Dear Kid Saturday

Welcome to this week's installment of Dear Kid Saturday, my weekly love letter to the girlie girl. Here's what we've been up to this week.

Dear Sea-girl,

Not so long ago you informed me that you did NOT want to pretend anymore and that you were ONLY going to be a girl from now on… This week you decided “just a girl” was pretty boring so you cranked things up a notch by turning our whole house into your “undersea kingdom.”

In our brand new undersea world, we have to swim from room to room or we’ll sink. We also have to refer to everything as “sea-“ things, like “sea-breakfast” and “sea-bath.” You’re the sea princess and I’m the sea queen. In the morning when Daddy takes you to preschool, you hand off your tiara and ask me to “please look after the whole kingdom” while you’re gone. Big job!

There are lots of rules in your sea-kingdom. Most importantly, you must never, ever stop moving your arms. Carrying a cup of coffee carefully into the office puts me in imminent danger of falling to the bottom of the ocean (despite my insistence that I’m wearing a buoyancy vest). Also, there is a special language that only the sea-people can understand. It involves very complex sign language, facial expressions and “Spanish” words. “And-on-ya” means “open,” and “A-known-ya” means “close.” Very subtle. One needs a sophisticated ear…

Aside from establishing our family as the rulers of the sea-world, you had kind of a tough week. On Monday there was a fiasco with “sharing time” at preschool. The teacher had asked you all to bring a wild animal to share with the class. You put wings on one of your favorite stuffed dogs and dressed him up. You told me he lived in the forest and was “very ferocious” and that “he’s SO wild, nobody’s ever even SEEN him!” When I came to pick you up after school you were crying - you said the teacher wouldn’t let you show him to the class because he wasn’t a “real” wild animal. Poor baby. You were so upset, I asked if maybe you’d like to take a different animal to school later in the week and try again. You said, “Well, I guess I could bring my dragon…but I’d have to make him specialer first.” I had to give you a big fat squeeze for that one. I love you. And I loved your ferocious flying dog! He’s the wildest animal I’ve ever seen!

This week you also continued to “miss Mommy” each time you were away from me. You still want me to take you up to bed each night (usually Daddy’s job); and a couple of times this week you started crying for no apparent reason and told me “I just miss you when you’re gone.” Aw, sweetie… I wish I could get inside your head and figure out what’s going on.

You told me on Wednesday that you don’t want to go to gymnastics class anymore - a big surprise to me! I’m not entirely sure what to do with that… Do I make you stick it out for a few more weeks to see if you change your mind? Or do I just decide that there’s no reason to pay for something if you’re not enjoying it? I asked if you’d be interested in taking a different kind of class and you said you’d like to try dance. Hmmm…

The Daddy’s Little Sweetheart Dance is this weekend and you couldn’t be more excited! We got you a very fancy dress and some sparkly pink shoes, and you’re threatening to wear your tiara. I can’t wait to see you both all dressed up and ready to go!

I love you, sweet girl. And don’t worry - I didn’t forget to swim while I was typing this up.

Kisses,
Mommy