My Five Year Old

Sniff.

This post is a long time coming, almost a month. It's getting harder every year to sum her up. She's not a sunny, reserved little toddler any more. She's a complex person in her own right.

Mostly, I adore her. I think she's a better person than me. It's like she's got the best parts of me, and then some commendable traits that I don't have. She's definitely more generous than me. Always requests to share her (very small) treats with her sister, or me. I'm definitely not like that!

Even when her sister hits or pokes her, she never hits back. I do my best to intervene and scold (or redirect) Amelie, so Calliope doesn't feel compelled to retaliate, but still. I find her restraint remarkable.

The best big sister

Lately she's become so loving and affectionate. Tonight she told me, "you're the best Mommy in the whole world for me. Amelie and me and you will always be a family and we will always love each other." Sounds simple but I've never heard these before and they go straight to my heart.

My precious family -- I still can't believe it!

She just started kindergarten last week, and her first two half days went well. It's a far cry from her first days of PreK last year, where she barely spoke to anyone and clung to me fiercely (though didn't cry) before transferring directly into her teacher's arms -- no one else would do. This year she joyfully reunited with her friend Maya and was ready for me to leave just a few minutes later. She's unfortunately neglecting her friend Peyton after a long summer apart but I'm optimistic that after a play date (unfortunately postponed from the weekend), they will be fast friends again.

Filled with confidence on her first day of kindergarten... once she found Maya. They were very, very happy to be together.

Physically, she mastered the monkey bars this weekend, and over the course of a weekend in the Hamptons, she gradually worked up the courage to jump into the deep end of the pool without a floatie. She also learned to tread water and is working on her backstroke -- she doesn't have enough body fat to float well, though, so every time she takes a stroke her head bobs under water.

She's very thoughtful and articulate, though her thoughts outpace her ability to express them well. One day in August she told me that her outfit was "just a little bit more beautiful than yours, Mommy." I explained to her that saying something like that could hurt someone's feelings she thoughtfully listened, taking it all in silently. And the next day, she crowed, "Mommy, we're the SAME much beautiful!"

And today, out for a walk, she explained that sometimes when she's in the sun, the light makes all her good thoughts about love escape her brain and go down into her lungs, and she forgets how much love she has. I think she's trying to say that the sunshine makes her not feel well? I love how she shares all the complicated little things she thinks about. I'm trying hard to be a good, engaged listener so she will continue this habit and not shut down as she gets older.

She's very interested in jokes, especially Knock Knock jokes but she hasn't quite mastered them yet.

Both my girls thought this "joke" was hilarious.

First day of ballet class finally arrived! And for the first time ever in a new class, she 

actually participated! 

After a few days of melatonin, she's back to going to bed at about 6 pm, and wakes up joyfully twelve hours later. It feels very, very early but we have to leave the house by 7 am and girlfriend likes to have a little time to play (after she gets ready, I've discovered, is the key to success). She's gradually becoming slightly more open to trying new foods after I started bragging how she is "such an adventurous eater, just like Mommy." It probably doesn't hurt that her sister will eat anything, and Calliope hears me commenting about it, with incredulity, all the time.

To sum her up, which I can never ever do, she says to me, "You're the perfect Mommy for me!" and I feel just exactly the same way about her.