Precious
Here we have some notes about Precious. How I wish I could describe my little hellion. She's a spitfire, to be sure. It's hard to do the right thing by Precious - I mean, I want her to be self assured and strong willed,. But sometimes I wonder if I'm being to easy on her. The thing of it is, when you reprimand her - even raise your voice at her - oh the tears! And she is such a cuddle bunny. So you tell her to stop yelling, and then she looks incredibly shocked, and then begins to cry (or shriek) as the tears actually drip of her nose. And then you end up taking her on your lap to comfort her. So, you might say she has us wrapped around her little finger. And it is just TOO cute when she cries! You simply HAVE to pick her up and place her on your lap and wrap your arms around her and love her. (Yes, Precious always wins.) (And does she have a pair of lungs or what!) She is just so wonderful. Just the other day we went to a friend's house after mass while Pumpkin was still at school. So Precious and Stealth Baby are down in the basement with 2 of Monica's 4. Monica and I are up in the living room chatting away and suddenly you can hear a Precious outburst. Up she comes with tears dripping off her chin saying "somebody yelled at me!' (The HORROR) After much sobbing we finally figured out that Precious was dreadfully upset because Monica's daughter had told Precious to clean up the doll toys. (which Precious had so kindly dumped all over the floor.) So Monica is apologizing to me that her daughter is bossy and I'm apologizing to her that my daughter is crying for no real reason. Now, I would say Precious is just this sensitive soul, but my gut instinct doesn't tell me that! I think she knows that tears gets her lots of hugs. Hmmmmm.

It's so funny that I never have much to write about Precious. It's like she is the stereotypical forgotten middle child. But in reality I think she gets the most attention out of everyone because she is just so darn cute. She so totally rules the roost, because any time you even speak sharply to her she'll sit on the floor in tears for 20 minutes, and then you have to go and mother her and tell her you love her. Unlike Pumpkin and Stealth Baby she'll sit still - and she loves to be held. And she's lighter then they are too, so it's so easy to pick her up and lug her about like she wishes. She likes nothing more than to have you hold her while she lays her head on your shoulder, sucking her thumb. And just everybody loves her. Everyone is always telling me how cute she is, how wonderful she it. . .so she has it made. It's just hard to tell it from my letters.

Today (today was tough for me because I had a sinus headache all day.) Anyway, today she was sitting on my lap playing a computer game, it is was just too cute. Basically it's to teach kids colors and how to move the mouse. She knows her colors great, but the mouse is way to big for her hand, and whenever she tries to click the left mouse button she ends up moving the mouse. But we found one activity where the characters roll different colored balls down the 3 alleys and you use the mouse sideways (no clicking) to move a wagon to get the balls - but only the color ball they tell you to. Gosh it was so cute to hear her running commentary about what she was doing. "That's green! Out of the way! I did it."

She counts to 30. I don't think she really gets the concept of numbers yet. She knows what zero is, and what 1 is…but more than one she just starts randomly counting. Once she understands 2, then we are golden.

Precious is now moving up a level in swim class. She is definitely ready to move to a bit of deeper water and some swimming more than splashing. She has no fear of water and lunges about confidently. She even puts her head under water to blow bubbles. She also likes to float. So she is very excited that she is mvoing to the other end of the pool where the water is deeper.

Oh yes, the other day she comes running up to me, throws her arms around me and says, "I love you mommy." I about died and went to heaven.

She continues to just love bunnies and books. Every single night we have to read Curious George Flies a Kite, because he visits the bunny house and in the end gets a baby bunny. She likes books so much that she sleeps with them! Aside from reading , she's also on a Dumbo kick, and wants to watch Dumbo all the time. I'd prefer her not to watch very much TV, but unlike Pumpkin, at least when she is watching TV she is actually paying attention and not running around or picking on either of her brothers. So with her, when I need a break, TV actually is a break. The only thing Pumpkin sits still for is Pokemon, so I only let him watch that maybe 2 times a week.

I finally caved in to Precious's desire not to ever have her hair brushed. I took her to Cartoon Cuts and had them cut her hair in a reverse wedge. So the back of her hair is rather short and then angles down so that it is at about chin level by her chin. That way she still looks like a little girl, but actually has pretty short hair most of the way around. So now we don't have shrieking fits every time I brush her hair. It's kind of a shame, since I just love how a little girl looks in pigtails, or with their hair braided. However, every time I take Precious out, someone tells me how cute her haircut is, so I guess I can live with that.