dandelions: January 2011

"looks like a pretty day out there"

This is E right now.

new game

Coloring was E's favorite thing to do with me until recently. Now we play "Go Fish" with some cards I think Grandma Mickey gave her 2 Christmases ago. E plays with great glee! It's a fun way to wake up on a weekend morning.

more art

Here's the result of last Sunday's snowflake fest.

Yesterday, we started our day with glitter glue. E squirted the colors all on top of each other in 4 little piles...

Then swirled them around, was quite pleased with the effect (despite the expression captured here).

And check out this masterpiece that she did at preschool! She worked longer on this than the other kids apparently and created something 20 times larger. Perhaps her motivation was thinking she'd get to eat all the marshmallows, but I suspect she just got lost in the "flow". She loves to do this kind of thing.

first paint-by-number

This was taken New Year's Day. She still hasn't finished, likes to do one or two sections at a time.

Peter Pan

E is really worried about going to kindergarten this August. First, she thought kids went there and never came back home (because she didn't see them ever come back to the daycare). Then she learned they don't have naptimes, and that might have been okay except they don't allow loveys!!! Or thumb-sucking. Or fuzz, probably. And you have to do work, lots of work!! A girl we know apparently told E it's a lot of chores and homework and she hates it. Another friend only likes recess, or was it lunch? The teachers at preschool keep trying to teach responsibility saying things like "this is how you'll have to do things at big school", and all of this is stressing E out. Even more of her play is about being cute little babies (and kittens) and she keeps asking me to do things she can do perfectly well herself. She's gotten more shy and clingy to me over the last few months (may be other reasons included in that, though). The other night she said she wants to still live here when she's a mom. She was worried about that too, about having to leave home when she grows up.

So a word to all of you, until we figure out how to deal with this, please don't talk to E about kindergarten! We tend to assume that going to big school is an exciting thing for them, but not for this one. She loves her life now and doesn't want to grow up.

probable snow day

E trotted into my room at 5:10, said she woke up early so she'll have more time to play. She fell back asleep pretty quickly, but when my alarm rang at 6 she insisted she should get up with me because she never sleeps. She's been saying this for a while now, that she only rests at night, never goes to sleep. One time she said, "Mommy! Last night I just put my head down and then it was morning!"

new favorite food

E is rapturous over fried egg sandwiches with cheese!

weekend rundown

E and I had a great day today, a partly miserable day yesterday.

I woke with a migraine and nausea (Sat.) and when I had a reprieve between bouts of "frowing up" I posted on Facebook how bad I felt. My friend Marie asked if I needed help, and I wrote, "Either that, or lots of praise for being a martyr!" So I shipped E off in Marie's mini-van to go play for the afternoon. Just before Marie got here, as I was telling her the plan, E more or less said that I had "ruined (her) day". She had "planned" to stay home and color with me. I said my day was ruined too, thank you very much. Marie had to carry her away, crying, but of course she was fine and had a grand time. We had both been looking forward to a day of just playing together. So that's what we did today. We got so engrossed in our snowflake-cutting and crocheting that we didn't look at the time until 6:30. I can't believe it but I taught E to finger crochet! She's proud of her "braid". The snowflakes are now decorating the fishtank, along with the Kwanzaa chain E made me.

We went to Friends' Meeting, and the message was about anxiety, "the uninvited guest". I was feeling great then. Well I guess I invited it tonight as I finally sat down to sort out and pay bills. *sheesh* Oh well, I'd put it off long enough, had to do it. And then I looked up the weather report: snow tomorrow and freezing rain all day Tuesday with significant accumulation. I might get to work tomorrow at least for part of the day, but then I'll come home and worry about the power going out. I'll be okay though. I wallow in it for a little while, envision the worst, and then feel ready to go with the flow, rise above it all.

Speaking of anxiety, here's a funny moment: in Harris Teeter grocery store, E stops suddenly in the entry way, looking up. Stomps her foot and puts her hands on her hips, saying "I don't like those cameras being in the store! They're like a Santa camera."

I guess 5 is old enough to feel self-conscious. This is the theme of the last few weeks or months. Funny how a couple years ago E was hailing strangers on the street and now she hates almost any situation where she draws attention. Outside of home, I mean, and maybe preschool. Doesn't want people to look at her. Except me, apparently. It's "Mommy, Look!" every other minute. Today I left the dinner table for a minute and E tracked me down saying I should have told her where I was going - "I thought you had died already!" She was smiling and laughing though - I wasn't sure how seriously to take that. We'll see.