No, I haven't been keeping a pregnancy a secret. And we aren't adopting--a child or a pet. Although Gracie's fish Minnie died last night.
However, we had an odd experience the other night. Bean and I were out to dinner (yay date night) and our server introduced herself. Her name was Hope. Later on, Bean told me when she told us her name that he thought to himself that he really liked it. And if we ever had a 4th daughter, that would be a good name for her. What's odd (besides the fact that he actually had those thoughts) is I had exactly the same thought. I have this compulsion with syllables because Miss Rose's name has 4 syllables, Gracie's has 3 and obviously Lily has 2. So if we ever had a 4th child, it would need a name of 2 or preferrabley just 1 syllable. My mind is an odd thing.
But, I digress. {and I will continue to}
Miss Rose has decided to embrace her girly-ness. Alert the presses. She's a girl and she wants to show it (in her own way).
When Miss Rose was around 4, she decided she didn't like girl things at all. She insisted on boy things. When it was pajama day in her pre-K class, we HAD to buy pajamas in the boy section. If she deemed something "girl" she didn't want anything to do with it.
Bean and I weren't too concerned about it. We knew she would grow out of it in her own way and own time. There were times I insisted on appropriate clothing for certain events, but mostly I let her march to the beat of her own drum.
By the time she started Kindergarten, we had moved on from decidedly "boy" things to more gender neutral, but she was mostly still anti-girl. One morning walking her into school I actually heard some little girls talking behind us about how Miss Rose doesn't like girly things. It made me giggle.
And now, we are a big first grader. Miss Rose has spent a lot of time with our next door neighbor-girl who is about a year older and definately girly. She has also spent a lot of time this summer with her cousin and of course watching Gracie become uber-girly.
Last year Miss Rose didn't have much of an opinion about her school clothes or materials. I mistakenly assumed it would be the same this year. Due to a variety of circumstances, I ended up shopping this weekend without Miss Rose.
I bought some cuffed jean capris. But she doesn't like cuffs.
I bought a backpack. But she wanted a messenger bag.
Bean went and found a messenger bag. But it was blue and green, and she wanted girly colors.
I bought a new re-usable lunch sack. But it was blue and didn't have a zipper.
Hello opinions. Opinions I didn't expect.
Bean gets the award for Dad of the Year. He was so concerned last night about Miss Rose having a good first day of school he scoured the county for a messenger bag for her. Apparently they are popular, because there were literally none to be found. Finally at Kohl's he came up with a Hannah Montana and an iCarly bag. He bought one of each to let her choose. She chose Hannah of course (we don't watch iCarly).
Me. I guess I'm the hardnose. I figured--she'll get over it. We'll find a bag in a few weeks or order on online. That's an interesting difference between Bean and I. We both had childhoods were money was scarce and we didn't have a lot of the perks or even "normals" of childhood. I honestly did not eat ANY Chinese food until I was 17. True story.
Anyhow. My mentality is--I survived, it really wasn't that bad and it made me stronger and it's good to understand life isn't about stuff. Bean's mentality is--if at all possible I don't want my kids to miss out on things I did and I want to give them everything I can. Our kids are not spoiled at all---and we say no to plenty of stuff. Bu the difference in our approaches is quite interesting to me.
Enough with the psychology class.
Miss Rose still is, and probably will always be her own brand of girl. I am too actually. I like that about us. But it's sweet to see her develop this side of her personality and tastes. If this is how Miss Rose is, I'm petrified of when we reach this stage with Gracie. She already is so opinionated. And loves all things frilly, shiny and sparkley. Watch out world.
And oh my--the competition to talk between these two, especially in the car. Gracie has actually started saying "Miss Rose be quiet" or "let me talk" because Miss Rose continually interrupts and always adds on to whatever she was saying or asking before. In another year or two when Lily is carrying on conversations---there is never going to be any silence!
The hardest adjustment for me with the back to school routine is getting up at 5:30am to run in the morning! I really enjoyed getting up between 6 and 6:15 and ending my run when Bean was leaving. But now with needing to leave the house at 7:30---with three kids ready for the day---running must happen earlier. It's just a few days a week though, so I can't complain too much!
Have I mentioned that Miss Rose still is my amazon child? 67lbs and 50.5 inches at 6 1/2 yrs old. That is above the 90% for both categories. Doctors always ask where she gets it. And I have no idea. Because Bean and I aren't tall. Well, I do know because we both have tall grandfathers and my dad is 6 feet. But I just never thought I my daughter would get those genes. I think Gracie is pretty tall too. Could it be that all my daughters will be taller than me? Is it bad that I was kinda glad to see two of the other "larger" kindergarteners from last year are in her class this year so she doesn't feel so big?
I really hope getting back to the school routine will get me back to blogging more. I miss this space.
Miss Rose wasn't super keen on me taking lots of photos, so I didn't ask her to pose here-I just snapped the shot, and she happened to have an intense look on her face.
Dad of the year and his girls. Lily has some crazy morning hair. She wasn't thrilled about a fast moving morning. I guess she enjoyed our slower summer mornings too. I LOVE that Gracie carries dolls around. This one happens to be from my childhood and it was probably made in the early 70's. Her name is Lizzie if you are wondering.
