Lilly is my favorite flower

...that sometimes gets overlooked. You have grown so much this past year that I'm afraid there is so much more I have missed! Actually, your height is still in the lower end of your age-group, but hey, you finally fit into all the 3T pants of your sister's and cousin's that I've been keeping! You LOVE finding clothes and would change your clothes 10 times a day, if I'd let you. The only thing about all that clothes-changing and why I halt it? The clothes never make it back onto the hanger or into the drawer. But, when you were helping me put laundry away, you figured out the hanger-in-the-shirt all by yourself!

Actually, there are lots of things you started doing and I had no clue you were able. Sometime around January, you counted some orange slices, in numerical order! You only had 6, so I quickly made it an even 10 and sure enough! You counted them all again! You love to color, anything, and are making all sorts of shapes! You also love having your older sister ready stories to you. I love that, too, and can't wait until you can read them to me. I know it won't be long.

You are so loving and always have a hug and kiss for all of us. You love to get dressed up with E, but you also loving playing in the dirt and with the bugs with J. The dirt doesn't bother you (I'm a different story, but that's beside the point). You don't let anything get in your way. Now, you are even difficult to keep up with when you cruise down the sidewalk on your scooter!

My favorite thing you do? When you sing along with songs on the radio or my ipod. Taylor Swift is your favorite and I think it's adorable! You're still so small, but every time I pass you, I just have to pick you up and snuggle you to me. Most the time you let me, but you are becoming more and more independent and sometimes express your own ideas, and sometimes that includes slamming a door.

I love watching you grow, but every milestone you achieve leaves a tiny piece of my heart behind because I know I'm watching these achievements for the last time. You are my baby, the last one to learn to ride a bike, learn to read, learn to tie your shoes, go to school. But I know that with each milestone you reach, there will be many more to come.

And we'll share all of those together too.