Lets train

Our girl turned five over Memorial Day weekend, and it was a celebration that spanned a few weeks this time around. Today I want to complete the birthday tradition by writing all about our little lady, attempting to capture a personality bigger than words could ever describe. I'm going to do my best anyway!

Time flies when you're raising a tenacious daughter, yo.


I love comparisons so much that I actually remembered to get this shot, yet again. The newborn picture still ranks up there as one of my all-time favorites, as it was the day we brought her home from the hospital and Nate caught that grin on camera somehow! My baby girl is growing up before our eyes, wahhhhhh!

When people hear that I'm having our third boy and Cecelia will remain our only girl, many of them comment that she is so lucky to have three brothers to watch over her as she grows up. But honestly? Cecelia is the toughest of the bunch and I see her watching out for her brothers instead! I mean, she's going to have a heck of a time dating anybody in the future, because with three brothers and a dad to protect her, I don't think many guys will stand a chance;) But still, sister proves to be extremely independent, confident, and still quite strong-willed. She is simply one of a kind and being our only daughter, she really puts us through the emotional rollercoaster more than the boys do. Even Porter at age two doesn't hold a candle to Cecelia's range of emotions, which is saying a lot!



Cecelia's feelings do get hurt if someone doesn't want to play with her, or if her brothers mess with her things. There is still a substantial amount of pouting and whining with her, but she's always been verbal enough to express her emotions. Sometimes she just needs reminding that we can talk about our feelings instead of stomping off in a huff, pouting while tripping over a lower lip. Also, she is sort of a bear in the mornings and right before bed, which is also when she tends to get a severe injury (i.e. paper cut, bumped knee) that will cause major tears. So yes, she is tough, except when she just isn't. ;) It's much, much, MUCH better than age three though and I have high hopes for age five being her best year ever.





The biggest thing that's happened this year for our girl is starting Junior Kindergarten. She goes to the same school as Truman all five days per week, for about 2.5 hours each day. Cecelia has seriously blown us away in school this year, showing us that she is freaking smart, incredibly kind to others, includes new friends in her play, listens well to authority, and understands/follows the rules. I'm not sure why we always thought, 'Yeah, Truman loves school and his teachers love him....but just wait until they experience Cecelia!' We just assumed that she would be more of a wild child in school and possibly more difficult to teach, but we were wrong on that guess. Her teachers love Cecelia and sing her praises for being a great kid (which we already knew, but it's always nice to have that fact confirmed).





CC can now write her name and has even started sounding out some words on paper, stringing together the first sentences. Drawing is Cecelia's favorite hobby, and our house is proof of this skill with hundreds of post-it notes and scrap papers full of stick figures, hearts, letters, and sweet Cecelia-artwork. I love when she runs up to me, multiple times every day, saying, 'this is for you, mom, it's a picture of us together playing.' Her stick people have gained details and I think her favorite thing to draw must be our family. She'll also go to town with coloring books and has a passion for glitter pens (all things that sparkle, really), so right now she's been drawing with those pens instead of my favorite thin sharpie markers that she used to steal from me all of the time.

She can be a teacher, but is the teacher peeing and pooping? Probably.


She REALLY loved our family trip to Chicago over spring break, here is a picture of CC and I sharing our bed together in the hotel room


SUPER into fingernails on her stick figures...


Besides drawing, writing, and coloring, Cecelia is actually learning to read a little bit! Most of the words she recognizes are by sight but she has definitely sounded out a few words with minimal help from us. Her teacher sends home 'bag books' that we read together, with Cecelia pointing to the pictures first, then pointing to each word, and then piecing it all together. This boggles my mind and makes us so proud.



Cecelia is obsessed with being outside and now that our weather is finally changing for the best, you can find her digging in the dirt for worms and bugs. Yes, this girl is a tomboy when it comes to getting dirty, grabbing slugs and nightcrawlers, and especially rollie polies. We have a collection of random cups full of dirt and (usually dead) bugs that will sit right outside of our back door, welcoming all of our guests with the aftermath of Cecelia's digging escapades.



Daddy's girl as much as she is mommy's little lady.


