Ayla is 4!

As our first born daughter Ayla turned the big 4 recently we decided to share just a few of the things she’s done this past year that made us beam with pride.

Ayla joined ‘big girl nursery’ this past year and we enjoyed a solid open night with her nursery teacher. Another milestone was a nativity. Ayla snagged the part of a shepherd. We were so proud of our little sheep herder (despite her leading us to believe she was the innkeeper for three weeks.)

Fighting back tears of pride, we watched her projecting her voice loud and proud to say “Where are our sheep?” and doing all the actions expressively I couldn’t help but think of myself as a future Hollywood super agent. We’d conquer the world of stage and cinema. She put her name firmly in the hat for ‘Mary’ next year.

Something about the whole bonanza turned me into Simon Cowell or the bloke on the phone on Back To The Future when Marty’s singing Johnny B Goode.

Another great memory this year was Ayla’s friend’s role play party. I filmed Ayla, dressed as Belle from Beauty and the Beast, as she held hands with the other little princesses, danced and doing all the actions to ‘Let It Go’ with (a lady dressed as) Tinkerbell. Again, I may have had to stand out of the way to let a solitary, manly tear roll down my masculine cheek bone. I don’t know if it was the overwhelming feeling of pride I had for Ayla or the fact I was emotionally fragile still suffering a hangover from the night before.

I’ve previously posted about my dreams for Ayla. This past year Ayla has tried her hand at ballet at the Kathleen Davis School of Dance. Each week I’d watch in amazement and be unable to withold from doing all the actions from my seat. She’d start to get tired during the lesson and at one point stopped the lesson to shout over and ask me “Daddy, can I have some Quavers?”

Ayla and Daniel have recently started swimming lessons. Watching her perfect and improve her swimming week-by-week with the help of a noodle, I currently aspire for Ayla to be a swimming sensation like Sharron Davies, minus the dodgy spell she had hosting the Big Breakfast.

We are so proud of our kind, clever, funny, happy and talented little girl. Ayla, you will move mountains!