ZOO

John had to go and do some errands in Omaha today. I convinced him to take Stephanie along for some special "Daddy-Time". OK - he didn't need much convincing. We try to take each of the kids out by themselves when we can. Last week he took Hayden to Omaha and got a zoo season pass and they walked around there for an hour or so. Today was Stephanie's turn.

They went thru the "Creatures of the Night" exhibit because she wanted to see the white alligator. When they found it, they looked at it for about 2 seconds and she was ready to go again. Apparently, they went at a break-neck speed. John let her set the pace and I'm thinking she was so excited that it was just her and Daddy at the ZOO that she wanted to see as much as she could!

This is the text John sent me while they were there: "A stop and smell the roses type she is not..."

But it sounds like they had a good time.

And Here We Go Again

Seriously. This girl...

Like she's not already the biggest for her age of my kids. And I swear she's grown several inches lately but I haven't gotten around to actually measuring her yet. So I know she's going through a growth spurt. But she's started sneaking food. And it's not just an occasional, every-once-in-a-while thing. It's every day, several times a day. If I give her and Philip a sandwich for lunch, she will grab his and take a bite out of it while she is eating hers. The other day I made cookies and let the girls each go get one but three were missing. She stole Meredith's Easter Bunny (yes, I know it's not Easter yet but some things are done on 'Grandma' time) while she was supposed to be napping and ate all of it but the ears - after she ate all of hers. She is constantly asking for snacks and whining and acting pitiful when she doesn't get them.

Yesterday, she ate over 1/2 of a big can of SpeghettiO's and Meatballs by herself. At least that was "real" food - meaning actually dinnertime. I'm not so worried about how much she eats at actual meal times.

John and I are starting to worry that she going to get an eating disorder at FOUR!

Oh, and then today on Yahoo!, I see this: US kids moving toward ‘constant eating’.

I know she's going to be a big girl. I know it. She is never going to be petite. And I don't care about that but I don't want her getting addicted to food.

Why is it EVERYTHING with her?

A Recipe

Last night Stephanie asked me, "Do you have any spices?"

I said "Yes."

"Do you have sugar?"

"Yes, I do."

"Do you have 'everything nice?'"

"...Sure...Why not."

"How about 'Chemical X?' Do you have any 'Chemical X?'"

"Ummmm. No. I do not have any 'Chemical X.'"

"Well, you should get some."

"I'll be sure to add it to the grocery list."

{The PowerPuff Girls are made of sugar, spice, everything nice, and Chemical X. - In case you were wondering.}

The Strong Willed Child

So I found this checklist online to determine if your child is strong-willed.

___ almost never accepts words like "impossible" or phrases like "it can’t be done."

___ can move with lightning speed from a warm, loving presence to a cold, immovable force.

___ may argue the point into the ground, sometimes just to see how far into the ground the point will go.

___ when bored, would rather create a crisis than have a day go by without incident.
___ considers rules to be more like guidelines (i.e. As long as I’m abiding by the "spirit of the law", why are you being so picky?)

___ shows great creativity and resourcefulness—seems to always find a way to accomplish a goal.

___ can turn what seems to be the smallest issue into a grand crusade or a raging controversy.

___ doesn’t do things just because "you’re supposed to" --it needs to matter personally.

___ refuses to obey unconditionally—seems to always have a few terms of negotiation before complying.

___ is not afraid to try the unknown; to conquer the unfamiliar (although each SWC chooses his or her own risks).

___ can take what was meant to be the simplest request and interpret it as an offensive ultimatum.

___ may not actually apologize, but almost always makes things right.

You're supposed to mark the statements that resemble your child...

0-3 You’ve got it, but you don’t use it much.

4-7 You use it when you need to, but not on a daily basis.

8-10 You’ve got a very healthy dose of it, but you can back off when you want to.

11-12 You don’t leave home without it—and it’s almost impossible to not use it.

Hmmm. Hayden and Meredith are on the low end. Philip is only 2 so not sure about him yet but I think he'll be there with them. Stephanie hits 10 of them - not the 2nd one or the 2nd to last one. But at 4, she can not back off when she wants to - or she just never wants to.

At least there's a positive - "Being strong-willed does not have to be a negative trait! I often remind parents of SWCs that their children may change the world—after all, it’s not likely that the world is going to change them! Your SWC may be God’s instrument for making the world a better place. It is a great gift to have a child with firm convictions, a high spirit, and a sense of adventure. Think about some of the great leaders and innovators in our past—Thomas Jefferson, Marie Curie , Albert Einstein, Joan of Arc, Thomas Edison, and others. Each of these people held up under adversity, stood for his or her convictions, and persisted against all odds. They refused to believe their dreams were impossible."

I think I'll have to read this lady's book.

The Hoarder

Have you ever watched "Hoarders?" There is one episode where a 7-year-old boy was becoming a hoarder. Now I'm afraid my Little Stephanie may become one too.

She's already got her "treasures." Which for some reason sometimes includes little pieces of paper (at least until I vacuum them up.) And she's got her empty plastic soda bottles on the top shelf of her closet.

Now she's wanting me to find her red snowflake and pink bear pajamas. I've advised her they are too small and she can't wear them anymore but she keeps bringing them up and she wants to "grow smaller" so she can still have them.

Scarface Stephanie

Tuesday night, Stephanie was running down the dark hallway and she tripped and smashed her head into the corner of our doorway.

She came screaming and crying back into the living room and holding her hands up to her face which was dripping with blood.

She had hit her forehead on the edge of the corner and split the skin open. We got her calmed down and cleaned up and the blood stopped and it wasn't bad enough to need stitches but we did put a butterfly bandage and another bandage on it and then held some ice to her head for as long as she would let us.

We were afraid it would get really swollen but the swelling was gone by morning so we must have done it right.

But before she went to bed that night, she was very concerned that she might have gotten blood all over the carpet. Poor baby! So I had to advise her we weren't worried about the carpet and were just glad she was okay.

I'll try and take a picture of the scar after she lets me take the bandages off. For obvious reasons, we have no pictures of the blood carnage!

Just in case you needed a Stephanie fix...