The Precocious Princess

My daughter has been keeping me especially busy lately. At the tender age of almost 6 years, she suddenly thinks she can do anything she sets her mind to. Not necessarily in a rebellious way, more like in a "I'm very capable" way. She has a definite streak of Independence in her.

Today she asked if she could go outside and build a treehouse. Thinking to encourage her imaginary building project, I told her that was a fine idea. Her brother raced in a little while later to ask if I knew she was outside with a hammer trying to build a treehouse? She took it pretty calmly that I took away the hammer, which made me wonder... sure enough, she had other tools out there as well! Now I suppose there just might be someone out there who will think I should encourage this; but to me, hammers and almost six-year-olds do not mix!

Did your mother insist on telling you stories of starving children in faraway countries when you didn't clean your plate growing up? I'm by no means making fun of these true facts; on the contrary, I do often tell my children that we shouldn't waste food for that very reason. I want them to understand that having food to eat is a blessing that they should be grateful for. And I have mentioned that there are children in other countries who actually dig through trash piles to find food to eat.

So this afternoon, after dropping off my sons at Taekquon dae, my daughter and I made a quick trip to Goodwill. I told her if she was obedient while we were in the store, I'd give her a quarter for the prize machine when we left. And so I did. As we walked back out to the car, I heard her somewhat grumbling that the little kitty prize was not the one that she had wanted. So very motherly-like, I informed her that she should not grumble, there were little kids that never got to get prizes out of the prize machine. To which she quickly replied: They have to dig through the trash for prizes? At least I know my food-wasting illustration has sunk in...

I stumbled across a learning site that is being very beneficial in helping the Princess work on phonics and reading. Because of her childhood apraxia issues, it's very difficult for her to put sounds together in one fluid movement. It's hard for me to explain to those who don't understand, but it's been a bit of a bump in the road for her. This site helps her sounds out words, and she can maneuver around it on her own. She took it upon herself to also use paper and pencil to copy off the words that the screen sounds out to her. So it's a step forward for us.

Last night, I noticed she was sitting off to herself "reading" a book. Only it was one of her brother's Magic Treehouse books. Which means big words without any pictures. She sat there for about 20 minutes, turning a page every few minutes. There is no convincing her she isn't really reading...not that I would even try;)