Last night at bedtime, I said goodnight to my 6 year old for the last time. She was too excited to sleep - she would be 7 in the morning!

 Now, its 6.28am and theres wrapping paper strewn across my bedroom and a squealing 7 year old opening the boxes of her new toys.

 I say it every year but I'm really struggling to wrap my head around her age this year! I actually cant quite believe she has been here for 7 years. Olive is my baby, she always will be. But babies aren't 7 years old!?

 On the one hand, she's still very much our baby. I still lie with her every single night until she falls asleep, and every single night she comes into our bed at around midnight. She doesn't like being alone and likes to have company around her, even if they aren't talking.
 She is scared of the dark and every night you hear her feet quickly running down the hall to our room. She doesnt much like staying away from home, and likes the comfort of Mum and Dad.
 She still hasn't mastered the art of tidying up and at any given time in our house you will be sure to find an Olive sized mess (generally Barbies, LOL dolls, or Our Generation dolls and all the accessories they all entail) or a trail of cut up shit - paper, sellotape, string, doll hair. Basically, with Olive, if scissors can cut through it, cutting will be done. And if scissors are not suffice, a knife will do (as we found out with the recent boxes she annihilated and then stored pieces of in her wardrobe for over a week).

 And on the other hand, she is quite the grown up little lady. I'm no longer allowed to walk her into school or go into school to collect her - she must be dropped off and picked up at the front gate.
She showers herself and even attempts to wash her own hair (a difficult feat, she was blessed with thick Robertson hair!), she makes herself snacks, and prepares her own breakfast, she has chores and she is a little speed demon on her bike.
She has a lovely caring streak and is always there to console an upset friend, or help and play with her 21 month old cousin.

 She is selective about when she wants to be independent and most of the time she has it a bit muddled up - like completing her own urine test for the doctor while I wasnt home and Eddie didnt know she was doing it; or trying to cut up snacks with sharp knives - yet she refuses to get her shoes from the garage on her own or tie her own shoes, despite knowing how.

 Olive is thriving at school, and has made a bunch of good friends who she hangs with every single day. She sees the good in people, and she recognizes when someone is being treated poorly and is working on standing up for them.

 My girl is at the in-between stage now - halfway between a Little Girl and a Big Girl. Shes my darling, hilarious, beautiful, amazing 7 year old.

 Happy birthday sweet angel, Oli Boli! We love you so much xxx