But for as tough and dirty as this little lady can get, she is still quite girlie. She adores all stick-on jewels, glitter, stick-on earrings, necklaces, tiaras, dress up princess outfits, skirts that twirl, and getting her nails done with me. ;) We've gotten a few 'pedicures' together and it's seriously so much fun to pamper ourselves every now and then. She is incredibly obsessed with Shopkins lately, and I still don't really understand their purpose....other than to drive mothers crazy by getting lost all over the house because they are SO SMALL and strange. Also, baby dolls are still her jam, and she's started getting into legos. Well, she makes Truman build her some lego creations so that her Shopkins have houses and beds. Her previous obsession with chapsticks seems to be dwindling now, replaced only by the absurd number of Shopkins in this house.

Oh, we know.


That one time I agreed to hand write all of her Shopkins onto a master list...


She's also super close to riding her bike without training wheels and I'm sure by the end of this summer she will be rolling on two wheels. This is about a year earlier than Truman's accomplishment of ditching the training wheels! She is also amazing on the monkey bars and has upper body strength that surpasses mine in a heartbeat. Again, pretty sure Truman couldn't do monkey bars for another year or two but this little lady does not play around with monkey bars. She took a gymnastics class for several weeks in the fall, and then a weekly dance class from September through April. Both of these classes were a hit for our girl but she loved dance most of all. I mean, she's pretty long and lean so it was a little harder for her to whip that stringy body around on a bar, but it was more her style to do ballet and tap.





Speaking of the superficial, Cecelia is shockingly tall and thin (or maybe not so shockingly so);) I don't have official stats but she can wear a 5T or sometimes an XS in tops, fitted bottoms will be too short if 4T but to baggy if larger. Her feet are a size 12 already which is sort of gargantuan. And she is officially 39.3 pounds and SO CLOSE to hitting that 40# recommendation for a booster seat! Life will be much easier with a booster because the five point harness is super annoying for her, since the straps always hurt her (tall) shoulders.



She remains our best eater and will happily down salmon, burgers, spinach salads, carrots, eggs, and trail mix. Lots of protein for our girl! Her favorite meal is probably butter noodles and sometimes she turns up her nose at things like cheese pizza and chicken nuggets, like her five year old palate is beyond the usual kid stuff. Cecelia also hates raisins in things randomly, so oatmeal or some granola bars are just OUT. She will always, always, always, ask me to share my can of La Croix, will always ask for more butter on her bread, and has a wicked sweet tooth shared by all in this family. We have recently discovered our love for baking together, and we prefer to stick to cookies, banana breads, brownies, and cupcakes. She's the best little helper with this, although her brothers will happily lick our batter if we let them.



I cut Cecelia's long, curly hair earlier this year when it became extremely difficult to manage. She actually asked me to cut her hair for several weeks and finally one night we just went for it in the bathtub. She was SO EXCITED to have shorter hair and I'm in awe with how fast it's already grown. It's so much easier to comb through now that it's shorter and luckily the curls didn't disappear as everyone warned. We still have to do a lot of hairline braids to keep her hair out of her face, but headbands and ponytails also work for this lady.





Cecelia sleeps really well at night, still sharing a room with Truman on his bottom bunk. We've talked a lot about her having her own room once our addition is done and it's pretty exciting to think about containing all of her art supplies within her own room, storing her own books in there, and possibly painting her walls pink with lots of girlie touches. She's trying to convince me that her entire room must be decorated with Shopkins and I'm holding strong with the idea of pink walls but no cartoon characters;)



Bedtime is usually around 7:30-8 and she doesn't have a problem sleeping until 7am, when the kids can watch their digital clock and exit their rooms if they are awake. She goes hard all day and definitely does not nap anymore. I've shared a bed with her a few times when we travel and she's just the best bed buddy---she curls up and barely moves all night long, unlike both of her brothers that prefer to thrash about all night long.



Cecelia's relationship with her brothers is something else entirely. She and Truman can be best of friends, happily drawing together, running around on the playground together, or giggling about some inside joke. It's been so sweet to see them walking to school together and I love hearing about how they see each other during the school day, and reportedly they always wave and acknowledge their sibling. OR they can be pushing each other's buttons like none other, and it's usually Cecelia who ends up in tear over these battles of wills. I'd say she and her big brother get along 80% of the time though, and I love that Truman is so compassionate towards his little sister and hope it continues indefinitely.









