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Dear PJ,

Six. Can you seriously be six? Can you really be my little six year old, sass-o-frass, Chinese speaking, animal loving, brother hating, monkey bar doing, drama queen rivaling, pink wearing, little girl?

You, my little small package with an enourmous punch, have been a thrill to watch grow this year. You have found your stride. You have moved so far away from being little (thank God!).

You have always had courage and confidence. You have always been self reliant. You have always been strong willed. But it has not been until this year that we have seen you start to hone those very big kid (dare I say adult) skills and use them and begin to control them.

You have taken in everything this past year has had to offer and you have blossomed.

I know every mother looks down the path and wonders what the future has in store for their children. But you, you my girl, with all that you have that is mighty, you will take your life and sculpt it without fear of judgement or fear of failure. You my little girl are going to be a GREAT woman someday.

How lucky I am to be your mother.

Thanks for being my daughter.

I love you so.

Mom

P.S. Here is my gift to you. Your 5th year of life, in pictures.

Is that school policy?

Yesterday I got to take a break from my motherly duties. My mother came over early to help get the kids on the bus and then took KP for the day. Her wonderful gesture enabled me to volunteer for an amazing event to help the homeless called Project Homeless Connect.

After my volunteer duties were done, I walked out the doors of the Convention Center, sat in my car and listened to my phone messages. What is the one call I had…the school. The school had called three hours earlier to tell me PJ had barfed all over her classroom on their way to lunch.

So I called home, Adam had picked her up and all was fine. Then I got a call from a friend, who also has a child in PJ’s class. She wanted to share a really funny story with me. Then I got an email from Mrs. Bickerson, with a very similar story.

The story goes something like this…ALL PJ’S CLASSMATES HELPED WIPE UP THE BARF SHE SPLATTERED AROUND THE CLASSROOM. Then proceeded to lunch, without washing their hands.

It is at this point in the telling where I need to say to the mothers in PJ’s class, I’m sorry, I hope your kids don’t get sick and who’s going to talk to the teachers about the hazmat suits?

Peeking through the mail slot

What do you see out your front door?

Let the antics begin

Today at PJ’s conference her teacher told us that she really enjoys making up funny sentences in Chinese and then writing them on the white board. I think her exact words were “Ooohhhh she sooo funny, she like mixing up woads to make funny sentence.”

At that point in the conference, I decided to share with her what happened at our lunch table earlier that day.

As the kids were eating lunch, I was on the phone with Adam. I was about to say goodbye to him and then looked over and asked, “PJ how do you say I love you in Chinese?” She looked at me, shrugged and said, “Oh…say, ni hao da pi gu”.

So I repeated it just as she had told me to. And as the last sounds were parting my lips she doubled over with laughter until tears started rolling down her cheeks.

“What did you just have me say?”

“You said…Hi big bottom!”

Making Lunch

Yesterday at the breakfast table I posed this question to the kids: “How old do you think you should be to make your own lunch?”

Hands went flying into the air with reckless abandon.

Me: Ok CT, what do you think?

CT: I think you should be seven.

Me: PJ, what do you think?

PJ: I think you should be five.

Me: I think you’re both right. Do you both want to start making your own lunches from here on out?

PJ: Yes, yes, can I start today?

CT: Me too, I want to start today.

Me thinking…what the hell just happened here?  That was way too easy!

Taking flight

I really enjoy the azalea plants in our front yard.  They are really resilient little flora.  I love the way they keep their leaves all year long and are so expressive.  When it is dry they wilt slightly, when it is nice and they are well watered they are plump and lovely, when it is biter cold outside they curl up as if to ward off the elements.

On one particularly cold morning I pointed the curled up leaves to PJ.  She said, “They look just like dragon flies.”

And at that moment I realized, yet again, how differently adults see the world.  I simply saw leaves in their varying shapes, PJ made it come to life.  I just love that about kids!

The contrarian doesn’t believe

PJ lost her first tooth yesterday at school.  It has been dangling by the root for days and finally it fell out.

Once she got off the bus and shared her amazing surprise with us, she got right to work on the envelop for the Tooth Fairy.  She wrote “Tooth Fairy, Love PJ” with hearts all over it.

When she went to bed she asked if she would know when the Tooth Fairy came into her room and if she would meet her or see her or feel her.  You know, since she is so shy she said.  I told her that she was right, the Tooth Fairy is very shy and that’s why she comes in the dark and if she did by chance brush by her it would feel like a butterfly kiss on her cheek. 

After planting one on her nose, she seemed good with all that might occure in the night and went right to sleep after nestling her decorated envelop under her pillow.

Four hours later, around 11:15 pm, I got ready for bed.  I went into PJ’s room, turned off her lights, gave her a kiss and tucked the new envelop filled with 10 dimes under her pillow.  I stood there for a second to make sure all was well, then shut the door.

Two minutes later, door knob squeaking loudly, out of her room she came with a big fat smile on her face. “Mom, YOU put the money under my pillow!”

Big brother’s friends

CT passed his friend Sam’s picture around the kitchen table yesterday during snack.  And this is what was said:

PJ:  (looking at the photo) I have a crush on him.

Me:  What does that mean?

PJ:  It means I love him.

Me:  Well, Sam is a really nice boy.

PJ:  Oh no…I just like how he looks.

Your friend’s kids

Today Jen and I took our six kids to the pool for a swim. 

After an hour of fun, it was time to get everyone showered and dressed.  We decided to divide and conquer. 

I took the boys into the Family Changing Area, which is a very small bathroom with one shower, I figured they couldn’t go anywhere if I locked them in.

Jen took the two girls into the woman’s locker room.  You know, the girls deserve a little bit nicer conditions.  And under those nicer conditions the following is Jen’s account of a delightful conversation between her and PJ:

PJ:  (Staring at Jen, while Jen is naked)  I’m staring at your boobs because they are bigger than my moms.

Jen:  Oohhhhh, that’s ok, I don’t mind.  Just be sure to tell her that, ok?

PJ:  Well…it’s because you’re fatter than she is.

It’s gone

She would not let the doctor touch it.

She would not let me touch it.

She would not let Adam touch it.

So after four months…she chewed it off.