A Four Year Old's Day

Sylvia woke up early today which fit nicely into our schedule as we had to be in King at 9am. She had a smile on her face and got herself dressed, brushed her hair, and had me brush her teeth because I do it faster. We headed out the door and up to our MOPs meeting listening to Alice in Wonderland in the van. I volunteered in the nursery today so I just kept all three of the kids in Sylvia's room. Sylvia played, danced, talked to other children, watched a movie, had a snack, made a wreath...it was a good time.

After we came home Sylvia suggested PB&J for lunch and as Rex just bought a loaf of walnut wheat bread from our local organic bakery, I thought that was a great idea. Even better, Sylvia volunteered to make them herself and did a wonderful job. After that we went outside where Sylvia decided Gus would be Fritz, she would be Clara (from the Nutcracker), and I would be the mom (go figure). So she danced around the driveway and set up various scenes including fights with Fritz, Clara hurting her feet on pebbles, and me scolding her for going in the house.

Back inside we pulled out the arts and crafts box and Sylvia made good use of our new markers. I finally let these in the house even though I'm still wary Gus is going to use them where they ought not to be used. She was thrilled with how easy the markers made it to stay in the lines in her coloring book. That lasted for a good hour or so before I made her come fold her laundry and put it away. This is a relatively new chore for her and she still enjoys doing it. After that we pulled out her beads (we were recently handed down millions!) and she began a necklace for her dear friend and cousin L.

That's how 5pm found us. And so we put the beads away, Sylvia had a shower and cleaned up her toys in record time. The kids had leftover spaghetti with Bolognese sauce for dinner...Sylvia scarfed her own and ended up eating most of Gus' as well. She watched a half hour of Swan Lake and then it was story time. We read "The Carrot Seed", "I Am a Ballerina", and various Animal Tales from The Little Golden Book Collection. I tucked her in and we played our new favorite game that goes like this...

Me: "Sylvia, before you were born I was sad. I felt like there was something missing in my life. But then you were born and my heart danced with joy.

Sylvia tells me to wait and tries her hardest to make a straight face. Then she signals me to go on.

Me: And do you know what comes over my face every time I think of what a wonderful person you are?

She sustains her straight face for a millisecond before it fills with a smile.

Me: "A BIG Smile! And do you know what..."

Here she tells me to wait again and does the straight face.

Me: "And do you know what will come over other people's faces when they get to know what a wonderful person you are?"

Another big smile on her part.

Me: "A BIG smile!!!"

I love our new tradition.