Day 1 Night 2 without her Suki!

Well, the night of the party, MA passed out sitting up, with her Suki. Technically speaking, she was still 3 until midnight. The next night, she fell asleep in my arms as I read, exhausted and with some Melantonin as well. Today, she had no Suki all day and nary a complaint. She passed out on the 401 heading to Grandma's.. and the distraction of Grandma's house and the waiting cupcakes and fun, was enough to deter any whining.

At bedtime however, I had a harder time. There were a few tears, but the level of exhaustion, the melantonin, oh and the back scratch and foot rub that my Princess demands just about every night, did her in.

She has 5 more nights and she's homefree! We will take the Suki to Scooter Girl, where I have already checked a little doll with purple hair, spotted months ago, is still available. Not only that, but the lady assures me that it's a tradition among customers to present their pacifiers and turn them in for a reward/toy of choice. She laughed that she should have kept them all for display. I suggested a Chain of them hanging might be fun. "A Chain of Pain! Refrain!"

The hardest part for MA is not the obvious, she hasn't used a Soother since 14 months outside the house to sleep, it's the rubbing it on her nose part. She loved having one in her mouth and one to tickle her nose. We've tried other stuff, dolls, chew toys, towels etc. Nothing seems to do the tricks as latex.

For now, she's on a toothbrush, extra gum and lollipops, and yes, perhaps 1.5mg of Melantonin instead of 1mg, for this week, till she's over the hump!

The Princess is Four Today

Coming in just under midnight, four years after my wonderful daughter was born. I have been truly blessed with one heck of a little person. She is so vibrant, so smart, so intelligent and witty, funny and ridiculous, on top of things and yet sometimes, completely discombobulated. She makes sense of some heavy stuff and then gets completely confused about the simplest things.

Turning four has been a tad traumatic it would seem. For weeks she has been tossing at bedtime, Sad and crying that there is not enough food in the world to feed everyone (Post Haiti earthquake). Some nights, she is crying, afraid of death, her own, mine, Daddy's etc. Who will take care of her and her brother?

The night before her party, she bawled at the thought of sharing toys and costumes with her friends. I asked, "Should they just come over, sit down and stare at each other?" "YES! The can only have cake, that's IT!"

I suggested she will be getting a lot of toys and she should share her old ones. Then she bawled, "What will we do with all the toys, there is nowhere to put them!" Admittedly, we have a significant space issue in the shared bedroom with her brother.

Two days before that, on our bike ride to daycare, I suggested getting Cheesies for the party kids. Ixnay on that idea! She freaked out. "My friends aren't going to get me anything. They can have CELERY!" I smiled unbeknownst to her, as I pedalled onwards, her in my child seat to the rear, trying not to laugh out loud. "Well, you might be surprised," I postured, "maybe I should get them just in case?" "No JUST HEALTHY Stuff!"

About 19 kids showed up and a handful of parents stayed, as well as her brother, nearly 7, 2 young cousins, two aunts, and uncle and an older cousin. The party was a blast and she was showered with gifts. She is the child who opened 3 Barbies intently, made them all do the splits and then put them in a bag, shunned. You see, the Barbies all have 'flat' hair and my daughter has very curly, fluffy hair. She has a hair complex, which lurks and waits for a low riding ego to pounce on. So some days, she says, "I don't like myself!" When you ask why? Her response, "Because I hate my hair!"

AND YET, the day of the party, I gave her the option of neatly coiffed ponytails, but she wanted her hair down and curly. So there is hope in them thar' curls!!!

Come to think of it, last Sunday at the YMCA, a mom told me she loved my daughter's curls. DD hadn't quite heard it, so I mouthed to the mom, to tell her, because of her "Shhh, complex" and so she did, and embellished, saying she wished she had curls like that. MA says to her, "Yah, people with straight hair, want curly hair and people with curly hair want straight hair." The lady was impressed and jumped in with, "Yes and people who are fat want to be skinny and skinny people wish they had some meat on them." MA said someting about grass is greener, a philosophy I had apparently properly conveyed. It was a redeeming motherhood moment to hear it back in context! :)

I adore her, even when she admonishes me for breaking a cheese stick in half, as I hastily tried to pull it from the package without properly opening it. She refused to eat the short piece and threw it on the floor. I protested. She threw it in the sink and ran to the fridge, did one herself and uttered this beauty. "You SEE, I AM A GENIUS, and you are a LOSER!" Thankfully, already engaged in a verbal battle, I spit out, trying not to smile, "And YOU can take that cheese stick and go to your room for a TIME OUT!" I assure you, she did not learn such phraseology at home. But you know she is SO ready for JK and the big kids playground with that stuff flying from her mouth.

Ah, and there is one more reason she might be leery of turning 4, she FINALLY has to get rid of her pacifier, aka Soother, aka Suki. So there were many tears earlier today, when she ached for it. This is a kid who like her brother, likes to use one for her mouth and another to tickle her nose. However, she never used it past 14 months at daycare for naps and now it must vanish from home@ Here's the last pic I have of her with it, from early last week.

Well, there is SO much more to write, but alas, it will have to wait. We're two days of a long weekend and I am beat, with another full day to go!