Growing up

All of a sudden, I am noticing Kyla turning a corner and turning into more of a big girl....more of a kid and not a toddler.  I have been seeing it happen in little ways, but in the last few months I am seeing my girl make big strides into the world of growing up.  This past winter/spring Kyla did her first extracurricular classes.  She did gymnastics and ballet and loved both of them.  Kyla has tended to be shy and timid by nature in new situations, but I have watched her walk into these classes without being afraid, participate, talk to the other kids and have a great time.

Here she is before one of her gymnastics classes

She loved ballet as well and so did I.  I told Troy after the first day that just the sight of all of those little girls in pink leotards spinning around like ballerinas was worth the money of the class for me.

Here she is on the first day with her sweet, shy smile....ready to give ballet a try

 I know she won't grow up to be a ballerina, but I will always cherish these pictures and memories

 She wanted to take a picture by the pink flowers that matched her ballet outfit

One really big kid thing Kyla just learned to do is ride a bike with training wheels.  We got her this bike for her 4th birthday, but when your birthday is in January, you can't get out and ride right away.  So, as it has gotten warmer we have been working on it.  It didn't take her long and now she loves to do it.

Practicing with Daddy

 All by herself

 Troy just got a used bike from Craig's List and now he and Kyla go out for bike rides together...this is the day Daddy came home with his new bike

This week Kyla will finish up her first year of preschool.  She absolutely loved it and it has been so good for her.  She loves learning and has loved the routine of preschool.  On preschool days, once I picked her up she would tell me who was the line leader that day, what letter they learned about and all of the fun stuff that comes with preschool.  It has been so great for us to see her blossom during this year.

Here she is at a tea party at her preschool (at our church) modeling the hat she made

 Sipping some tea

The most recent thing that made me realize we are entering a new world, is the presence of neighborhood kids into our lives.  When your kids are babies and toddlers, they are still learning to talk and walk so they can't really interact much with the kids who live around them.  Since Kyla was a newborn she has been around other kids at church or playgroups, but this is different.  One day last week we were outside and she was riding her bike and a girl from across the street started waving at Kyla.  And my shy little four year old said, "Mommy, I want to go talk to her."  So, we headed across the street and talked to the neighbor girl and her brothers for a few minutes.  We went on our way and then on our ride back home she saw them outside again and said, "Mommy, I want to go play with them."  At this point I needed to get inside and start dinner and I am not ready for her just to be across the street playing without me.  So I told her she could go tell them they could come to our yard and play.  We looked both ways, crossed the street and she walked up to this little girl and said, "My mommy said you can come over to our yard to play."  My heart melted as she said the words.....my girl is growing up.  Her world is starting to get bigger.

The little girl went and asked her mom (who apparently has no problem letting her kids go to someone else's yard to play without her or without even knowing who I am) and she and her brothers crossed the street to our house.  I watched Kyla and the three of them outside in our driveway doing sidewalk chalk and I couldn't believe it....there she was talking with them and laughing and having a great time.  I called Troy and said, "Our daughter is outside playing with the kids from across the street.  She is getting so big." 

Here they are outside in the backyard playing (the brothers decided to go home at this point). And Ashlyn decided she wanted to play too.

Things like this just keep happening and I see her changing and growing. I see her waving at kids and saying hi, I see her playing with kids at the park she doesn't know and I see her petting dogs!!  This is a big one because Kyla has been extremely afraid of dogs and just today on two different instances she pet dogs without knowing them and with no encouragement from me.  Both times it was happening, I was thinking this is crazy.  And, what makes it even better is that tonight as we were praying with her at bedtime she said, "Thank you, Jesus, that I got to pet two dogs today and that one was brown and one was white."  Good stuff.

I see it happening....she is changing from a toddler to a kid.  Her world is getting bigger and she is growing up.  Even though my heart feels all sorts of emotions as I see it happening, I am filled with joy as I watch it.   I heard someone I really respect say that the biggest prayer she prays for her children is that they would have hearts that really love God, because if they do everything else will fall into place.  So, as I see her growing up and trying new things, I try my best to point her to Jesus everyday in all things and pray that she would have a heart that loves God above all else.

My firstborn......we have left baby world, we have left toddler world.....we have entered kid world.  I love her so much.