Still thinks she's in charge

Despite the fact that Michael is clearly calling the shots, Lily continues to parade around our house like the Queen Bee. According to her, LILY is large and in charge. And she randomly snatches things from Mike to show her dominance. To the rest of us, she will announce what we are allowed to say, sing, do, etc. She declares loudly how the world is supposed to cater to her. And she is bitterly disappointed when it doesn't happen...we know because of the screaming and thrashing.

I always remind myself how these qualities will benefit her in life. She knows what she wants, she isn't afraid to hurt feelings to get those things, and she is persistent. Yet she is also an amazingly gracious loser (thanks to her big brother delighting in beating her at things), she is very observant and generous with her compliments towards others, and she knows how to strike a deal. She is my future CEO, I tell you. As long as no one else suggests it to her...everything has to be HER idea.

I've been a little slack in teaching Lily things. She is smart as a whip, and repeats everything that she learns in school. But I haven't had much alone time with her due to all these brothers surrounding her...so I haven't taught her how to play games, or played letter games with her, or all of the other things I used to do with Andrew just to stave off boredom. I am trying to change that.

-

So lately we've been playing letter games. Just simple, pass the time games. We'll pick a letter and try to think of all the words we can that start with that letter. Andrew is always quick to jump in and show how many he knows. Lily just doesn't "get" the game. She plays it like an association game. I'll say "F", and Andrew will say "frog". Then Lily jumps in and says, "Tiana! Princess!" (you'd understand that if you've seen The Princess and the Frog). Um...not quite.

We also taught her to play UNO this week. Despite the fact that she refused to let us help her with the cards, she was incredible. She picked up the point of the game very quickly...evidence that I am not introducing things to her early enough ;) Andrew was dying laughing because she was announcing every card in her hand. She also gave Jeff high fives every time he changed the color...even if it didn't affect her play at all. I am having visions of family game night...

Lily was telling her dad all about "wee-cycling", the topic of the day at pre-school on Monday. She said, "Dad? Do you know what we talked about today? Wee-cycling. That means don't throw your trash on the ground, because it's not good for the earth. The wee-cycling truck comes and picks up your empty bottles and then it smooshes them and turns them into new bottles."

-

Jeff and I were smiling and commenting on how smart she was. Even Andrew encouraged her by saying, "Lily, I didn't even know that!". All that attention embarrassed her, so she said, "I've decided we are not going to talk now!" Which made Jeff and I roll our eyes and snicker and we whispered something to each other about our future CEO. To which Lily whispered loudly, "I. Said. No. Talking."

I have contracted the pink eye that Andrew brought home last week, but only in one eye. Today Lily was looking at me and she said, "Mommy, that eye is sleepy, but the other eye is AWAKE!"

-

At the t-ball game this week, she took a picture of me with a pretend camera, looked at it and said, "Awww. Mom you are soooo cute!"

-

At the zoo last weekend, she came running up to me and said, "Mom! You got to come see this vulture. It's ENORMOUS!"

-

I need to figure out where our videos are saving on the computer so you can listen to this girl. She is a RIOT. She challenges me daily, but I love her so much. If ever there was a middle child who won't get lost in the shuffle it is...

RAINBOW GIRL! (our resident superhero in action)