Ballerina is SIX

Ballerina is SO excited to finally be a six year old! She has talked about it for months.

Yesterday we were at the store and she wandered into the shoe section, found a pair of cute shoes and tried them on. They were a little too big, but she said, "Look, Mom! These are for 6 year olds!" They were on clearance so I brought them to the register. I don't normally just buy things when my kids ask for them. I normally say, "Put it on your list." So Ballerina was asking, with a hint of excitement in her voice, "Are you going to buy them, Mom?" I said, "I don't know. I'm going to see how much they are." As we were waiting in line she also eyed a toy that she'd liked earlier and I'd thrown in the cart to get a price check. She asked if we were getting that too. I said, "Well, if we get the shoes then we definitely aren't getting that." She looked at me with all seriousness and said, "Get the shoes." (I did. I always get the kids a birthday outfit and the shoes will be part of hers this year.) I cannot believe that at SIX she is starting to favor clothes over toys. Another time we were shopping and she picked out a not-so-cute shirt and carried it around, hoping I would buy it. She even offered to give me money from her piggy bank (she is ALWAYS telling me she'll give me money for something, even if it's something for me and not just for her). I put the shirt on hold, saying we could maybe get it if she didn't find anything else that she liked. She didn't find anything else, but we didn't get the shirt either(thankfully she forgot about it).

One thing that Ballerina received for Christmas was a lanyard with chapstick attached to it. At school, teachers offer a "smelly" to kids who are being good. They just rub a little bit of chapstick that is attached to their lanyards onto the back of the kid's hand and it smells good. So Ballerina has been giving smellies to our whole family and she gave them to friends at school as well. In the car on the way home from school, she and Ben were talking and Ben offered to pour some of his soda into a cup for her when they got home and Ballerina said, "Can I give you a smelly for being so kind and thoughtful?" As they were getting out of the car, Ben changed his mind and said he'd give her a cup of it tomorrow...

Ballerina is also pretty diplomatic about things. Either that or she has some commitment issues. Her favorite color is rainbow. When I asked her what her favorite present from Christmas was she said, "All of them." If I ever try to get her commit to a favorite anything her response is almost always, "I like all of them." Which friend do you like better? "I like them both." She doesn't like to stick with any one thing.

At school some girls were asking if she was their friend. Then they asked if she was another girl, M's, friend. They told her if she was M's friend that they wouldn't be her friend anymore. And she told M that she was sometimes her friend. I suggested that she stand up to her other friends and say that she was M's friend and that M was cool. And I told her that her friends would be impressed and tell her that she was cool, too. But when the situation came up and she tried standing up to them, they didn't tell her she was cool. They didn't "unfriend" her, but their response wasn't what I'd predicted and so she started crying. I was glad that she'd listened to my advice and used it, but not so glad that it didn't have the desired affect. Poor girl, I think she tries hard to be nice to others and to not be a brat. I am happy that she tells me about her little dramas. It's normally when I'm fixing her hair that we have our little chats.

I have mentioned that Ballerina wants a Pillow Pet Unicorn for Christmas, right? Well, she REALLY wants one. Every time we go to a store that has them on display, she runs over and grabs one and carries it around. She pretends that it is hers. When it is time to put it away, she is just fine with it, because it's on her list. I hope Santa was listening when she sat on his knee...

Oh, but one morning, Ballerina woke up after a dream and proceeded to tell us that the only thing she wanted for Christmas was a hamster. That we didn't have to get her anything else but a hamster. I talked her out of it when I tried to get her to think through the problem that we couldn't bring it on the airplane and we couldn't leave it at home while we were gone. She's decided that she wants a hamster for NEXT Christmas since it won't work out this Christmas.

Speaking of dreams... Ballerina tends to have vivid ones. Yesterday morning she woke up to tell us that she'd dreamt that the house had caught on fire and that Sweetie got stuck inside and had died. And we were all crying and she woke up and was so sad because she loved her sister and she cried really hard. I hate those kind of dreams, I have definitely had my share of them.

In the past when Ballerina has woken from bad dreams I have suggested that she say a prayer. I have helped her pray and she has felt the Spirit calm her. So when Sweetie woke from a bad dream one night, Ballerina suggested that she pray. Sweetie didn't (she's a little young to pray without help), but I was pleased that that was Ballerina's first suggestion.

One present that Ballerina received for Christmas was a book called "50 Fairy Things to Make & Do." She LOVES this book, I helped her make a crown from it. I told her that she looked like Fancy Nancy, so she started cutting paper hearts out and taping them all over the house. She told me she was the only French one in our family. She was definitely channeling some Nancy. She told me that she likes our house because we have lots of girl toys and that we make beautiful things.

Ballerina has discovered a love of peanut butter sandwiches (hold the jelly). She loves that she can make these all by herself. I just hand her the bread, the PB and the knife. I love that there is something that she will eat almost every time and it's super portable. In general, Ballerina is a good eater these days (a ENORMOUS improvement from when she was three and would only drink milk). She is pretty willing to try most foods, although SMELL plays a very important part in whether or not she'll try something.

Ballerina loves playing with Ben every day. She really wants him to think that she is cool and she's always trying to impress him with something. He is sometimes hard to please and that leaves her distraught at times. They compete a little at school when it comes to earning "gotchas" (merits) and Ballerina gets distressed when Ben earns more than she does (which he does a lot because he knows how to work the system). She told Handsome Husband that she doesn't want to race with Ben because he always wins. We try to teach her to keep trying hard and to do her best. We have definitely tried to encourage Ballerina not to give up and to be willing to work through failures or hard times. I have noticed that she will often be optimistic and say that she is practicing.

When she first started school she thought that she couldn't draw very well and she got discouraged. I tried to encourage her to keep trying. The other day in her prayer she thanked Heavenly Father that she was such a good artist. I was happy that her attitude towards her abilities had made such a drastic turn around in a few months.

Ballerina is also very interested in being "helphy" (healthy- she struggles with her "th" and "sh" sounds still). That is one thing from public school that has been effectively brainwashed into her. She is all about eating healthy food so she will grow strong. She says, "Every day Ben drinks chocolate milk, but every day I drink healthy (white) milk. And I'm going to grow bigger than him because I drink healthy milk and he does not." She points out that certain foods (like soda) are not healthy. And she is more likely to try something if I tell her it's healthy. She likes to point out how tall she has gotten and she'll say, "It's because I drink healthy milk. I'm growin'."

I just love Ballerina and her spunky personality. She makes life fun and interesting. She is a wonderful daughter and I hope to continue to be someone she confides in and turns to for advice and love. You never know what she is going to say. Like the time that she said, "Mom? Do you know what I'm allergic to? Squirrels." She's just so funny.

Happy Birthday, my beautiful Ballerina!