Already Four (edited to add cake)

I may have mentioned that I've been a wee bit brain dead since returning home. I failed to commemorate a very special event... Please pretend this post was written on April 13.

Dear Shea,

Today, you are officially no longer a "toddler." You are a walking, talking four-year-old. A big girl.

For the entire year that you were three, I can remember you telling me at least once per month, "I miss being two. I want to be a little kid again." I worried that you would always want to be the baby girl.

But from the moment you blew out the #4 candle on your Barbie cake, you have embraced your four-ness! Nothing is more fun than listening to you tell us (and everyone who will listen) all the things you can do, "now that I'm a big girl."

Since you were little, I've sang "You are my Sunshine" to you at bedtime. You really are my sunshine! Your smile, your giggle, your wide blue eyes - they brighten every day.

Thanks for being my girl, and for letting me be your mom. I love you! Happy birthday, Shea-babe.

Sadly, I don't have a photo of Shea blowing out the candles on the aforementioned Barbie cake. In my brain dead-ness I forgot my camera for her party, and I must wait for Grandma to send the shots she snapped over my way.

Fantastic, amazing, exciting Barbie cake created by my BFF, Christine. How sad is it that this is the last 4-year-old Barbie cake she will need to make for our families (her daughter and all 3 of mine were recipients of variations of this special Barbie cake on their 4th birthdays)?