bits

Christmas is approaching, and we are getting a few things in order for that.  Esme's list to Santa Claus included a 'jackhammer' to do road construction with (pretend, of course), a trapeze/ring bar to strengthen her arms, a My Little Pony (which keeps changing so we just picked what was available today) and a teaset.. which has already been delivered by the tooth fairy but she argues it had to have been Santa because it was on the list.  I saw the note from the tooth fairy ;)  I've got a few surprises and some necessities saved out, too. 

Her reading is getting a lot better, and her guesses are getting better, too.  Her art is much more detailed, the bridge she drew today had blue waves underneath it, two cars and one of them was a 'mouse' car that was tiny with tiny headlights.  She gets in counting moods, still, and she has to count all the pieces of pizza or all the dots on a toy speaker and trying to figure out how to group the pattern etc etc.. to count faster - I wonder if I've encouraged that with her showing her math things on top of her already obsessive nature, or if she just comes by it naturally and it expresses that way.  Her attitude is great at times and awful at others... and our communication is still 'off' at times, we argue or she doesn't tell us about something until it is much too late. 

Today she reminded me at night, while in the bathtub, that she had not had her shirt she needed for her school project today.  She was sure she could bring it tomorrow - but that did not look like what the note said when I read it... so I told her we will decorate it together at home and she can wear it at the party later in the month.  Early this morning she was all up in a tizzy about some drawing of a bridge she needed to bring to school to the 'bridge hall' and lay on the table with the other bridges.  We had no note at all for this - so I think she was trying to break into another class project from 2nd or 3rd grade and add her contribution.  I made her put her name on it and she said I was ruining the plan.  *ha*... she took it in her backpack and it has not come home tonight, so....  some days we just know she's ours, other days, its radiantly obvious.  And at other even rarer times, like tonight, she crawls into bed at 7 pm while I am making up the covers and she usually fights until way after 8.. and settles down to go to bed like it is nothing... and we look at each other and say 'in bed by 7:15... how?'