang up some clothes, I put you in the laundry basket so you could be close to me. You seemed to like it there! You thought it was a fun game!




You were growing so fast! When you were only 4 1/2 months old, we discovered that you could stand holding on to the side of your cradle! Wow!



Before I knew it, you were cruising around the living room, from one
piece of furniture to the next!





You loved interacting with others too! You often played this game at the table. You'd tap on the table, clap your hands, turn and look behind you, or throw your hands up into the air, and expect everyone else at the table to copy you! And we did, to the best of our abilities! Whenever we messed up, you pointed at us, as if to let us know we'd made a mistake! It was so much fun! You had everyone at the table laughing and laughing!




What an angel!

One of your first loves was dance. As a toddler and two year old, I'd put on some music and you'd dance all around the living room! You danced to songs like "5 Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed" or "Bingo."

There was a song about a flower growing, and you'd get down low to the ground and pretend to be the flower growing. Yet I didn't realize how quickly you, yourself, were growing too!

Your love of dance lead to tap and ballet classes. Oh, how adorable you were!




But of course you didn't stop at dance! You developed many varied interests:



Art


Being A Ham!


Dressing Up


You've always been a whiz at puzzles!


Rollerblading and Bike Riding


Collecting and playing with American Girl Dolls


Piano

<
Horseback riding at camp


Swimming


Tennis


Violin and Guitar

Also, gymnastics, writing poetry, working on the yearbook staff, journalism, photography, other types of art, and many other things!

You've been the primary reason we've adopted most of our pets, after all!


Amerisa



Bowzer



Ben



Tiger

For example, I hardly ever sewed anything before you came into my life. Once you were born, I developed a love of sewing doll carriers, dress-up clothes (remember the wedding gown and veil, the princess clothes, and all the rest? They were so much fun to make! And even more fun to watch you wear!), hooded towels that looked like animals, a tepee, and many other things.

One day while playing with the tepee, you wrapped up one of your dolls to be a papoose, and strapped her onto a long stick with a Y shaped fork on the end. Shortly after this photo was taken, I made you a Native American outfit to wear while playing with the tepee.

I also had such a wonderful time planning for your birthday parties! Preparing the themed activities, and making decorated cakes to match the theme was a lot of work, but I LOVED it!!

Your Jungle Safari Birthday cake, when you turned 4.

The streamers and animals were both decoration as well as part of an activity at your Jungle Safari Party. You and the other four year olds at your party started on a "safari" outside, which continued on into the house, through the dining room, and ended in the living room. The kids walked along with homemade binoculars and safari hats, looking everywhere for animals! They kept track of the animals they spotted, and compared notes later.

You taught me about having fun with art. And dance too.

Oh, I have a story to tell you about dance! When I was pregnant with your brother, your dance teacher had to quit about a week before the recital. She called me up and asked me if I would get up on the side of the stage and do the dance routine for all the three and four year old girls to watch, as they did it themselves on the stage. I was quite pregnant at this time, and wasn't looking forward to doing this! There wasn't much of a stage, and I would have been in plain view of the audience - pregnant belly and all! But, luckily for me, and for all of the young dancers, your teacher showed up that night after all, to lead you all on!! Whew!!

Yes, the blessings of a daughter are many. They are comprised of the small things more so than of the big. Your smiles that light up your face.. Your hugs that warm my heart. A pretty flower you picked for me while out playing in the yard. Watching you play or learn new things. Your laughter!

Helping you shop for the prom, graduation, or just to buy a pretty dress and shoes.

Seeing you happy...that's the biggest one of all.

I love you, not because you are beautiful, smart, creative, and talented, but simply because you are you...my girl, my very, very dear girl.

As you graduate today, and take another step along this journey we call life, know that you have always been, and always will be, dear to my heart.

I will do my best to be here for you whenever you need me.

You will always be, my special girl.

with all my love,
Mom

This "Blessings of a Daughter" page that I wrote in honor of my daughter's high school graduation is a Squidoo lens (a lens is a single page website). Squidoo is a company which provides free webspace for people to use to share their experiences and thoughts, sell things, post information online, create pages in honor of their new baby, share recipes, etc. The Squidoo lenses people write can be about anything they want...well, within reason, of course!  They're lots of fun to write, and hey, it's a great way to earn some money! In fact, quite a few people are using Squidoo as a part time job. Others are even making a living by writing for Squidoo!

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Page last updated 5/29/12.