where she earns her "and-a-half"

Oh how do I describe you in words on a page, words that are static and unmoving, when every ounce of you dances, even when still?  You have beguiled us all.  We navigate your impetuous waters with delight; even the flashes of temper and foot stomping stubbornness are enjoyable to watch, though we desperately try to contain our amusement within the corners of our mouths.  You have connected the other three of us in ways that you cannot know and in ways that we cannot fully explain.  We share looks and eyebrow raises together as we watch you run circles around us.  We collapse into fits of laughter at your words and your mannerisms and the way you crook that little finger into the air and tilt your head to one side and tell us how it is.  Because you know just how it is, at all times, despite the mercurial nature of your moods.  The one constant is you, in all of your sweet and salty goodness.  How much you are loved, how very much we cherish you, I hope that you know this.  I know that those three-and-a-half year old cheeks are not to be mine forever and I thank you for your (sometimes) patience in letting me rest my own cheek against them.  If I'm fortunate enough to live a long, long life - long enough for me to forget most everything I want to remember - I hope that I'm still left with the feeling of those cheeks and the absolute treasure that is that darling smile that forms them.

"Children are the living messages we send to a time that we will not see." -John W. Whitehead

What a joy you will bring to those times ahead, what a gift you are to our family, right now.

Happy half birthday my sweet, sweet girl.

We celebrate our half birthdays as a family, around the table, with dinner and dessert.  E made a small card and some signs as well, and wrapped up one of F's very favorite things... chapstick!