Brooklyn: 5 Years Old

Brooklyn is officially 5 years old. FIVE years old. It’s pretty crazy. She is really turning into such a big girl in so many ways.

We don’t go for her checkup until March 12th, but our scale at home says Brooklyn is 37.5 pounds. We’ll see what her official stats are in a few weeks. She is wearing pretty much all 5T clothes. Skinny jeans and pants with elastic waistbands are still the best bet for staying up over her slim figure ;) She is wearing size 11 shoes. She can get dressed and undressed all by herself for the most part, although she still needs help with buttons and zippers. Brooklyn’s curls have fallen out (sad day!), but we’re learning to embrace the straight hair—she will actually let me blow dry it now, which is a huge improvement. She likes wearing hair bows now and likes to decide how I fix her hair (ponytail, pigtails (she calls them “little tails”, or all the way down).

Brooklyn is a pretty good eater for the most part these days. She is usually motivated to finish her lunch or supper because that’s the only way she’ll get dessert ;) Her favorite foods are probably pancakes, any and all kinds of fruit, and dessert…I’m afraid she’s got a pretty serious sweet tooth. She isn’t too picky about eating meat and vegetables though and is good about trying most foods even when she thinks she doesn’t like them. The other night she ate cauliflower and discovered she actually liked it after all :)

As far as sleeping, we usually try to get Brooklyn in bed by about 8 PM, and most of the time she sleeps until 7 AM and sometimes a little later. Her bedtime routine includes saying a prayer, reading a book/telling a story, and singing songs while I rub her back. During the day, it is rare for Brooklyn to take a nap anymore, but occasionally she will still fall asleep if she’s really tired. Most of the time she claims that she isn’t tired and asks to do “quiet time” in her room instead. I usually have her do quiet time while Savannah is asleep, and it works out well. I still think she could use a nap some days, but it’s not usually worth the fight that would ensue :)

In the last year, Brooklyn has really taken an interest in drawing, coloring, and doing crafts. It almost makes me want to sign her up for art lessons because I think she’d really enjoy them. If you could see her room, you would be blown away by how much artwork all over her walls. She has taped her artwork almost everywhere she can physically reach. Her art is all over our entire house, in fact. She has turned into quite the artist and spends a lot of time each day drawing. Most of the time, she gives her artwork to others and will frequently ask me to help her write a message on the paper so she can mail it to someone. For Valentine’s Day, she drew homemade Valentine’s cards with hearts for all of her friends and several family members. I think making things for others is a big way that she shows love, and it makes me happy to see her thinking of others in that way.

Brooklyn’s other big interests right now are playing “make believe” with Savannah and building with Picasso Tiles. She really enjoys pretending to be a baby and making Savannah act like the mommy. The funny part is that Brooklyn is still directing Savannah about what to do as the mommy even though she’s supposedly the baby. Once the boss, always the boss I guess. Another iteration of the game includes Brooklyn pretending to be a cat or dog, and Savannah is the pet owner. Whatever they are playing, the common theme is that Brooklyn is usually in charge ;) We got the girls a set of Picasso Tiles for Christmas, and Brooklyn got a second set for her birthday from Paw and Rae Rae. It’s amazing to see some of the things she can build with those tiles. I’m hoping they will be something the girls enjoy playing with for years to come. They’ve certainly been a hit so far!

Brooklyn is so excited to start kindergarten later this year and frequently asks when it will be time for school to start. I have mixed feelings about it, but I know she’ll do great. Maybe it will get easier with each girl, but I just can’t fathom sending her off to school each day when I’ve had her at home with me for the first 5 years of her life. She can’t wait though! She has learned how to write all of her letters (without much help from me at all), and, with some spelling help, can write just about anything. We haven’t really worked on writing numbers, but I’m sure she could do that too if we worked on it. She is like a little sponge and seems to really enjoy learning. She asks us questions all the time, and her memory is probably much better than mine at this point. She has memorized some of her favorite books and can basically recite them word-for-word. She pays attention pretty well in Bible class and can usually answer questions about the lesson even days later. Even though she hasn’t done formal preschool, I’m not worried about her being behind in kindergarten. If she doesn’t know something that some of the other kids know, I don’t think it will take her long at all to catch up :)

Another way that Brooklyn has blossomed this year is in how much she enjoys being a helper. She truly likes helping me and is often asking if she can do whatever household task I’m working on. Many days, she will sneak into our room, make the bed, and tell me to come see the “surprise” that she’s got for me. Wrinkled bedspread and all, I can’t help melting over that. She will also sometimes ask to help fold the laundry, feed Gabby, unload and load the dishwasher, set the table, and vacuum or sweep the floor. She has learned how to make her own lunch and wants to spread the peanut butter and jelly for her sandwich all by herself. The key is that it has to be HER idea to do it; when WE ask her to do something like clean up her room, it is often met with resistance. But, that’s pretty much Brooklyn in a nutshell: she’s a go-getter, but mainly when it’s on her own terms :)

