Month 62 - Recap

My sweet master builder,
Like I wrote in Natalie's recap, Daddy and I mixed up Christmas this year for you and Natalie. Instead of letting you two rip open all of your presents within 20 minutes and then find yourselves overwhelmingly surrounded by toys, we insisted that you two play with each toy after you open it. It prevented you from being overwhelmed ("I don't know what to play with FIRST!!! Waaaaaa!!!") and it allowed Christmas to last all day (and to even extend to the next day).

You got some cool books and toys but your big gift was a cool Lego police station (that your awesome mom found for 50% off). You usually put together Lego sets and then immediately disassemble them and make your own creations out of the pieces. My Type-A brain shudders every time you do this but I'm learning to just look away when Chuckzilla comes to destroy something. And honestly, the things you create with a pile of random pieces blows me away. I pretty much need an instruction sheet to build anything more intricate than a MiniFigure but you can build the most amazing things from just your imagination. You're quite the master builder indeed. I've asked if you'd just prefer a big bucket of Legos instead of sets since you never keep the sets together but you insist you like the sets better. Color me confused.

Anywho, we bought you the Lego police station and I assumed two things:

1. You'd need a LOT of help since it's a pretty giant set
2. You'd (we'd) build it and then immediately tear it apart to build one of your creations

I was wrong on both accounts. Well, kind of wrong. You put together about 80% of it yourself. You have a hard time following each instruction and sometimes would prefer to just skip to step 10, having ignored step 4 and 8. But by the time step 11 would come around, you'd get all frustrated because some piece wouldn't fit because of the critical pieces you left out in the steps 4 and 8. So we had to help you a few times by retracing your steps and making sure you included all the pieces. But we had to help you a lot less than we were expecting.

You had the entire set built in three days and you kept it perfectly assembled for almost three weeks. This is a new Charlie Bear Record. Then, a few days ago, you decided that a tornado passed through the town and destroyed the police station. You haven't tried to build anything with the pieces yet, choosing instead to leave the mayhem just as it is. Good times.

These are indeed good times. YOU are a good time, my angel bear. I'm so tickled to be your momma.

Hugs and smooches,

Mommy & Daddy

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Headlines for January 9, 2017:

• President-Elect Trump Lashes Out at Meryl Streep After Golden Globes Speech
• Ft. Lauderdale Airport Shooting Suspect Heads to Court
• Wilkes Barre Faces Heroin Scourge Turning it into the Most Unhappy Place in America
• Subway Strike Brings London to Standstill, Strands Millions
• The U.S. Dropped an Average of 3 Bombs Per Hour Last Year
• TV news report prompts viewers' Amazon Echo devices to order unwanted dollhouses

2016 - Year End Review

Why hello there, my mature grown-up girl (your words, not mine). You never cease to amaze me with what comes out of your mouth and I've been tickled endlessly these past eight years (well, these past six years - you hardly said a word your first two years. But I think you've more than made up for it.)

Here are your mature, grown-up Top 10 Lists!

10 Things You Love

1. Gymnastics
2. Wrestling with Charlie
3. Being tickled
4. Singing
5. Drawing/coloring/painting
6. Pink and/or purple and/or sparkly clothes
7. Swimming
8. Traveling. You love new cities.
9. Church
10. Quality time (I do believe I've found your love language)

10 Things You Don't Love

1. Emptying the dishwasher (I often have to explain to you that in life, we don't only get to do that which we like to do)
2. Naps (A DNA test may be in order)
3. Humid weather (A DNA test isn't at all necessary)
4. Only a few foods (namely beans, cooked carrots, cumin) 
5. Bees/wasps/yellow jackets
6. Learning something new (New concepts introduce the opportunity for you to get things wrong! A fate worse than death!)
7. Automatic flushing toilets
8. Not being involved in every conversation. It seems to cause you physical pain.
9. Being corrected. (Ahhh, humility. 'Tis a tough thing to teach a precocious one.)
10. Disappointing people

10 Things You're Good At

1. Math
2. Doing cartwheels and handstands
3. Making rubber band bracelets
4. Handwriting (makes my lettering-loving heart so happy)
5. Following directions
6. Being encouraging
7. Being funny. Your wit is razor-sharp.
8. Making cards for people
9. Being friendly and an include-r. Please, oh please, keep this up.
10. Singing. We need to work on your volume control, but you can definitely carry a tune in a bucket.

