This crazy little girl...

What to say about my little darling just several weeks shy of her FIFTH birthday. (Mommy is in denial, it is not possible she is already about to be 5 years old, ahhhhhhh, I don't even like typing that! My how the time has flown) She is such a joy to have in our lives. She makes me smile and laugh everyday.

So I have to tell you about something that happened today. We are working hard at learning how to be gentle with baby brother KaiKai and always being thoughtful of whether how we are "playing" with his is also fun for HIM. This seems to be quite challenging for my little preschooler. And Mommy has flashbacks of her childhood and torture session from my big brother. Mommy is determined to teach her to be caring and considerate when it comes to KaiKai. So today, I turned around from my kitchen work because he was fussing and screaming in that "she's torturing me again" tone of voice, and what do I see but her pinching his nose. I told her to come sit down in her chair at the table and wait for me. Which she did very happily, acting goofy trying to lighten the mood and make Mommy forget she was in trouble. I asked her about what she was doing, why she was doing it to him and whether she thought he was enjoying it. When she admitted she knew he wouldn't enjoy it, I asked her what she thought I should do to help her remember not to do mean things to him. She said I could tickle her (silly monkey, at this point Mommy is working hard to be stern and not crack a smile at her antics). Then she asked for a spanking and I told her no, there has to be something else that will do a better job of jogging her memory. So I asked her what if I pinch her nose. I pulled out a clothespin and proceeded to pinch her nose shut for about 5 seconds, which she did not enjoy at all. (I tried it on myself before doing it to her and it was a weak clothespin so I knew it wasn't too painful.) When I took it off I talked to her about remember to think about how it might feel if someone were doing the same thing to her. I talked to her about how she prayed for a baby and that KaiKai was a gift from God to our family and God expected her as his big sister to love and care for him, not be mean to him. All of this brought truly repentant tears, and in the midst of her crying she started picking her nose. When I told her to look at me and listen and stop picking her nose (which sounded hilarious even to my own ears) she immediately fell into a fit of laughter. One second she was bawling and the next she was laughing and that is when I lost it and couldn't help but laugh too. Then in her fit of laughter she pooted and it was all over at that point! LOL! Once we both got over the hilarity of the moment we went back over all that we were SUPPOSED to learn from this little discipline session. I made her apologize to me and to KaiKai and to God. I wonder if anything but the nose picking and pooting will stick in her mind!? *sigh*

She decided to help me make dinner tonight and she was really a big help. I was making breaded and "crisped" (not fried) chicken. She dipped all the chicken in flour then in egg for me, and dumped it into the bread crumbs for me to finish up and put in the pan to crisp. At the end of it all, she asked for permission to mix up the flour, egg and bread crumbs that were left over and I told her to go for it. She had blast with her "goopy stuff" and I was done cooking the crispy chicken in record time. She also helped me cut the ends off of asparagus and cut them in half. She then helped remove the seeds from uri (which I have no idea what it is in English) while I cut it up and prepared it for salad. And she washed dishes while I finished up the cooking on the stove that she can't help with yet! This kid is going to make one good kitchen assistant, that is for sure! At dinner she asked Daddy how he liked the chicken that she made! She was so proud. And when we told her she was going to be such a good cook if she keeps helping like this she grinned and said "so I can be a Mommy!" Lately she is always saying she can't wait to be a Mommy. Just melts my heart!

Even though she has her moments where she wants to play too rough with her brother, she is mostly a very thoughtful and sweet big sister. She constantly tells all of us how much she loves us. After more than a year of preschool, she still would rather stay home with Mommy and Daddy. I think that is so sweet. Everyone told me it wouldn't be long before she would be telling us she didn't want to leave preschool at the end of the day. That has never happened with her. She is just sooooooooooo precious, I can't put it into words!

Right now, at night she has me telling her a story that I let her help make up as we go along. It is a story about Dippitydo, a little dinosaur who is looking for her best friend. Each night is an episode in Dippitydo's search. The first night she tried to climb a tree so she could see all around but the tree couldn't hold her up and she fell. Then she had to have a snack of kelp before continuing her search. Then she climbed onto a neighbors rooftop and was sure she would be able to spot her friend who is orange with pink polka-dots, BUT she couldn't see her anywhere. UNLESS, her best friend was at the orange with pink polka-dot ocean where you can't see her so easily. Tonight Dippitydo had almost made it to the orange with pink polka-dots ocean when she ran into a purple mud hole and couldn't get across without the help of a giraffe and elephants how made a bridge, with their long neck and long nose, for her. Tomorrow the story will continue. I think tomorrow something will chase Dippitydo, I wonder what Hana will choose to be the thing that chases her?! so much fun!