At the moment: Mya

Oh my Mya. She's determined to keep me on my toes and refine the crap out of me. Being the middle child, I struggle to understand her incessant need to be the boss and to be in charge of just about everything. She watches my every move and tries to imitate everything I do, which would be just fine with me if she didn't always direct it at her younger sisters. All day long I hear, "Geeeennnneeevieeevvve! You're not supposed to do that. I'm going to put you in your room if you do it again!" Or "Elle, why don't you understand you shouldn't do that? Don't touch that!" Or directed at both of her sisters, "Guuuuyyys...I'm only one person, and I'm doing the best I can." She watches me too closely it's almost embarrassing at times. Tim and I will catch her mimicking my words, and we just chuckle...unless she gets out of control, which sadly happens about two seconds once she takes over as "the boss."

When she's not busy trying to be me, I find her at the kitchen table surrounded by piles of markers/crayons, scissors, glue, and glitter (oh how I loathe glitter). She asks me to make crafts every day. Me?! Crafty, no, but I appease her wishes by quickly googling some quick, fun activity, and she thinks I am just about the greatest thing next to candy. She loves drawing and coloring pictures for her wall. She currently has nine pictures of winter-themed items taped just above her bed. She is constantly making notes for her school friends. Just last night she started decorating "Happy Holiday" Valentine hearts for her classmates. I told her we had six weeks to finish them, but she insisted on doing it all last night.

Mya is the busiest person I know. If we aren't making crafts, she's building forts all over the house. She uses every plastic box/bin available to design her temporary homes. She fills the insides with mounds of blankets, pillows and stuffed animals. She also loves her legos and builds endless towers, christmas trees, houses, airplanes, etc. It amazes me what she comes up with. She loves jumping on the trampoline and working on her gymnastics. She just needs to straighten her knees a little more, and she'll have the perfect cartwheel. I personally love how active she is. She is always the first to volunteer when I ask for someone to walk Blue with me, and she loves to ride her bike when I take walks. I love our time outside together because she always seems the calmest, and it's easier to talk to her.

I'm not sure if she is the way she is because she is the oldest or because she has me for a mom, and she knows I am a perfectionist, but Mya desires to be the best at everything she does. She dresses herself to the nines, and although her outfit choices might make me laugh inside, she thinks she looks her best. She has the most sensitive heart. We have to be careful how we phrase anything because she takes everything as a personal attack. It's pretty hard for me sometimes because my sarcasm and her sweet heart don't always see eye to eye. She wants her sisters to love her and often feels left out because they play so well together, but when they do stop and give her attention, she eats up every last minute. Her favorite person in the world right now is Felicity. She wakes up every morning and bolts into our room, hoping to hold and cuddle her. I've given her some liberty in this department, which actually scares the heck out of me, but I know it's good for her to hold and carry her without help. She's actually quite good at it.

I love this girl of ours. I love her chocolate brown eyes. I love how they sparkle when she jumps off the bus, bursting with news of her day. I love how she hugs me tight before hopping out of the car each morning when I drop her off at school and how she waves to me until I drive out of sight. I love how she loves to read. And I love how she believes she is the most beautiful person in the world. I often find her in the bathroom adding lipstick or blush to her face, and she just gives me her big, toothy smile and asks, "Mom, did I do it right? Do you think I look beautiful?" I always nod and kiss the lipstick off those cute 6-year old lips.