Then there's the relationship between Cecelia and Porter, where she gets to call the shots and be 'mother hen' to her little brother. He eats it up, most of the time, and I will catch her literally telling him what to say, word-by-word, as they play. And he does it!! Example: "Porter, say, 'Don't go into that room, Thomas!!'" (Without hesitation he will repeat her) "' Don't go into that room, Thomas!'"







He calls her 'grandma' more often than not because they have some weird game where she's his grandma and he has to do as she says. They actually have a language all of their own, because I realized the other day they were calling dandelions 'pooty poos' as if the two terms were interchangeable. Porter WILL push the limits with 'grandma' though, and she gets super frustrated with him if he's not willing to follow her lead. But she adores Porter, and many times she requests to read to him, tuck him in at night, and will give him kisses as we do his bedtime routine together. She's an excellent little mommy and I know she will be a wonderful helper with her next baby brother!







She still wants to be a fairy when she grows up and hopes to grow her wings very soon. During her yearly birthday interview (below) she mentions this. I love her innocence and don't ever want to tell her that she can't actually be a fairy, nor can she grow wings. Anything is possible?

Her first 'friends' birthday party was this year and we had it at Michaels Arts and Crafts. It was the 'pretty princess' theme, lead by a staff member (not by me!), where they did three crafts as a group. It was pretty hilarious and she freaking loved it. I made her a Shopkins cake, as requested, and both the cake itself and the frosting had to be pink. Her actual birthday was spent with donuts, the day after included presents from her family and store-bought Shopkins cupcakes, and the first day back to school after the holiday weekend included brownies as her school treat for her friends. She really benefitted from us spreading out her special day across several weeks this year!











I'll wrap it up here, with her birthday interview at the end of this post. But I will just say this: Cecelia is still our cherished rainbow baby, full of so much potential and so much sassy sweetness. I can barely remember a day before Cecelia was on this earth and we are so grateful she's ours. We so enjoy watching her grow and can't wait to see what is in store for this special human being.

Love you, little lady.
xo
Mommy

It is July and I promised that this month I would provide some examples of how other cultures are dealing with the work/family balance. In doing so, I promise to postulate some, what I would like to think are, workable hypotheses for how we might change our approach in this country to benefit mothers in a more efficient way.

There is a general consensus in the anthropological literature that it is intrinsically difficult for women to combine income-producing activities (ie: work) with the domestic responsibilities of child care and housework that almost universally fall primarily on the shoulders of women. The ease or difficulty in which women navigate this has a lot to do with the cultural realities in which they function. In other words, societal and material factors can either help or hinder a woman's efforts to provide an income for herself and family. This extends not just to income production, but the production of children as well. The number of children that a family HAS is often at odds with the number of children a family WANTS depending on the cultural and material context in which they live. In addition this can change historically over time.

Reading C.H. Browner's article, "The Politics of Reproduction in a Mexican Village" the women of a small municipio (township) were caught between the pressures of the Mexican government to restrict births and local pressure that was seeking to maintain and promote population in the area to avoid loss of autonomy. Browner found that the women were succumbing to village pressure to raise more children than they felt they could comfortably afford or care for because of the prevailing pro-natalist mentality that was characteristic within the specific area. Most women, because of economic and domestic pressures desired few children, but feared public censure for any attempt to curb fertility.

So, these women were having more children than they desired because of societal pressures.

Then there is the U.S. In some ways we are the opposite from that village in Mexico. I know many women in my circle of friends who have made the comment, "Oh we would have loved to have more children, but I just knew there was no way we could afford it." Our culture has it set up so that the resources required to care for, provide for and educate each child mean you have to have access to a fairly high income if you wish to have a larger family and avoid a daily struggle to eke out a living. I have even seen passing references in newspaper articles that have likened a large family in America to a status symbol, much like a big house, fancy car or expensive vacation. By that same token, I know women who want so badly to have a meaningful career that they would never risk it by having a family. The unspoken, but often acknowledged fact is that many women, through the mere act of procreation, are signing the death warrants on their employment future.

Just like the women in Browner's municipio, who should not be forced by society to have more children than they want, the U.S. should invest in families more so that women don't have to unwillingly restrict or forgo fertility.