Well, she ended up cuddling in bed with me for the rest of the night, and seemed quite pleased with the arrangement this morning. She mentioned it several times today -- how she had been scared so she got to sleep with Mommy. I'm wondering if tonight will bring a repeat? There's not nearly so much wind, so hopefully she'll sleep through.
We have our ups and downs together. Some interesting things I want to remember about my girl right now...
-- She loves learning about driving, directions, places. When we're in the car, she asks things like "why did you slow down? did the speed limit change?" or "if we turn there, would that road take us to the library?" She knows what the stop lights are for, and when she sees a light turn green, she's quick to tell me to "go, Mom!" She thinks she knows the quickest ways to places, and gets a little upset if I take us a different way than she was expecting.
-- She doesn't like television or movies very much. Like the rest of us, she occasionally gets sucked in, and will watch whatever is on the tube. But left to herself, she usually prefers almost anything else to t.v. It's true, she still gets VERY nervous about scary parts of movies. But more than that, it seems that she just doesn't see t.v. watching as a valuable use of time. I wonder if this will change? I keep thinking it will, but it hasn't so far.
-- She says the most amusing prayers. A few weeks ago, when my dad was sick for awhile, she would pray for him to get well. After a few days she got quite creative and came up with this gem: We thank thee this day, for loving guidance to show us the way. Please bless Grandpa Dennis to feel better, and all his wonderful creations, of this beautiful, wonderful world of Grandpa Dennis. To be happy and not sick! Amen! Sounds disjointed, I know. But that's just the way she prays, not the way she talks.
-- She counts in Spanish now, all the way to 40. She counts EVERYTHING. Uno, dos, tres... There are tres cups on the table, Mom. How do you say cups in Spanish? Preschool is a highlight of her week and she picks out her outfits days in advance.
-- Samantha likes to talk about the things that made her day especially good. Yesterday, she told me, was an especially good day, even "one of the very best days EVER." You know why? She said it was "for three things: I went to preschool, I played Husker-du (a new matching game we got at the thrift store) with Mom, and I got to help pick the leaves up." Isn't that sweet? I love how easy she can be to please. Just the simplest things make her light up.
-- She has a particular order to certain things, and gets quite cross when things go out of order. For example, she sleeps with three blankets -- the flower blanket, the warm pink-and-black-striped blanket, and the cold princess blanket. (Those are her names, of course.) The flower blanket generally sleeps next to her, then the warm blanket, then the cold blanket. If you get them out of order while tucking her in, you will be reprimanded and made to do it the right way. Also, there is an order in bedtime routine -- and unfortunately, my order differs from hers, and we have had huge disagreements about whether it is better to have story time before or after going potty and brushing teeth. (She says before, I say after.) Her final word on the subject, a few nights ago: "We just ARE supposed to read FIRST because the LORD said that's the RIGHT way to do it!" Whoah. Not sure when bedtime order became commandment. hmm...
-- She sometimes thinks Spencer is a bully. She'll be standing on a stool, and he tries to climb up beside her. Although it's a big stool and there IS room for both of them, he gives her a gentle nudge, and she dramatically falls from the stool and acts the part of helpless victim, laying there whimpering and telling on Spencer. He is amused by this behavior, and I'm amused by his amusement. She gets very little sympathy, but continues to try to make him out to be the big meanie around her.
-- She is almost TOO easy to tease. A few weeks ago, we were discussing her upcoming birthday. I told her I really liked having a three-year-old, and I was thinking maybe we just shouldn't have her turn four, so we could keep having our cute three-year-old girl. No more birthdays for Samantha. She immediately turned on the tears, telling me how unfair that is! Even when I was laughing, and even when I had said the same joke 15 times over the course of several days, she still couldn't keep from crying each time. Then she'd ask, through her tears, "Are you just kidding, Mom?" Each time I said yes, she would try to smile and fake that she thought it was funny. But it's obvious she finds no humor in this joke.
Speak of the cutie pie... She just got up for a drink. It's late, she's whiny and I better get to bed and get her back to bed. I do love that darling little girlie.
***
30 minutes later:
Ah yes, this same little angel who just claimed several paragraphs of adoring prose from me just spent the past half hour throwing a big ol' midnight tantrum... stomping, screaming, whimpering, refusing to be comforted because we accidentally left her blanket in Mark and Dalana's car today and she wants me to go get it. NOW. Tragedy. Woke up Spencer, who then threw a mini tantrum of his own.
Did I mention ups and downs? Oh yes, I did. Third paragraph. Maybe shoulda put it in the first paragraph??
