in the now

This child I am raising is so very different from Mikey and Alix that it’s both amazing and confounding at

times.

She is rapidly heading down the road to becoming a teenager. Already. I don’t understand how it happens so early and so fast.

We already wrangle with each other because she is so much like me at times that it makes me want to scream. But I can still see the glimpses of the little one she used to be even as she’s trying to leave that stage behind.

Many of you have been watching her grow up since before she was even born. That is amazing to me.

She loves puppies almost more than anything else in the world. Dogs too. She will talk to ANYONE that happens to have a dog. She’ll ask what their name is, if she can pet them, and she’ll tell them about her dogs. She’s claimed that she wants to be a veterinarian. Now, if she can get past her squeamishness, I believe she’d do a wonderful job.

She also likes to play “teacher” but she’s still not big on school. I don’t understand that conflict. She likes comics and graphic novellas but still doesn’t like regular books. Well, rather, she doesn’t like fiction. She loves non fiction books like her atlas and she would love to have a full size globe one day. She adores reading about soil and rocks and animals that make up the world. She’ll read through her book on Sharks and Fish, endlessly. Right now she is totally enchanted by the 2007 Guiness Book of World Records. She wants last years and this years.

She finally loves her own bedroom. FINALLY.

We made her a desk.

She has a purple shaggy rug for her bed, an electric blanket which she loves, shelves painted the faint pink to match her desk.

She has a corkboard with a picture ripped from a calendar of her favorite guy from the Jonas Brothers band: Joey. I found a very cool magenta colored halogen desk lamp for $10 at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. She ADORES it.

She requested one of those pop open laundry baskets for her room for Christmas. So, thankfully I found a pink one!

Other than the prison walls out of cement blocks, it’s not too bad now. I’d love to get some gauzy pink/purple curtains for her windows in her room. That would really help with making it more colorful without painting the walls. I’d also like to find a nice piece of art but I am not sure what OF.

She’s all about the pinks and purples and bright colors. Still.

She misses having kids to play with. Two boring old adults just aren’t the same thing although Kevin DOES get in there and try to make it more fun by participating:

Kevin taking a turn down the hill. Don’t you love all the camouflage?

She’s still trying to figure out the balance of living with me and Kevin and then at Stuart and Stephanie’s. It’s like two completely different worlds.

Stuart is a creature of habit. He nor Stephanie ever venture outside their box much. Here? You never know what the heck we’ll be doing. Teaching her to split and stack wood. Teaching her to start a wood fire. Playing in the snow. Playing and teasing and just all about tomfoolery sometimes! It’s never very boring, that’s for sure.

She’s only in third grade now but she’s developing and maturing beyond that. It’s a learning experience for ALL of us.