0 to 12- in a few short minutes

We obviously chose the name Kelcey for our little princess, with the middle name of Kae (which is the middle name of my favorite aunt!)
A few things that are of importance to note right away are
1) I had always believed that parents could mold a child, personalities were developed over time with love and patience!
2)I was WRONG!
This little girl came fully loaded with her own personality. She is the reason that I own every child rearing book that was published in the early 90's- and then a handful more to get me through the teenage years!
Two very good words to describe her are INDEPENDENT and INTENSE!
She self potty trained before she was 2, and she could talk a mile a minute long before that. She went from a screaming baby to a talking toddler overnight and there never seemed to be a break. She adored her Uncle Mike (Graham) and I would cherish the days when he would stop by. She had his ear and mine got a much needed break. She has always been strong willed and voiced her opinions regularly. One such opinion was that her father had "no sense of fashion!" and she reminded him of this often from about age 2 on. Fashion to her was lime green jelly shoes, which she wore ALWAYS- including to bed- and leggings with lace at the bottom and whatever beautiful dress she could find. And then, of course, there were the accessories, which was always something shiny, glittery, and colorful!
We moved to Murray when she was 4. Our ward had few children and she became the girl who bore her testimony every fast Sunday, relishing in the adult attention, and often she would sing in Sacrament meeting.
At the age of 5 she had mastered "eye rolling" and "dirty looks" and often made her kindergarten teacher cry. Poor Mrs. Bailey! First grade brought on her first fight over a boy, which still makes her angry when she talks about it! 2nd grade she decided that she no longer loved dance lessons and would not continue with them, and she began piano lessons- and then eventually Karate lessons in 3rd grade- and then soccer in 4th grade- She developed reading skills early on and has always loved to be buried in a book. She also has a great love for writing and loves expressing her opinions through her letters. The Tooth Fairy once received a strong rebuking from Kelcey through a letter- No one was safe!
But somehow we managed to get the little princess through Elementary and into Jr High. And we had learned a great deal about our little one in the process.
She does not like to be told what to do- EVER! So if I were to say "Hurry Kel, so we are not late" she would purposely come to a dead stop and take her time- just to show me that I would not be telling her what to do. She does not like rules. One thing that is very clear is that the next few years are not going to be filled with fun!