Bridget in the Middle

I am so behind in posting some big events in the girls' lives!  For one, I never posted Bridget's school picture.  I figure her birthday is as good a day as any to slip it in here!  She insisted on having her hair in curlers the night before, and would have this done every night if Mommy was nice and complied with her endless requests.  Alas, she has to have straight hair...a lot.  It's a hard life in this family when you're a little diva like Bridget.

I think the picture turned out really cute, but it doesn't reflect all of the personality that Bridget usually brings when the camera comes out.  However, she turned on her Bridgety charm for the class picture below.

Just in case you didn't spot her in the bright yellow bee dress, I've blown up her little corner.  What a cute smile from our little Starlite Room girl.  I'm sure it's totally a coincidence that she has a huge smile on her face while seated next to her little buddy boyfriend.  Wait, what?!  Boyfriend? Yes, apparently Bridget is spoken for.  Well, he spoke to his mom about it anyway, and then his mom spoke to me about it.  And then I asked Bridget about it.  Are you following still?  She turned beet red when this topic came up... and claimed to know nothing.  Hmmmm.  It's a good thing these two are going off to different schools for kindergarten! Young love...

Our little July birthday girl celebrated with her classmates in May, crown and all,

and even showed off another July baby for her show-and-tell that day. A real life baby doll trumps anything anyone else brings. Trust me!

That was a good day for Bridget!  Any other day lately has been...interesting.  I know we went through this stage with Megan, so it's not just Bridget who is challenging at 4 going on 5.  But, she is extra-sensitive and feels especially caught in the middle sometimes.  She needs all the praise we can give her (and then some!), which she responds very well to.  But, the girl just can not help but get herself in trouble.  We're talking like 3 time-outs a day.  She gets an automatic time-out if she gives "the look" (picture a horrible combination of Linda Blair and Veruca Salt's expressions -- kind of evil, and very entitled!), or if she hurts her sisters in any way (Mary is spared her pinches thankfully!).  And God forbid we praise any of her sisters!  The second we say anything like, "Tessa is doing a great job eating her dinner tonight," Bridget pipes in with, "And Bridget is too!"  It is all.about.her.  I'm hoping this translates into some really high self-esteem when she's older, because I'm struggling to see any other silver lining here.

She's not all bad, though.  In fact, when she's not being "challenging," she's very very good.  She's one extreme or the other, which has us on an endless Bridget roller coaster.  She is extremely motherly towards Mary, and is beyond helpful, most of the time, with our requests for tidying up or help with things around the house.  She just gets in trouble with the other three girls, feeling jealous and picked on for a million different reasons.  Recently, she stormed out of the big girls' room where everyone was playing so well (of course that couldn't last!), and anounced, "Annie said she doesn't care about me at all! Well, she actually said she didn't care when I asked her which dolly bed she wanted.  But, what she meant was 'I don't care about you at all.'"  Ummm.  I'm so scared of the teenage years!

Anyway, today was her birthday!!  She's five now, so maybe we can leave all this drama behind us now!  She had a lot of fun today, and not surprisingly, relished an entire day dedicated to her.  She received each of her personal birthday calls with a big smile on her face, taking the phone upstairs and laying down to chat like a teenager.  She even carried on one conversation while laying down on Annie's bed, much to Annie's dismay.

And that's not all.

 She opened presents!

She jumped from the diving board at swimming lessons with no hesitation today!

She got a free Slurpee from 7-Eleven, a beautiful added bonus for our 7/11 birthday girl. 

She picked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, and even blew out a candle atop her sandwich!

Later, dinner was Bridget's decision, too.  Mac and cheese and artichokes!

She (and her sisters) made cupcakes for dessert, and she got more candles and more wishes.

May all of her birthdays be so wonderful and full of simple joys like they were today.  And, may all of those wishes come true.  Although, I have my doubts about her lunchtime wish -- to have a pony.  She does not dream small.  Her birthday present wishlist ended with a serious hope for magic dust to turn her into a grown-up.  Noooo!!  Not yet, Bridget.  Not yet!

Happy 5!

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At 5, our very petite Bridget

 weighs 34 pounds (12th percentile) and is 3 feet, 4.5 inches tall (15th percentile)

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