Back to school

Miss S went back to school this past week. She did a great job. There were no incidents to report and she even made her own lunch every night before going to bed. For some reason, she really likes taking her lunch instead of just getting it from school. Maybe all her friends bring their own lunch. Maybe the school food is still that bad...no offense Elaine :)

We did much better together too. I let a lot of things slide and she didn't get much attention while doing her bad behavior. She loves attention so the bad behavior subsided a little. Because of her good behavior, she's been racking up stickers on her chart. The chart measures her truthfulness, obedience, and attitude. We gave her a finish line that ends with us taking her to Toy Story 3.

We had planned on D taking her on Saturday morning while it's still (somewhat) cheap. I would be staying home and playing with Lil C. As we were getting ready in the morning, she said that she really wanted me to come but not her brother. I asked her why and she said it would be like she's going with her mom and dad. She's never said anything like that before so I decided to try to make it work. Denielle's mom was willing and able to take Lil C so we took him over to her house and then headed to the movies.

I'll make this short. She loved it. She sat in the middle of us and took turns holding D's arm and holding my arm. She loved the movie, which is good, but I was a little surprised at some of the scenes. They seemed pretty dark to me.

Afterwards, we took her to Chipotle for a late lunch. D tried to help her order but she insisted on getting the taco kit with chicken. Well, the chicken ended up being too spicy for her so we had to trash most of it. She was loving all the attention being given to her. No cute little bro to steal it away.

That didn't last long though. After lunch, we headed to pick up Lil C and went back home. I found myself breaking her in slowly to the fact that she wasn't an "only child" anymore. She had a great run but it was back to reality!

My "ah-hah" moment of the day came when Denielle was talking to me about the movie. She realized after seeing Andy playing with his toys and thinking about Miss S that she doesn't have much of an imagination. It's as if she's skipped some of her childhood. She's had to take care of her brother (and possibly mother) for so long that she doesn't know how to be creative and "make" fun when she's by herself. That tells me 2 things: it helps explain why she's constantly talking to us and wanting our attention and it also makes me think that we need to help her develop it by giving her some ideas and letting her try to take our ideas and run with them.

If you could, please pray that she will have another good week of school and that we'll be able to help her develop her imagination. Please also pray for Lil C and Denielle. He sometimes has a hard time obeying her and I don't want it to be one of those things where it's "wait until your father gets home." I want him to see her as an authority figure and her to not get exhausted with his disobedience.