Odds and Ends

The Moo lately has been having a rough go of it. I am a big fan of Brazelton, and he writes that for every age up until six, you get about six months of sunshine (good behavior) and six months of rain (not so great). The Bean is finally coming into her sunshine phase, and the Moo is moving into what will hopefully be her last hurricane season -- at least until she hits adolescence. She has been dealing with the stress of so many changes in her life, and the toll is starting to show. She is still a little joy most of the time, though! Here are some some things that I want to write down before I forget them, so that I can pass them on to the Moo and the Bean:

• Like most three year olds, the Bean loves to "read" books. We make it a practice when we read at night to read the title page, and talk about the author and the illustrator. When the Bean reads on her own, she opens the book, says the title, and then ALWAYS says, "by Eric Carle." Who knew he was that prolific?

• The Bean and the Moo love to make up songs. The Bean lately has been singing a song whose refrain is "Daddy likes to smell stinky cats," which of course makes Daddy laugh. He asked her on Monday why she has been singing that so much lately, and the Bean said, "When Daddy is stressed out and sad I sing the stinky cat song and Daddy feels better."
  
• The Bean seems to be focused on stress lately, because today when I asked her if she played with "Reesie-Peesie" (her friends Reese) she told me, "Mommy, don't give my friends nicknames, it stresses them out."
• The Moo is a total reader now. She is amazing. She reads things on signs and in books that I am supposedly reading to her.
  
• The Moo LOVES to surprise me every week by picking out an unusual library book and making me guess what is it about. She gets the cutest look on her face when we go through our weekly ritual of me asking what she got, and she loves the fact that I can never guess.
  
• The Moo is a model of perseverance and we are so proud of her for it. She is the youngest one on swim team, and she is always the last one to finish her laps, but she keeps going and she keeps smiling and she keeps getting better and better every week.
  
• She is such a big girl -- people who have not seen her lately can not really comprehend what an old soul she is and how she is really a big girl beyond her five years of age. Last night, however, she needed all the patience and all the love that Mom could give her as she had a meltdown to end all meltdowns. And as frustrating and trying as it was to deal with her, Mom loved being able to hold her and comfort her again like when she was my little tiny girl.