... then all my thoughts will come bubbling to the surface. It seems like I think of things all day to include in this family record I call a blog. Then finally once the kids are in bed and I can think I can't think of a thing to say.
So let's start with the fact that about a week ago, Kiddo found our copy of Toy Story III, and exclaimed how this was her favorite movie ever. We watched it a day or two later... Well, we watched parts of it, the non-scary parts. Kiddo still enjoyed it (toys coming to life!), but Babs is now a complete convert. She spent days looking at an advertising insert that has most of the characters on it. She called it her "newspaper." She loves Buzz, and Jesse, and "Cowper" which is what she calls Woody. (We cannot convince her of her error.) And she loves to be "liddle cowper" and ride Bullseye, her name for whichever parent who gets to pretend to be the horse.
Speaking of pretending, Babs is becoming quite the expert. She will often have her dolls pretend to be someone else. And it seems that at least every other day she has a new persona. She has recently been "baby" (a lot!), "little giant," "little cowper," "prince," "princess," and who knows who else. And I don't know if this has to do with her pretending, but she loves to give a firm (hard) pat on the back to any of us (Kiddo included) while exclaiming "you such a good dog!"
One thing I love about Kiddo is that she is very good humored about this whole treatment from her little sister. Kiddo got hit at least twice by Babs yesterday, and when Babs was pulled away for her punishment, Kiddo was more concerned about Babs being okay than she was herself. (Once the beating stopped she bounces back quickly.) I don't know that Babs will ever understand how lucky she is to have such a patient older sister.
Kiddo is really starting to read. She has been working through some learning-to-read books, and she helps me read her verse in the scriptures too. She knows a lot more words than I think she does, and she is thrilled to start recognizing words when we're out and about. I'm really proud of her work in learning to read. Speaking of reading the scriptures, I'm always proud of her at church, because she is the only one in my primary class (Sunday School for little people) who gets the gist of the small scripture verses I read to them each week. I'm grateful that she is already beginning to understand the language of the scriptures.
She is just growing up right now. She eats almost whatever we make for dinner, at least enough to try it. She says thank you for making dinner. She takes great pride in doing her job of setting the table, and is interested in helping me cook. (Now I just need to figure out how to let her help.) She is our calm while Babs is our crazy, and for right now, it is working for us.
Tonight when it was bedtime, both my husband and I were giving ourselves pep-talks that we could do this (getting them to bed). I reminded him that we spent a long time really wanting these kids. He reminded me we still want them. And we do. Every single day.
