Julia is 16 today!

Wow, my first grandchild is 16 today. My Shortcake. She is an amazing, talented young woman. I still think of her as a child, but in two years, she could move out of her house and be on her own. Yikes. Can't believe it.

I still remember when she...

...would "float" out a dip towel on my carpet and eat an entire container of french onion dip and only use 3 chips (which she would feed to me once they were too soggy to get the dip anymore).
...would line up golden books like a path on my living room floor so that her two by two animals could get into an imaginary ark.
...would name all the plastic animals in the animal bucket and expect me to remember their names.
...would search through the animal bucket for this particular baby sheep that she liked most of all.
...would sing entire songs when she was just a little bitty girl.
...would talk and talk and talk all day long.
...would picnic in the backyard with her Nonnie.
...got her fish pillow. She kept saying, "My pish, my pish, I love it! I love it!"
...sucked her thumb with her hand wrapped around her little face.
...quit sucking her thumb because if she didn't, her teeth would stick out like a donkey's.
...loved the Lion King and Aladdin movies and all the songs.
...got her first doll house. She said, "This is for me to keep? At my house?"
...didn't call me any name except for "no" for a long time -- then she came up with "Meema" for my name.
...got mad at me because I lost her favorite pillow. She wouldn't look straight at me. She would answer me if I asked her a question, but she wouldn't make eye contact with me. I had to make her a new one, but wasn't sure it would be the same and then I knew it was going to be okay when she put her little head down on the pillow case and sucked her thumb. I knew the replacement would work.
...loved Barney the dinosaur.
...had to go to time out -- it was the most pitiful little face I have ever seen. It would break my heart.
...did her little dance and we called it the "Julia Hop."
...loved her PVC character dolls. She had lots of them.
...wore a pony tail on top of her head like Pebbles.
...would pull all of the toys out of the entertainment center cubby and get in it herself.
...was born, the most beautiful sight I had seen in quite awhile.
...had the chubbiest cheeks.
...lit up my world when she was born.

So many memories, such a precious little soul. I love that girl. She has grown up to be such a sweet and kind person. I think I would like her even if she wasn't my granddaughter.