Saturday, April 14, 2007

Teenybop Update

Now my little one is a lot less little. She has figured out (mostly) how to get her panties on right, and if they aren't, she can now fix them herself. We have seen the end of the bellybutton/panties tag era.

She is now something we never thought she could be ... even more opinionated! And even more beautiful to her family. We love the way she stands up for herself now, no longer afraid to say, "Well, that ain't FAIR!" This is something she never would have done before our stint at Fiance's Mom's House, where she spent lots of time terrorized by Fiance's younger (9 year old) brother. That's one thing that we came out of that place with that we are actually happy for, our daughter's new ability to stand up for herself, to let people know when she thinks they are wrong, and that she's no longer going to stand for it. But even with her new attitude, she is the best behaved of all the family children, even on a bad day.

She still cleans up after herself, and has had the potty thing down for a while now.

She's probably still the same size she was a year ago, maybe slightly bigger, but she seems so much bigger now. Maybe it's just her presence that's bigger ... it certainly isn't her body. My "Teenybop" is still about three feet tall, just turned three, around 30 pounds (small I know), with the same big blue eyes. The face she once carried has changed now, it's grown up with her and now shows a bit of her maturity. The chubby cheeks have almost given way, leaving behind a tiny little button nose, the same little mouth, sporting it's little cupids bow. The eyes are more expressive now, more mature also. There is intelligence shining out of them, and understanding. She still has the long hair, though she has now had her first trim, which went easy and without trauma. Still so proud of her hair, and the best way to get her still to have it washed or brushed is to say, "Well, then, let's just cut it off." Let me tell ya, it's an immediate turn-around, and complete obedience in all hair issues. Heaven forbid this child ever lose her hair, she'd be devastated.

But she is no longer merely cute and smart for her age ... She's more mature than other children her age, and only barely above average for intelligence, thanks to our hectic life, and less time for me to spend teaching her. She can count to twenty with ease, she knows most colors and shapes, but there's barely any alphabet interest, no matter how hard I'm trying. As all children she's strong here, weak there. She's drawn to children and people who are older, she is hardly interested in children her own age.

Next week, she'll almost officially be a "preschooler". She's going to enroll in preschool. Preschool ...

She's learned to bathe herself, almost learned to brush her own teeth, and can just about dress herself. Still holding out on giving her freedom with the toilet paper though, she likes to unroll it all and use the bits that interest her ... and they are always woe-fully inadequate for the job.

She still has that sing-song voice, always so cheerful and perky. Her giggles were almost absent at Fiance's Mom's House, but they are on the return, and no one has noticed the difference as joyfully as I have. God, how I missed little giggles. Thankfully they are back in abundance.

Just like a little "typical" girl .. she is moody and somewhat emotional. Wonder where that comes from? I think maybe it's hormones ... her Daddy (Fiance) thinks it must be a trait passed down, from Mommy.

She loves to play Mommy to anyone who will allow it, she loves dress-up and make-up. She is a little artist in the making, loves to color all day long! She is also a little story-teller, a song-writer, a care-taker, and fiercely loyal to those she loves.

She's more chatty now than before, and her vocabulary has grown exponentially. Sometimes this is good, as she has learned new words to be proud of, such as "asinine" and "example", sometimes it's something to be ashamed of, since her vocabulary also includes words like "shithead" ...but whose doesn't?

She's still a Princess, and always the one to say an unguided "grace" before dinner. I haven't taught her a cheap prayer from a book or plan ... but I let her talk to her Savior in the way that she chooses ...

A memorable prayer? "Jesus, thank for for my bread, thank you for my juice, thank you for my milk, thank you for my noodles (her favorite food) ... Oh man!"

And my prayer? "Holy Father, Precious Savior ... Thank you for my life, thank you for my health, thank you for my family ... and thank you for my daughter."