Happy Halloween

Today is Halloween. Although we will not be doing anything today because it is Sunday, we did do festivities on Friday. Friday was our school's Halloween party and Trunk or Treat. Faith and I love Trunk or Treat. Although this year brought some crankiness due to lack of sleep, we made it. Faith decided that she was to be a woodland fairy for school and changed into her dancing talent fairy outfit for the party. Of course their was dance party which made her choice of outfit perfectly acceptable. We colored, explored the gross boxes, facepainted, danced and enjoyed watching myself do a parent limbo contest. Faith didn't get too much candy but enough to enjoy. Happy Halloween.

Falling down

Faith and I have a favorite time of year. It is by far, Fall. I like it because it is so beautiful. It is like God has painted the Earth for two weeks and it slowly becomes more beautiful until the bareness is shown for the winter. Faith likes it for a whole nother reason. Like all children, she enjoys the leaves. I remember when I was a little girl, spending hours outside in the leaves. I suppose if Faith were born 30 years ago she would have been similar to me. I can't help but imagine. She throws the leaves in the air, dives into the pile, rakes it up again, and dumps them on her brother's head all the while giggling in delight. She loves to drive a local mountain road here to see the nature and animals. Right now it is a beautiful drive. I would like to drive it one day and get some pictures taken against the wood fence. But Faith and I are really like two peas in a pod, can't have one without the other.

Asleep in her arms

I wish that those nights would never end. Faith asks me each night to curl up with her in her bed as she falls asleep. I don't mind. I've missed her throughout the day and ache for the moment to relax in bed. Her little body curls up and she puts her knees into my belly. Her head tucks into my chest. She is content and happy to be with me. She wasn't happy to get ready for bed but happy to be there with me when she was ready. The morning hours come fast and Bud is up getting ready for work. He wakes her with the light and she can't go back to sleep. Mommy, I want you to lay with me in my bed. OK Faith, but only for a little bit. I need to get ready for school. What makes Faith so special? Little moments like this make me love being a mom.

The Fairy Realm

Step inside to the magical world of the Fairy Realm as magical horses, gnomes, trolls, fuzzybears, fairies, sprites, and Jessie head off on adventure after adventure. Faith and I have reached book four entitled the The Last Fairy Apple- Tree. We have found our books. I'm not sure what we will both do after we complete number 10. It has become our ritual book at bedtime and our topic of conversation in the car. Some books about fairies can be really intense as magic is brought in but these books remain child friendly and they don't leave me wondering whether the next page will be ok to read with my four year old. Faith has the attention span at story time of a child who is much older. We've been reading together every night since she was born. Her love of stories has grown over the years and now she is reading herself at a kindergarten level. She loves these stories so much she asked everyday when her books would be arriving in the mail. Finally they both arrived the same day and she wanted to read them both at the same time. She is so cute. I love the Fairy Realm. Even I want to read it each night and become disappointed if Bud reads a chapter because then I'm not sure what happened until Faith tells me detail for detail.

Wanna play?

After a week of Faith in school and me back onto my 8-5 schedule for the time being, she is becoming clingy and needy. Now as a mother I do not mind playing with her. I feed her imagination so in turn next time she has something that she can imagine. This weekend brought nothing but her wanting attention. Maybe she is fighting for attention from her brother. How can I give her more without taking away from Champ? I often feel like I am pushing her away but in reality I am trying to help her become more independant. The best part of yesterday was when took her pet dog for a walk. I helped her dress it up in a swimming suit and headband but she took the initiative to put her in the stroller and take her for a walk. They stopped at the fish store, the laundry mat, and the restaurant. As an only child for three and a half years it was easy to play with her all the time but with another child and more responsibilities she needs to learn how to be patient and wait.

Yes!! She did it!

The cartwheel was landed on Saturday not one time but several times. She decided that she was going to keep that left foot in front and practice hard. Practice paid off because she did super. She not only did her cartwheel, she kicked her handstand all the way up complete with straight legs. It was a great day at the gym. Next session she is going to be enrolled in gymnastics twice a week for the winter. Hopefully that will help her get a head start going into the Spring session and then we will play it by ear as to whether she would like to stay in class. Go Faith!! The cartwheel was just awesome to see. I'm so proud of her.

Oh God!

Oh God! Why is a four year old doing spelling tests? Why is my schedule so demanding at school that I can't find the time in the evening to make Faith sit and complete her work? Why are there so many meetings for school? Whatever happened to being able to leave work at 3:30pm? When will things look better? When? Until then I guess I will go to the meeting tonight and Bud will prepare for the spelling test with her for Friday. They are hard words too. Sight words which don't follow the rule. Good luck Faith. This test will be hard. I'm not sure why there are so many sight words to learn at one time but I suppose if she if being prepared for 1st grade next year here goes the push.