5 Years OLD brings many NEW things!

I listen to her talk and she sounds different.

Of course it's no different than last month when she wasn't five.

But I can't help but think it. She is more articulate, more knowledgeable, sassier.

We are on night 4 of sleeping without BB. She doesn't even know it. But I do. She has outgrown her blanket.

Two weeks ago, she asked to try to ride her bike without training wheels. It took a good 5 minutes and she was riding like she was 15.

About a week before she turned five, she sat in her room determined to read. She sat with all her BOB books that we checked out from the library and read about half of them. Ryan and I peeked in on her without her knowing and she sat there, more determined than we've ever seen her to learn something new and read. She read them to me later and allowed me to video her, so I need to remember to post the video. Reading. How is that time already?

Kindergarten registration is next week. And more than ever I want to home school her, lol. Mostly for my own selfish reasons, not that homeschooling isn't beneficial or something to laugh at, because I can absolutely see the benefits of it, it's just not where I think Ava would thrive. So off to school we will send her come this fall. But it isn't JUST school that made me cry in the middle of Target just thinking about it. It is that she is about to start LIFE. It doesn't matter what type of schooling or what age they start, there comes a point when they start to take on the responsibility of living and learning about life. Life lessons. Accountability for schoolwork, disappointment of being treated unkindly by peers, overwhelming feelings of making choices, discovering what you like and who you are, the list could go on and on. So it's not just that I'm sad that she's going to Kindergarten, I'm just sad that her innocence can't last forever because it can't, no matter how sheltered I may want to keep her. Life as we know it; play dates, outings to the library or the museum, trips to the toy store on a whim, is about to change. Gone are the days of doing as we please. However, I can honestly look back on the last five years with no regrets. We lived, loved, learned and most importantly, had fun. So onto this new adventure called school. I can promise that I won't allow life to end just because are days together will be shorter. We will make the most of it. Bring it.....school!