She Did It. Even Though I Asked Her Not To

OK, clearly I must not be a mean enough mom, because every night when I tuck my girls into bed, I politely ask them not to grow. And every night they do. I can't believe they would just disobey me like that. I really think they are noticeably bigger and older every morning when they wake up. At least they are to me.

And if the whole growing thing weren't enough, Chloe decided to go ahead and turn 11 last week! I know it's been asked a bazillion times, but why can't they just stay little?

Anyway, in honor of Chloe's 11th birthday, here are 11 reasons why we just love her to pieces:

1. She is a very loving daughter. She has a particularly close relationship with her dad. It has always been that way. She thinks EVERYTHING he says is SUPER interesting. They will have these in depth conversations about the most boring things (like: atoms, or black holes, or accounting, or Star Wars) and she is just hanging on his every word. She even visited Jason in a dream 2 days before she was born. He woke up one day and told me that Chloe was going to have a ton of black hair. Of course I informed him that he was wrong...she was surely going to have blonde peach fuzz. He was right.

2. She is very innocent, naive, and without any guile. She thinks the best of everyone. She doesn't really have any concept of popularity or other kinds of drama that tends to happen with tween girls. She is a good friend to all, yet is happiest with just a couple true friends. I like that about her and hope she stays that way.

3. She is a great sister to Myah. She is compassionate towards her if she is ever hurt. She reads to her almost every night. She is pretty good about letting Myah play with her even when she has friends over.

4. She is very sensitive. She expresses all her emotions with tears. In other words, she cries a lot. She'll probably cry when she reads this. However, I don't necessarily think this is a bad trait even though I am trying to break her of it. It shows that she cares deeply about things and is aware of her feelings.

5. She loves to dance. And she is constantly moving. About 10 times a day she is telling me to look how high she can kick, or she's showing me a new move she's invented. I'm glad she loves it so much. It's fun for us, too.

6. She is smart. She loves going to school. (This concept is foreign to me. :)) She loves to read. She loves to learn about anything new. She tries her best at school and is very conscientious about her grades. She loves to get 100%s on tests because her dad gives her a dollar for each one.

7. Speaking of dollars, she is a good saver of money. She has a bank that is like an ATM machine and she can tell you, down to the cent, how much money she has at any given time. She likes to save up and then buy something she really wants. She is currently saving up to buy an iPod Touch. She almost has enough!

8. She is spiritual. She loves going to church and learning about the Gospel. She has a really good memory and once she learns a story from the scriptures she never forgets it. She is blessed that way. She is diligent about paying her tithing and she loves to plan our Family Home Evening lessons. We learn a lot from her.

9. She likes to play the piano. She loves to master a song and then play it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. If I ever have to hear "The Entertainer" again...

10. She loves to eat, although you wouldn't know it by looking at her. If there really is such a thing as a hollow leg, she has it. She is not picky and finds excitement in trying new foods such as sushi or buffalo. She has recently discovered Butter Pecan ice cream and swears it's her favorite. The only food I can think of that I know she doesn't like are mushrooms. Ew. She loves to help me out in the kitchen and will probably be a wonderful cook someday.

11. She is not interested in boys at all at this point in time, but she already knows that she wants to marry a redhead. This is fun to tease her about. Whenever we see a boy with red hair we say, "Look Chloe, there's your husband". Then she gets all embarrassed. On our road trip we ate at Cracker Barrel and they had Magic 8 Balls in their gift shop. I heard her whisper to the Magic 8 Ball, "will my husband have red hair?" Funny stuff.

Good thing she didn't turn 12! Otherwise, #12 would be about how she's disobedient about this growing up thing. And to prevent it from happening next year, here's how the bedtime routine will go in our household from now on. They'll do the usual...go potty, wash hands, brush teeth, read, say prayers, and then, instead of asking them politely not to grow, I'm going to demand in my LOUDEST voice, "STOP GROWING!!!!", then kisses and hugs and sweet dreams.

Happy Birthday, sweet Chloe!