My Firstborn

Oh, this girl-- this sweet, sweet, girl of mine!

If somebody needed a poster-child for a firstborn this would be that girl!

She's a pleaser...

a lover

a bit of a blooming perfectionist,

she's many things that I consider to be true, inner beauty.

Her heart's as big as the sky- always willing to help out a sister

I'm never surprised to hear her tell a sister, "No, don't hit! We're Copelands and Copelands don't hit!" No I'm not surprised that she copies every word I say-- but I am flattered.

The poor girl can't tell a lie-- oh, she has an imagination and can play pretend with the rest of them, but she cannot purposely deceive me. She's on the straight and narrow (please, stay there)!

She's more grown up than any almost 4 year old should be--kind of comes with the territory of being the oldest of such a young brood!

It makes her one independent, self-taught, lover of learning little girl,

but it also makes her 3 going on 23.

Sometimes during the day, I just snuggle her and remind my sweet thing that she IS a little girl and that it's okay to just be little.

She's a natural born helper of the underdog.

She also loves to help me with...

cleaning

cooking

loving on a baby

distracting her sisters

even grabbing me the baby's binky when my hands are tied.

She has mostly given up naps, but I know she still needs about 1 hr of extra sleep on most days- and most days she takes that hour of sleep.

And I think her favorite activity is talking. Oh my, how the girl loves to talk. The topics are endless and sometimes I know that she talks just to fill the silence. Often when the other kiddos are sleeping and all household noises have ceased, Peach will turn to me and say, "Mama, it's too quiet in here." To which I say, "Oh honey, treasure it while you can."

So many lessons this girl has taught me. She was the first one to introduce me to so many mommy things; things she taught me can't be learned from reading a parenting book, magazine or website. I mean, how do you learn the going-to-the-ends-of-the-earth kind of love it takes to care for a child from someone else's words. You just don't. But I instantly had that love for her the moment I knew of her.

Here's to you, my fun-loving, water-playing, independent, fast-learning, sister-loving, honest, kind, helper girl-- my firstborn!