I’ve often said in years past that I’m not sure how so much personality could be packed into one little girl, and I think that’s still true today. Brooklyn always wants to be in charge and tends to be bossy more often than not. She loves to be loud and silly and really enjoys singing. Travis and I get tickled at her because we’ll even hear her singing while she’s using the bathroom. It’s rare that she’s not making noise of some sort; even during “quiet time” in her room, I’ll overhear her talking to her stuffed animals and pretending to have a birthday party with them. She is often set in her ways and doesn’t like it when the normal routine gets changed. She is super social and just enjoys being around other people. She looks forward to playing with her friends after church, and she doesn’t seem intimidated when interacting with older kids or adults. I think she truly believes that everyone is her best friend :) She is also pretty dramatic these days and makes a big deal when she gets hurt, no matter how small the injury. You can usually find at least one or two bruises on her legs from all the falls she takes on a weekly basis. She has so much energy and loves to run, jump, and twirl.

Brooklyn’s relationship with Savannah is an interesting one, to say the least. Sometimes they get along great, and other days it’s constant screaming, fussing, and tattling. Savannah is pretty easy to set off, but Brooklyn has been known to push Savannah’s buttons just to make her upset. Brooklyn gets easily frustrated and doesn’t have a lot of patience when Savannah isn’t doing something that she wants her to do. To be fair, Savannah enjoys making Brooklyn mad too by doing things like running off with her stuffed animals or toys to get Brooklyn to scream and chase her. We are still working on the concept of sharing with Brooklyn. She can be very possessive of her stuff, and it can be a struggle to get her to play nicely with Savannah (or friends that come over to play). She still resorts to pushing and shoving on occasion when others make her mad. Overall though, I do think she’s maturing and slowly learning how to get along with others. It’s just a work in progress! When Brooklyn gets in trouble, she definitely shows off her sensitive side. She hates disappointing us and is usually quick to apologize when she does something wrong. Our main struggle is usually just getting her to do what we ask with a good attitude about it. She definitely has a sassy side that comes out when she doesn’t want to obey, but other times she’ll go above and beyond in doing what we ask. Each day is different, that’s for sure!

Other things about Brooklyn at age 5: She still loves to be tickled and chased. She really enjoys playing hide and seek, but usually doesn’t wait for you to find her before she comes out and says “boo!”. She still has a favorite blanket (“brown”), but seems to have a different favorite stuffed animal every day. She enjoys riding her bike and can put her helmet on by herself. She likes to organize things in her room or the playroom. She makes her bed with all of her stuffed animals sitting neatly on top. She is getting better at buckling herself into her car seat, but hasn’t figured out how to unbuckle yet. She enjoys trying to make Abigail smile, but other than that, doesn’t really have too much to do with her yet. She rarely asks to hold her or help do anything like bathe her or burp her. She loves to snuggle and cuddle and frequently tells us that she loves us.

Last but not least, here are Brooklyn’s answers to her birthday quiz this year:

1. What is your name? Brooklyn 
2. If you could go anywhere, where would you go? In Savannah’s room
3. What are you going to be when you grow up? a grownup (true!)
4. Who do you think you’ll marry one day? Nathan
5. Who are your friends? Lillian, Alexander, Nathan, Carter, and Miles
6. What do you like to do with your friends? “I like to play with them” 
7. What is your favorite food? strawberries and M&Ms
8. What do you like to do with Mommy? “I like to help you make the bed”
9. What do you like to do with Daddy? “I like to play with him with his maze” 
10. What is your favorite color? red
11. What is your favorite movie? Lion King
12. What is your favorite song? songs from Frozen
13. What is your favorite thing to do outside? ride my bike
14. What are you really good at doing? “drawing pictures all the time” 
15. What do you like to sleep with at night? Brown (her blanket)
16. What’s the best thing about being a big sister? Helping them
17. What is your favorite book? “The books about school that Michael gave me”  (even though she admitted right afterward that she hadn’t read them yet…haha)
18. What is your favorite fruit? strawberries
19. What is your favorite drink? milk
20. What is your favorite restaurant? “The Fireplace” (Firehouse Subs)
21. What is your favorite dessert? Ice cream
22. What do you hope to do before your next birthday? “do more crafts”

We are so thankful that Brooklyn is ours! She is full of life and energy and keeps us entertained on a daily basis. I’m looking forward to seeing her grow over this next year!