I just finished watching a video about the untold stories of Columbine. Most of you have probably heard of a young girl named Rachel who was shot after telling the shooters that she still believes in God. The video was of her dad sharing her story, her diary entries and her life. It was quite touching... a remarkable story.
It sparked a desire in me to write down some things about my kiddos that I never want to forget. I hope I will never lose them, like this man lost his daughter. He is sad, yet he rejoices because tens of thousands of people gave their lives to Christ in response to his daughters testimony. I really hope I will never know he feels, though I pray my kids have an amazing impact on the world for Jesus Christ. But, whatever happens, I know that life is short. Even if my children grow to be old, I hope I can always remember the days when they were young. My kids will only be 2 and 4 for a few short months. Soon they will be 2 and 5. Then 3 and 5, then 3 and 6...
At four years old, Leeann is the sweetest, most concerned and helpful child I know. She wants to fix owies, she wants to make people happy and she loves to help in any way she can. She rubs my shoulders when I'm in pain, she kisses owies and she's the first to give hugs if she sees that someone is sad. She seems to have a genuine care and concern for those around her. Rob and I think she may be a nurse or a medical missionary, though it's cerainly too soon to tell. She compliments people and always has something nice to say.
She likes to snuggle and tickle and wrestle and kiss. Any physical contact she can get, she'll take. She'll snuggle with Rob or I for hours on end. She thrives off of skin to skin contact. She's never had a blanket that she's been particularly attached to, but she's always liked tummy's. Yep, she'll stick her hand up your shirt for a little skin to skin on your tummy and she's happy as a clam. It's been a great tool to help her fall asleep. For some reason it's quite comforting to her. It started when I was pregnant with Titus, but it's stuck around for years after. We've had to limit it because it's turning kind of weird, but it's still cute. It's Leeann!
Titus is her best friend. She enjoys playing with him, helping him and teaching him. She's so good with him that it amazes me. These two even sleep together on most nights... by choice! Though she did inform us the other day that Titus went to his own bed one night because she was 'getting his tummy' and tickling him and he apparently wasn't in the mood!
She likes to do chores around the house. She loves to wipe off the table with a wet sponge, to 'sweep', to pick up the clothes I 'accidently' drop on the way to the wash. She loves to push the clothes into the dryer when I put them on the door of the dryer. She folds the wash cloths and has recently graduated to towels and some jeans even. She especially loves to help daddy do anything that he can let her. They've painted together, washed the cars and fixed all sorts of things around the house. She's very good at handing daddy his tools, dusting and picking up garbage. Oh, and she loves to help him garden.
She's always had an amazing sense of direction. She knows where we're going, and could probably tell you how to get there. She knows when we've gone too far and she knows what else is near. It's quite crazy, but was especially crazy when she was doing it at 2!
She is wildly addicted to movies. If something is on a screen her attention is drawn to whatever it is in full force! She must ask 20 times a day if she can watch a movie. Her favorite right now is Cinderella, Leap Frog Letter Factory and Cars. She likes Meet the Robinsons and Ratatouille, though we don't own those ones yet.
Here are some of her favorites:
Color- Purple
Character- Princesses, especially Cinderella
Clothing- Anything that's a dress or a skirt, especially if it comes with tights and fancy shoes!
Food- Macaroni and Cheese, though she'll eat just about anything! Seriously.
Places- Church, YMCA, Starbucks and Costco.
Book- Her Bible, the Cinderella Story and Green Eggs and Ham.
Song- B-I-B-L-E and Jesus Loves Me.
She also lights up at anything to do with friends, or with Disneyland... she can't wait to go back! She loves to learn and loves to be complimented. Her eyes light up every time you say something sweet to her or about her. She loves attention and loves knowing that she's done something well.
She has an INCREDIBLE memory. She'll memorize songs and books the first time she hears them. She's can recite most of her favorite stories word for word from cover to cover.
She can buckle her booster seat all by herself and she's pretty proud of that. She tells me often that she's growing up, but that it's going to be okay. "I'm going to grow up and get married and have a baby in my tummy." she likes to tell me. She's going to marry, "a boy who loves Jesus!" Right now she thinks that's going to be her friend Hamish, but Hamish doesn't know that and I'm not sure how he'd feel about that at 5 (or 6?) years old. Besides, she hasn't seen him in more than a year, and there's a lot of living left to do before she makes that kind of comittment! It was cute to talk about when she was 3, but now that she's almost 5 it's getting kind of weird!
She loves to dance, especially with her prince "daddy". Oh, how she loves her daddy! She adores him so much and lights up when he comes home from work, or even walks into the room. Those two have something special going on :0) I love to tease her that I'm going to hug daddy, or kiss daddy. She says, "No, I'm going to kiss him." and she runs full force at him trying to kiss him before I can. He means everything to her. Oh, how I wish she could be 4 forever!
Well, I'll have to save Titus for another day, but here are the first things that come to my mind that I never want to forget about Leeann at 4 years old. When 16 year-old Leeann is reading my blog I hope she knows how special she is, how loved and adored she is... and how grateful we are to have her in our lives! I love you 16 year-old Leeann, you're my favorite!
Love,
Mommy
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