i'm LOVING her

Right now I'm particularly fond of Cecily.  We've had a lot of time to hang out this year, and she's simply the most hilarious person I know.  She's a great mimic, and likes to get a spoonful of peanut butter and pretend like she's on a commercial:  "Mmmmm, smooth, creamy peanut butter!"  She likes to imitate me:  "Oh hiiiiiii.   Yeaaaaah.  Mmmmhmmm I knoooooow," with hand on hip.  

If you see her in public, she will rarely crack a smile, but at home she giggles like crazy and has a great sense of humor.  She likes to improvise on the piano and comes up with some great modal, drone-y compositions.  A couple of weeks ago, we had a manicure together, and she was so serious about it.  She has the tiniest, cutest hands in the world.  The look exactly like mine, tapered lady fingers, but on a tiny girl.  Although for years she was very un-snuggly, she has recently gotten into snuggling with me and has stopped wiping off all of the kisses I give her.  She loves to read, and her favorite books are two books that I had as a kid:  A Time to Keep by Tasha Tudor and a book of children's verse.  Both have magical illustrations, and I can tell she loves the other-fairy-worldliness of the books.

The other thing she loves is Maude, our eight-year-old neighbor.  "Mom, I don't know why, but I always think Maude is so cool."  She loves reading and drawing and going in the bike trailer with Moses and movie night.  I can hardly believe my beautiful girl, so sick at birth, is now a thriving child about to turn six.

Happy Birthday, Cecily!