My Luci

My sweet Luci turned five last week. Where did the time go? I have been a Mother for five years now! My child is going into kindergarten this year! How could that be?

She got this shirt from a kindergarten fair we went to. Class of 2025! Ahhh!!

Her birthdays always make me feel older than my own birthdays do. Funny how that works! When she was younger I would feel sad when I realized how fast she was growing up. When I saw kids younger than her, I'd think "oh, Luci used to be that small, I miss that." I still occasionally get a twinge of sadness, but mostly feel blessed for the past I've had with her, and excited for what lies ahead! The same goes for Clara!

Here's a little about this sweet five year old girl that I love:

She really loves me. When she was Clara's age she went through a phase where she didn't like me very much. I blamed it on my being gone all the time with my internship, but who knows. It was a hard phase for me as a parent! Now she loves me a lot! She always wants me to cuddle with her and spend time together. On Sunday I was asked to teach her primary class for a little bit. She was so excited to see me when I walked in! She ran right up to me and gave me the biggest hug. I even kissed her, right in front of her friends, and she loved it! It's nice that she adores me, even in public!

Almost every morning Clara wakes up before Luci. Since she is still in a crib, and hasn't figured out how to climb out, she screams "Luci, Luci, Luci!" (pronounced 'duci'), until Luci wakes up. She then commands Luci to come get me by simply saying "Momma!" . Luci knows what this means and will almost always drag herself down to my room to let me know that Clara's awake and needs me. Of course I usually wake up at the first "Luci", but it's fun to lay in bed and listen to them interact.

Luci loves to collect 'treasures'. At one point she was saving everything from pieces of string to empty yogurt containers. We let her have a drawer in the desk to keep her collections in, but that quickly overflowed into every room of the house. On more than one occasion I threw things away when she was sleeping, but always made the mistake of not taking the garbage out immediately after. Needless to say, she caught me. I felt so guilty after one particular incident. She looked at me with tear filled and asked "why would you do that?". I felt like the worst mother ever! That clutter was her most valuable treasure! She begged me to never do that again, and for a while I didn't. On a few occasions I would enlist Kirk to throw something away for me so I wouldn't feel guilty. Eventually reality sunk in again and I couldn't stand the mess it made. We set a rule that for every new treasure she wanted to keep, she had to throw out something she already had. We also discussed what things really are worth saving and she's cut back quite a bit. (And I still throw things away when she's not looking. It's for my sanity and hers.)

Luci is very smart! She knows how to read and write a lot of basic words. I can't take any credit and neither can her preschool (it's pretty much a playschool, not a preschool). She's picked it up on her own by asking questions and watching her Tad's Letter Factory Movie. She is also very good at math and can add and subtract the smaller numbers in her head.

She can get really goofy! When I get in my weird laughing moods, she is quick to join in! I love having someone to laugh with!


She has the best memory! She can remember the tiniest detail from a memory that happened over a year ago. She thinks I'm really crazy because my short-term memory has gone out the door with this pregnancy. On Friday we were driving to the grocery store together to buy stuff for her birthday cake. Me being ditzy and in my own world, drove right past the store and on to her preschool. I didn't even realize I had missed the turn until she said, "I don't have preschool today". As I was turning around she asked why I didn't turn in the right place and I tried explaining it to her by saying "I just got daydreaming forgot. People do that sometimes." She then replied, "I don't do that. I'm not a crazy Mom yet.".

One of Luci's favorite things to do is color and draw. She is constantly drawing pictures. I love that most of her pictures have a story behind them. The other day she drew a picture of Kirk and her at the duck pond they went to last year. It even add small details like the bridge they walked over.

Luci is very sensitive. She reminds me a lot of me. Sometimes we really butt heads because of our emotional similarities. At times I wonder how I'll survive the drama, but at others I'm so grateful for my sensitive little girl. The other day I was on one of my emotional pregnancy roller coaster rides and broke out into tears for a reason that I can't even remember. She immediately ran out in search of paper and a pen. A few minutes later she came up to me with a picture of the sun she drew to cheer me up. Moments like that, make all the many challenges of Motherhood so worth it!

Luci can be very shy on some occasions, but very outgoing on others. When we went to the kindergarten fair at the mall a couple of weeks ago she was so shy. It reminded me a lot of me. A few days later we had a man come to test our apartment for lead. When he walked by her she immediately started telling him all about her day at preschool like she'd known him forever.

She's getting very good at fixing her own hair. She rarely lets me do it these days. Usually it's 'plain' as she calls it with a headband or a flower clip. A month or two ago she figured out how to put a ponytail in her hair all by herself. Below, is a picture of the first one she did. I even let her wear it to preschool. She was so proud of herself and walked in to school so confidently. I love seeing her own little style come out and how happy she is with her appearance!


The night before her birthday, Kirk and I stayed up late decoration the house. Kirk pumped up a bunch of balloons and we spread them all over the floor in her room. We used crepe paper to spice up our boring living room too.

The girls had a lot of fun with them!

When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday breakfast, the first thing she said was cereal. Since she has that almost every other day of the week, I convinced her to choose something else. Her ultimate decision was a pancake waffle. I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, so I stuck a pancake on bottom, whipped cream in the middle and a waffle on top.

For her present we got her a brand new bike. Since we couldn't wrap it, we made it exciting by sending her on a scavenger hunt to find it. When she finally found it all she said was "oh". I think she was more excited about the balloons!


Later that day, we made a trip down to Chuck E Cheese. Originally Luci wanted a friend birthday part, but I didn't feel up to planning and hosting one. We bribed her with a trip to Chuck E Cheese to get out of it. Some of our friends made the drive down there to be with us (45 minutes from where we live). Such great friends!


We're so grateful to have Luci in our family!

Today Kirk brought home a rose for each of us as a late Valentines present. Luci was so excited! She carried her rose all around the house with her, with a big smile on her face. So sweet!