Our Little Miss Layla, or Laylani Kahlulu, as her Daddy calls her, turned FOUR on thanksgiving. It was a crazy time and I'm still recovering, so this is pretty good that I'm getting to it only 2 1/2 months late :)
Layla, you're a little firecracker. For REALZ. Or, as one of your favorite songs puts it, you're a firework. You are a ball of energy and you keep us hopping! You are always drawing comments from others about how fun and enthusiastic and excited you are-- you're just a party on wheels, girl.
A couple of weeks ago a sister in church said to me, "I have to tell you something I've been laughing about all week-- I taught Layla's primary class last week-- during our game of "follow the leader" each child took turns stomping or twirling and then having the class follow them. Then it was Layla's turn: full-on back bend! We stopped the game there because nobody could keep up with Layla!"
You LOVE the color pink and have a strict "I get the pink one!" policy whether it's dinner plates, car seats, socks, or treats, etc. You want "dark pink sparkly hair". Your letter to Santa asked for "everything pink".
You LOVE "lips", which is what you call lipgloss, lipstick, or chapstick. Especially pink lips. For your birthday your Dad got you a six pack of Disney Princess chapstick, and you haven't stopped talking about them since! If I can't find you, you are usually in my bathroom trying on my "lips". You often confuse adult women because you'll get really close to their faces and then say as you study them, "Do you have pink lips?" or "...red lips?" or whatever color you think their lipstick may be. Before they can fully understand your question you are already telling them about the six "pairs" of lips you got for your birthday (you call everything "pairs", such as pairs of snacks, pairs of skirts, etc.) in great detail.
You are everybody's friend! You are that kid at the grocery store or park or post office that is wearing a princess dress, a ninja mask, and rain boots and approaching everybody and saying, "Hi, what's your name!?! I'm Layla-- L-A-Y-L-A and I have six lips. Do you have any lips? Do you want to be my friend?" You brighten every public place you are in.
You love jokes. One of my favorite things is when you randomly insert the phrase: "get it?". For example, you will be talking about pretending to be a princess and wearing a crown. "Get it? CROWN? Get it?!?" It makes no sense but makes me laugh just the same as if it does.
You are a performer. Last year when your sisters had their dance recitals, you always found a way to get to the stage and steal the show. Now you are in dance so you don't have to be so sneaky about it-- you just dance your heart out and you love it so much! You are also serious about singing. You especially love to sing "This Girl is on Fire", "Roar", and all the Frozen songs. You recently lifted your ban on me singing any of the girl parts in songs we listen to in the car, which was really generous of you. I hope you never lose your uninhibited love for singing and dancing!
You are dangerous. At least to your sisters. And sometimes me. They often have scratch marks from you, even gouges sometimes. You don't usually do it to friends but when somebody crosses you, you've not yet found the right response. We are working on it and you are now trying to take deep breaths and ask me for help if you don't know how to handle it :) . You are also a super great snuggle buddy and will always find your way onto my lap. When I was pregnant last year, so were several of our other mom-friends. You started asking everybody, "Do you have a baby in your tummy?" If they answered "No", you would immediately ask to sit on their laps--you'd been baby-bellied out of all your favorite seats!
You are picking up early reading skills really quickly right now and you love to practice writing. Last week while making a birthday banner for Erica Larson, you accidentally misspelled your name. "Mom, what does L-A-L-Y spell?" You decided it would be easier for you to just officially change your name to Laly than to correct your mistake. So Laly it is, for now. Which makes grocery store conversations a little more confusing: "My name is Laly, and my nickname is pink-elsa, cause it used to be Elsa and my other nickname is Layla but my new name is Laly."
Layla, you fun-loving, pink-obsessed, sweet and sassy thing you, we love you. We have had so much fun watching you develop your little (big!) personality and we are excited to continue to do so--you bring an element of excitement and joy to our family that only you could--thank you!
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