our girl.

She’s an extrovert in a family of introverts. After a social event, when David and Judah and I retreat to three separate rooms with our books and Legos, Amie bounds from room to room debriefing about her day. For our girl, play time by herself is the worst sort of punishment.

Her love language is physical touch. She wants to be in my lap, stroking my hair, having me scratch her back (or her arms or her face), sitting as close as humanly possible on the sofa.

She feels deeply, knows what she wants and what she doesn’t. She’s in tune with the emotions of people around her and exudes affection when happy. And then the next moment, the world is falling apart and we’re all shaking our heads in bewilderment trying to discover why.

She loves running and scooter-ing and playing with the boys. She’s enamored with horses and princesses and any chance she gets to invite girl friends over.

She wants to wear dresses and fancy shoes and tights, and also wants to get them dirty. She hates jeans and sneakers.

She’s got strong fashion opinions. She regularly comments on my attire: “Mama, are you going to wear those pants all day?” “Please wear your hair down, it looks so much nicer.” “Do you have to wear your tennis shoes when we go out?” “That shirt’s not my favorite.” “Please, please wear a dress so you’ll be beautiful.”

She loves crafts of any sort and is begging me to teach her how to sew. She loves wrestling and Nerf gun wars with Judah and “Daggy.”. She loves babysitters and church and sleepovers at Papa and Nina’s. She loves school and her teacher, “Miss Carrie,” and playing for hours on the playground with her friends.

Oh Ams.

How we love you. How you stretch us and delight us and make us leave our boring old comfort zones for your bright, loud, colorful world. How I appreciate our differences, even when I don’t always act like it.

My cousin is getting married in Orlando at the end of January, so today my parents and Judah and I took Amie shopping for her dress. Most of her wardrobe comes in bits and pieces from consignment shops or yard sales, but today, for the first time in her life, I took a deep breath and went to the sale rack at Gymboree and bought her an entire outfit all at once.

Amie chose the dress and the shoes – she was speechless (for a few moments) with happiness when I even let her get the shoes. She’s been begging for flats like mine and told Nina, “I’ve always wanted these shoes.”

She was proud as can be yet sporting her most bashful smile, modeling her outfit for us and her dad afterward, and hasn’t taken it off since.

Having a little girl is just so much fun.