My Girl

I have this daughter. 

She is my oldest child, my firstborn.

Ah, the days of staying at home with one baby.

A baby who was not mobile.

A baby who did not talk back.

A baby who did not throw trucks, blocks, sippy cups, and dog poop at his or her siblings.

Those were the days.

My poor first child had her picture taken quite a bit by her mother.

I suspect she grew tired of it.

Sadly, this baby is now 6 years old, has 2 1/2 permanent teeth, goes to first grade, is full of sass, and informs me daily of my acne.

What happened?

And where did all of these other kids come from?

Wait.  Don't answer that.

Last weekend, the Lumberjack and I allowed our eldest to take $10 out of her bank to buy whatever she wished at Walmart.

What actually happened is the lumberjack counted out the change for her and put it in a Ziplock baggie.

Then he went to the backyard to split and stack wood and sent me off to Walmart with 4 children with the purpose of allowing a child to have full access to Walmart and $10 to spend in whatever department she chooses.

Are you aware of how many departments there are in a Walmart?

Are you aware of how many different ways a 6 year old can dream to spend $10 at a Walmart?

Are you aware of how hard it is to reign in a 2 year old boy and a 1 year old boy in a cart at a Walmart while a 6 year old hems and haws over every single option available to her?

The 5 year old was also along for the shopping trip, and she, too, was armed with $10 in change in a ziplock bag.  But this child is much more easy going and didn't really care what we were doing.

I like this child.

After 90 minutes of decision making, the girls decided on jewelery.

And then I got to stand in a Walmart check out line with 4 children.

And then I got to pay with quarters, nickels and dimes all while trying to stop the two little boys from pushing the buttons on the debit card machine.

Could they seriously have put those debit card machines in a more annoying place for a mother of four?

Really.

Of  course, one bracelet broke before we even got home.

My girl started wailing from the backseat.

"I am mad at you!  You should have reminded me that I really wanted the Webkins!"

And she sobbed and sobbed.

And I rolled my eyes and turned on the radio.

This is my child.

She is quite emotional.

She also got upset with me because I forgot to use my turn signal.

"You are not following the rules!"

Cry, sob, wail, whine, sob, wail, cry.

Since it was all my fault that she did not get the toy that she wanted, she decided she still had hope in her Christmas letter to Santa.

I will do my best to interpret:

Dear Santa,
I want a Wii and a DS and dolls and sunglasses and a puppies and a watch and a *indecipherable, sorry* baby bottle and and pack n play.
Love,
Kate
808 Fuchet
4 kids.

Yes, she is greedy.

And clearly she is unaware of what a run-on sentence is.
Let's move past that.
The address is what kills me.
No, we do not live at 808 Fuchet.
I do not know where she got that street name.

What kills me is the 4 kids at the end.
Like,
"Santa, you will know it is us because we have 4 kids here."

Plus, she did not even write the stupid Webkinz on the list.

So I am going to get in trouble again on December 26th.

My Kate.

I love her.
Have you ever heard someone say that our strengths can also be our weaknesses?

Kate is always up for doing anything.

And she is always sure from the beginning that she is awesome at whatever she is doing.

This is a strength because she has a great attitude about trying something new and is genuinely excited and eager to do things.

This is a weakness because it can get ANNOYING.

Please.

No one is awesome ALL the time.

 

Here she is, an expert applesauce maker at the ripe old age of 3.

Check out Hadley.

See.

Easy-going.

Love it.

And now she can add cross country runner to her list of amazing accomplishments.

Did you know that she can run two whole laps around the field without even stopping?

 Because she is awesome!

And she got an awesome ribbon!

It does not phase her one bit that about 75 other children got orange "finisher" ribbons.

Kate.

Also awesome at bicycling, fishing, reading, sledding, swimming, laundry folding, coloring, and singing.

And don't you forget it.

 

(Not that she'll let you!)