10 Things You're Not Good At

1. Sleeping in (you're a great sleeper but you're not a good sleeper-in-er)
2. Sitting still ... you fidget, you stir, you flip, you flop, you spend so much time trying to get comfortable that I'll be old and gray by the time you find the perfect position.
3. Focusing while I read to you during school. I'll read out of your history or science book, look over to you, and can practically see the daydreams floating above your head. Rainbow unicorns are fantastic but I'm pretty sure they weren't present while Washington crossed the Delaware or while scientists were naming the parts of the flower.
4. SPEAKING IN A NORMAL VOLUME.
5. Acting. Pretending to be asleep, trying to act natural when you're playing a joke on someone, maintaining a poker face when we play a game - none of these are things in which you excel.
6. Not interrupting. You so want to be included in every conversation - even if the conversation is adult-y and boring and doesn't involve you in the slightest - so you interject any chance you get (or any chance you take) with a question or a comment, related or unrelated. 
7. Rinsing all the conditioner out of your hair. Granted your hair is impossibly thick, but still. You often come out of the shower with your hair still feeling like a gooey slimeball.
8. Keeping the dramatic tone to an acceptable level. Lawsy mercy.
9. Doing a flip on the trampoline. And the fact that Charlie CAN do a flip on the trampoline goes over like a lead balloon. It infuriates you that he can do something that you can't.
10. Quantum physics. *sigh*

My heart skips a beat or two when I think about how you're halfway to 16. 

You've changed a lot this year. You've lost a few teeth and grew some new ones, so your smile has changed dramatically since you turned seven. Your hair has gotten a lot longer (and, therefore, a lot more tangly) and you've gotten a few inches taller.

You and Charlie have become so close this year. You two still squabble over silly things and I still have to play referee, but my time spent repairing hurt feelings has gotten less and less and you two have gotten better and better at working things out on your own. You and Charlie can spend hours lost in your imaginative world of police officers, unicorns, shipwrecks, and world travel. It's so fun listening to you guys play. It's, um, slightly less fun when both of you come to me with pouty faces because Charlie won't play exactly the way you tell him to, but c'est la vie. 

This has been a pretty emotional year. Lots of things have made you cry, lots of things have made you upset, and lots of things have made you stomp around the house and huff Big Bad Wolf-sized huffs. And on the flip side, lots of things have made you squeal, lots of things have made you jump up and down, and lots of things have made you laugh great big belly laughs.

It ain't easy being a girl, sweet love, and I can't tell you I'll always have the right answer or the wisest advice, but I will tell you this: you are not alone. I understand big feelings because I feel them, too. Big feelings are tough, baffling, and exhausting. Big feelings can also be beautiful. But above all, big feelings can remind us that the Lord is with us. Because when we feel all the things and don't know how to process them, He is there to calm our storm. He is there to carry us through the storm. Feelings aren't reliable as facts, but boy, are they good at pointing to our need to spend some time with our Father. 

I pray that you'll find comfort in praying through these feelings with God. He's the safest One to turn to; He loves you like nobody else in the world ever has or ever will. It's an honor to teach you how to process these big feelings and an even bigger honor to see you building a relationship with Him. 

You are the answer to so many of my prayers, my angel girl. Being a mom is awesome. Being your mom? Well that's a privilege that's beyond compare. I like growing up right alongside you.

Hugs and smooches,

Mommy & Daddy

December 2016 - Recap

My sweet baby,

I'm still trying to process that you turn eight today, so if some of this recap is scatterbrained, you'll understand why.

Daddy and I changed things up for Christmas this year. I have a dear friend whose children make Christmas last all day because they play with each toy as they open it - as opposed to the "open a present up, toss it to the side, open another one up, toss it to the side, repeat ad nauseam" method that you (and many, I assume) kids take on Christmas morning. That causes all the presents to be opened in 20 minutes, then you're surrounded by a bunch of toys and you don't know what to play with first. And this often triggers meltdowns, bad attitudes, and poor behavior - not the kind of things I want to have on Christmas morning. 

So Daddy and I decided that you and Charlie would play with each toy as you opened it. At first you two looked very confused but once we explained how easy the day would go by doing things this way - and how you could possibly be opening presents up until dinner! - you were both on board. And Christmas morning turned out to be a dream! It was peaceful and joy-filled and thankful-filled. There was no sense of urgency, no sense of panic, and nobody got overwhelmed or grouchy. In fact, you two took so long opening presents that you still had one left to open on the 26th! A Christmas miracle!

We took a quick, impromptu trip to New Orleans between Christmas and New Years. We haven't been in years and it's one of our favorite cities, particularly because it's where Daddy went to college (and because of the beignets). It was such a short, busy trip but we all had such a good time. We ate some wonderful food (see above: beignets), road the street car, and saw a great dance troupe perform a show on the way to dinner. In fact, you got to perform with the dance troupe! They asked for kid volunteers and you shot your hand up as high as you could reach. You're such your daddy's girl. (While Charlie buried himself safely in Daddy's arms - he's such my child). You did a cute little dance with a few other kid volunteers and you got paid $20 for your work!

You sweetly offered to split your money with Charlie so you could both get some New Orleans souvenirs. You picked out a pretty, handpainted, purple wooden monkey with a coiled wire to place a picture in it. And Charlie picked out an alligator head. Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Hugs and smooches,

Mommy & Daddy

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Headlines for January 1, 2017:

• New Year's massacre at Istanbul nightclub leaves at least 39 dead
• Vandal changes iconic LA sign to 'Hollyweed'
• President-Elect Trump calls Russia's Putin 'Very Smart'
• Hundreds Attend Light Saber Walk to Honor Carrie Fisher
• Queen, 90, Misses New Year Church Service Due to Heavy Cold