Six.

There’s something about that number that seems very significant – as if it’s the 21st birthday of being a kid – as if they should legally be allowed to drink caffeinated beverages or something.

Last weekend, I went through the ridiculous amount of photos that I’ve taken of Ali’s six years of life.  It was a strange sensation to look at photos of her toddler years – it all seems so so foreign now.  After all, she’s been a kid for a LONG time.

By Year

But it was fun to observe what has and hasn’t changed – at least in photographs.

She’s not always been clean,

IMG_7350

She’s not always been polite,

But she’s had six years of a fabulously persistent right dimple…

Dimples

Six years of me attempting (and failing) to answer the question “Exactly what color ARE her eyes?”

Eyes

Five years of insane hair (that first year was pretty sparse)…

Hair

Four years of making her own couture fashion statements…

Fashion

Six years of being a Daddy’s Girl…

Daddy

And six years of being attached to Mommy whether she liked it or not.

Mommy

After four solid years of being a trio,

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She’s now had two years of being an impressively kind and caring (albeit an obsessively over-cautious) big sister.

Noah

The year of five was good.  She showed that she is a kind, compassionate, conscientious, eager to learn, joyous little girl with a soft heart toward God and other people.

(As well as being OCD, poetically minded, informative, appreciative of illness, a rule-follower to the brink of disaster, helpful with dieting, a camel, a deep theologian, overly thorough, and intensely ambitious.)

By Month

The year of six, I’m sure, will only be better.

39 thoughts on “The Birthday Archives.

  1. Happy Birthday to Ali (and mommy, who the day is just as big for)! Six is a big number, but I’m starting to think everything out of the preschool years is big. So far away from the tiny babies…

  2. Wow – happy birthday, Ali! I can’t believe she’s 6 already. Sometimes it’s so strange, I seem to know you so well but actually I don’t know you at all. I think I’ve been reading here for maybe 3 or 4 years?! Wow. (When your christmas card arrived, I told my boyfriend “Rachel’s card is finally here” and he was like, “Who?”)

    1. I didn’t know you’d been around that long – that’s awesome! Thanks for sticking around – I’m not sure why, but thanks!! :-) — and I’m so glad you got the card!

  3. Happy Birthday, Ali!!! And congrats, Chris & Rachel on everything you’ve done for 6 yrs! That’s a lot of hard work!

    Also, I love all the hair pictures! Too cute!

  4. Love all the photos!!! So sweet. She went from oh so cute to beautiful. She looks so grown up these days. I meant to have K send her a bday card. I’ll have to get a bleated one.

  5. Happy Birthday to your over-the-hill single digit child! ;) It took me all morning, well I am technically schooling my kids, but I read through all her linked posts for the year from her birthday post. Wow. I love your interaction with her and the way she obeys to a fault.. of course, I’m having one of those days where I wanna curl up in a corner and rock. So not a fan of my own parenting today. Thanks for the reminders and encouragements… poo pyramid, ceiling art, Wiki tool usage.. it’s all part of the package, and it is a blessed package.. poo and all.

    1. I’ve had a curl-up-and-rock week, if that makes you feel any better. I think where I went wrong was on Monday at lunchtime: making an actual list of everything that had gone wrong. It was as if I was saying, “what else could go wrong?” — but the rest of the week has shown me exactly what all else COULD go wrong. Not nice.

  6. she is so adorably beautiful! i love how they look like themselves from birth, but you just don’t know it yet b/c you don’t know them! happy birthday to the big girl! perhaps she can help potty train her brother ;)

  7. Happy Birthday, Ali! Now you can use two hands to show how old you are. Hope it’s a super great day!

  8. Happy birthday Ali! Great photos! My baby turned 6 last month too. If the two of you ever met, you would probably spend many happy hours together talking about math problems.

  9. Happy Birthday Ali!

    Your photos look so grown up (I just realized that I’ve been reading this blog for more than half of Ali’s life! Doesn’t seem nearly that long!)

    Do you have AA Milne’s “Now we are six” poem? Since there is a six year old in the house it is practically required.

    PS What on earth happened to the bathtub?! That looked intense!

  10. I don’t comment often (since I read your blog on my phone, and commenting is a pain), but I had to come out of the woodwork to say: Ali is just ridiculously gorgeous!

  11. Happy Birthday to Ali. I loved seeing all the photos of her over the last 6 years in this post. That little dimple and her hair…oh how i love it. :) Enjoy this next year because from 6 to 7 I noticed a huge difference in my little girl. She just seems and looks so much older now. It goes way too fast.

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