On Being Ryleigh

And here is Ryleigh's update.

Ryleigh is just a few weeks away from turning 5. Five, FIVE...Oh. My. God. She's going to be FIVE. Yeah, 5 going on 17.

Sassy doesn't even begin to cover it. I could say I don't know where she gets it, but that would be a lie....she is sooooo my mother; okay and maybe a little bit of me. She is the center of her world. She is theatrical in every way (hmmm, wonder where she gets that oh brother in law of mine). Each day consists of multiple stand-offs, my will against hers. The stand-offs as I call them, always just seem so silly to me. Why can't she just do what I say? What exactly is it that is so hard about "put your shoes on", "pick up your toys out of the living room", "brush your teeth"? Seriously, she can do all of these things, easily if there is a bribe involved, why fight with me over it? Why throw yourself on the floor as if you just ran a marathon and can't find the strength to stand, let alone do as you're told?

Why, why, why???

You know that place where you still remember being that defiant little kid but aren't quite ready to come to terms with the fact you are now on the receiving end of such defiance? Yeah, I'm so there.

So, as I resisted the urge to chunk her toys across the room this afternoon, I took a deep breath and helped her pick up and put her shoes on and brush her teeth so we could spend a nice afternoon out running errands. Did I mention that she is the perfect angel when she wants to be?
She is learning to read, but she is insisting to do so at her own speed. I catch her sounding out words when I'm not looking but as soon as I ask her to do it for me, she gets shy and says she doesn't want to do it. That's cool, I still love to read to her and I know that she's soaking up more than she's willing to let on. She amazes me with her maturity. The things that she sits around and thinks about are just crazy. She has been asking me some crazy questions here lately. Things like, What was here before us...like before humans? What exactly happened to the dinosaurs? How did Avery get out of your belly? Where did the spiders go during the winter? She doesn't miss-a-thing.

Everyone always asks me how her lazy eye is doing. We went to the eye doctor when we were home in December and basically she has to keep wearing her glasses, which she does, and we patch a few days a week. To me her eye looks really great right now, even without the glasses. We go back at the end of June when we're in Texas for another check-up, so hopefully all is well.

She really enjoys spending time with all of her friends here in Canada, but sometimes gets a little sad as she realizes she can't remember the names of her friends back in Texas. Ryleigh can swing on her own, something she is super proud of. She still spends a lot of her time in her little imagination world, playing with her barbie dolls or acting out some sort of one girl production dressed up in her play clothes. For that reason I have decided to sign her up for drama camp this summer. She is really excited because I told her that she will get to perform in a show at the end of the camp. She loves to be in shows. Her first show of the summer though will be the one with her school. She will be the cow that jumps over the moon, as in Hey Diddle Diddle, the Cat and the Fiddle, the Cow (that's Ryleigh) jumped over the moon (yes, they will have a real moon).

She is not my snugly child, she's not my loving child, she's not even my obedient child. She's my sassy little independent, got to do it on my own, got to be in charge of all the planning, must make all my own decisions but at the end of the day wants mom to read me my books and stroke my forehead as I fall to sleep, beautiful, blue-eyed girl. I love her with every ounce of my being and can't imagine my world without her. She teaches me so many things, but above all patience. She is fiercely protective of her little sister, a trait that I didn't expect to see show up, but something that makes me very happy.

I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with the whole Kindergarten thing in the fall. Having her gone all day is going to be very hard for me to adjust to. I know that she's not going to have a problem. Actually she's probably going to be like, mom, seriously, if you're going to cry like a baby could you please go find a dark corner to hide in, you're totally embarrassing me in front of my peeps.