You still light the world with your smile. A friend was over a few nights ago enjoying Bastille Day fireworks, and she noted that she loved how kids are like pressure cookers all the time. Everything is just.so.exciting! Tonight's excitement was fireworks, but really, it can be anything. And with you, this is doubly true. When we went to Kansas last month, we made our familiar trek to Worlds of Fun. It was even more fun this year, because you're just a little bit bigger and enjoy the rides just a little bit more. How it can be thrilling to ride around and around in a circle (and it's different if the object you're riding changes, even though it looks astonishingly similar to me) is actually beyond me. But everyone in our family found it impossible not to be excited when you went by waving. Look, no hands!
Shockingly, you seem to have grown a few inches. You're still the tiniest person in the world, but now you're just a little less tiny. Trust me on this one, Helen, tiny can be good. All your life people will offer to help you, even when you don't need it, just because you will always look like you do need it. It's not necessarily a bad thing.
You love the water. Which is good, because the weather has been hot around here, and that means twice daily trips to the pool - once before lunch, once after dinner. And that adds up to a lot of hours in the pool, which have resulted in you actually learning how to propel yourself as far as one breath will take you. Twice, I have witnessed you take a breath and keep swimming, but you definitely don't have that quite figured out. You're in what I consider to be this super dangerous phase - you think you can swim, but you actually can't, which empowers you to thrust yourself from the steps toward me with little notice at times.
You observe everything, Helen. Your super power seems to be remembering the color of everyone's eyes. A friend of mine shares this super power, which is the only reason it doesn't freak me out much.
You continue to show that you are a very clever little girl. You follow the letter of the law, if not the spirit. Take, for example, the other day when you wanted to drag many toys with you to pick-up Connor from camp. Your babysitter told you that one was enough. You chose cat. And then, according to you, CAT opted to bring a few other toys.
You can keep up with Connor at times, but most of the time he whizzes by, I pause, and then you come throttling through. Once he stops, though, you love playing with him. In fact, when he's sitting at dinner dragging it out endlessly and making me want to be anywhere except at the dinner table, you will cry if he is told he needs to hurry in order to get to go the pool, or play, or whatever the activity of the night is. You'll sob "but I want to play with my Connor", who you actually call "sweetie" quite a bit.
You observe everything but can't see a thing. Often, you'll come to me asking where a toy is, I'll tell you, you will go stare directly at it, and then you will return emphatically announcing that it is not there! I then go pick it up and you hand it to me and you say "oh, thanks!". I find it simultaneously cute and annoying.
I wish you would eradicate the words and phrases "No", "I don't want to", "No I didn't", and "I don't like" that soon. It makes me nuts to hear you chant these all day. Especially when you mean none of them.
Love,
Mommy
That is the most beautiful picture of her in the red dress.
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