Hide and seek

Doesn't get any cuter.

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Bigger kids, bigger books

The girls have started reading chapter books with dad every night. It's so sweet how excited they get! In fact, it motivates them to rush through their bedtime routine (usually a horrid affair of whining and screeching...I don't know how Clare and Ella put up with it).



Tonight they start a new one about a ballerina suffering stage fright. Hopefully it will be just in time for the December show.
Fingers crossed...

Big Math

Clare has started math in school. All of a sudden she's asking me why Ella has more, how many can she have, "is this enough?" at first I assumed she had hit a new greedy phase. Then I realized the idea of quantity had hatched. She is measuring. She feels it necessary to quantify everything. OK. Got it.
So this week I went looking for tools. I started with these sticks for Ella's Coop friends. They are working on identifying 1 and 2, red and blue.



She adored them. In fact, she became so attached, she took a nap with them in her sweaty little hands.
So Clare and I made some for her. A big girl set she can use to add 1-5.


She's pretty pleased with herself. She even added them all together and screamingly pronounced there are "15 all together!"



Well, it was a fun 5 minutes, anyway. Now back to ransacking the living room. ;)

So long, summer.

Today marks the death of summer for us. We are celebrating with a picnic and some art. It's the little things...













May we find rain to replace triple digits. May we see an end to this fire season and find hope to rebuild all we've lost.

Amazed

I sit in awe of my child. She has decided to write cards. She dictated what she wanted to say to dada and now she sits copying it for her many family members.



This one says:
"Dear Lolli, I love you. I know you're sad because CiCi died and everyone is crying.
Love, Clare"

Sniff.

Then there's this one:



When I asked her about it, she said "Uncle Ted gets a special one because it was his life."

I am humbled, honored to be her mother, impressed by her clarity.

I'm also taking notes. Ahem.

Growing pains

Today has been a rough day. Both girls were up several times in the night. Mama is tired. Fairies are tired. Crabbiness abounds.
The girls bickered all morning. Grabbing, bossing, fussing. Ella took her mouse away from Clare which caused screaming the likes of which I have only heard from the deepest depths of anger. Clare was hurt and raw and unable to cope. Ella was unyielding. Unwilling to share, unable to see any other truth besides "this my mousey."
Nonetheless, I took them to play group hoping to provide a distraction. It looked pretty much like this:



Unable to be apart, unable to come together, they hovered in each others' space with jagged edges exposed. Tough stuff.
Naptime came, with badgering (and even then only for Ella), after an hour and a half.
So here I sit with this tiny, vulnerable, troubled, four year old fairy. Her wings look slightly dusty, her eyes darkened and sad. I asked her to draw a picture about how she feels. She didn't know what I meant. So I asked her if she'd had any feelings today. When she said she hadn't, I reminded her of her screaming fit and asked her to close her eyes and picture something in her head that showed that feeling. This is what she drew:



On the left is a cowboy on a horse. He and his horse are trying to knock off the cowboy and knock over the horse on the right. She feels like that cowboy and that horse.
Well said, little one. Bless your heart.

Community service.

Clare was not behaving at the table this morning. I let it go, unwilling to argue so early. When we were finished, I asked her to clear the table (which she usually does) and put her sister's milk away. Then I gave her the vacuum. We do community service when we've behaved in a way that disrupts our family.



Given that she just yelled "BEST CHORE EVER!" I'm not sure I've achieved the intended impact. Then again, my floors are clean (she's been at it for 20 minutes) and she is happy and engaged. Maybe we got exactly what I asked for.