We have now come full circle. 13 years ago Naomi’s favorite color was Pink. It is now currently pink again. A few things have changed since she turned three: She voluntarily takes naps when she’s tired, she can almost legally drive a car by herself, there’s a boy in the picture, and she’s a bit taller. A few things are still the same: artist extraordinaire, loves all the babies and animals, and is brilliant with words in any form.

The 16th friend birthday “vision” went through a few iterations but she landed on a double feature movie night with Jurassic Park and Jurassic World. She made the cake: a topographical map of the Jurassic Park Isla Nublar. This was the easier choice over a life size realistic baby raptor hatching from an egg. Nine friends came, we opted for Jax Box Games instead of the second movie and the chocolate key lime Isla Nublar cake was a rousing success.

I love this girl. We’ve had some good talks about not basing her sense of value on how well she does things or how impressive she is (she must be my daughter or something). Her English teacher says she is the brightest, most intelligent student he’s ever had. She is a delight for her math and science teachers and always surprising everyone in her graphic design class. So she does things well and is very impressive. I had to remind her that even if she was a mediocre student and read at a normal person speed she would still be her and all of the amazing things that that means. It’s amazing to be getting glimpses of her as a mom and a grown woman being a wife and all the other things that she’ll be. Naomi is such a gift to us all.