Letter to Lucia: 57 Months
Dear Lulu,
This letter is late, but I purposely waited to write it so I could write about a very exciting event: your big debut as a flower girl in your cousin Lexi's wedding on July 19. For months, I'd been preparing you: talking up the honor, the dress, the excitement, the princess-like aspects of the day. We watched YouTube videos of flower girls. We talked about brides and aisles and flowers. You're almost five years old--an age of reason, usually. But it was the "usually" that, of course, made me nervous. Ninety percent of the time, you're agreeable and amenable and wonderful; ten percent of the time...you're otherwise, like any kid. With a four year old, there's no guarantee of predictability.
But we needn't have worried. You were so extremely excited, talking about the wedding for weeks beforehand. You sailed through the rehearsal, and had a good sleep the night before the wedding. (We had two adjoining suites at the Mayflower in DC--royal accommodations assigned to us simply by chance; so you and Greta slept in separate rooms, avoiding any problems with giggling late into the night.) The day of the wedding, you woke up happy and excited, and stayed that way throughout the day. You got your hair done; took pictures with the bridesmaids in matching bathrobes; got dressed; wore your fancy headband; followed instructions from multiple people, which changed a few times before you actually walked down the aisle; sat (mostly) patiently through the ceremony and Mass; carried a banner back down the aisle, behind the bride and groom; and charmed everyone with your smile and cuteness. You were also excited about the fact that Greta had to stay with a babysitter while you got to eat dinner with the grownups. (You lasted through dinner and a little dancing--and then crashed, sobbing in Daddy's arms as he took you back to the room, where the babysitter put an exhausted you to bed.)
It was a lovely wedding, and you were such a star, and I really think you'll remember this forever.
.JPG)
.JPG)
The other big news is that I finally told you we're sending you to a different preschool this fall. All summer, I've avoided any mention of it, but lately you've been missing school and your little friends, asking when you're going back to school, and so on, and I just couldn't hide it any longer. I talked to you about all the fun elements of your new school, your new teacher's name, the little boy you're friends with who'll be in your class, and promised we'd have playdates with your friends from your old school. You took it in stride and seem unfazed. I'm sending you to a one-week camp at the new school so you get familiar with it before the school year starts, but I'm feeling much better about the transition.
In other news--you're acting more kid-like all the time, doing kid-like things, saying hilarious things all the time. When we were making clothespin mermaids this week, your mermaid had a tail but I hadn't yet drawn on her face, and you were making her swim around while saying, "I can swim! I can swim but I can't see! I can't seeee!" Too funny. You've been wearing the mermaid tail Aunt Katherine got you nearly all day, every day. You're in a real mermaid phase right now, have been for a while, and the clothespin mermaids have been a lot of fun. We worked on them today for a solid two hours. (Of course, by the end it was me and the glue gun, finishing them up, while you and Greta spread out all the porch-furniture pillows to make a "pillow patio," but no matter.)
You would prefer to eat nothing but snacks, but sometimes you'll eat your whole dinner and then ask for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich--so you're definitely growing. You wear a 5T and a size 10 shoe. You go to sleep around 8:30pm and get up around 7:30am.
Favorite toys/activities: clothespin mermaids, mermaid anything, Li'l Me dolls, Barbie-size princesses, Magiclip princesses, Playmobil animals, coloring, drawing pictures, arranging things in rainbow colors, large quantities of anything, bubbles, bubble machine
Favorite books: Twelve Dancing Princesses, Berenstain Bears, Three Little Horses, Frog and Toad, The Mousery, Father Bear Comes Home, Mercy Watson books
This letter is late, but I purposely waited to write it so I could write about a very exciting event: your big debut as a flower girl in your cousin Lexi's wedding on July 19. For months, I'd been preparing you: talking up the honor, the dress, the excitement, the princess-like aspects of the day. We watched YouTube videos of flower girls. We talked about brides and aisles and flowers. You're almost five years old--an age of reason, usually. But it was the "usually" that, of course, made me nervous. Ninety percent of the time, you're agreeable and amenable and wonderful; ten percent of the time...you're otherwise, like any kid. With a four year old, there's no guarantee of predictability.
But we needn't have worried. You were so extremely excited, talking about the wedding for weeks beforehand. You sailed through the rehearsal, and had a good sleep the night before the wedding. (We had two adjoining suites at the Mayflower in DC--royal accommodations assigned to us simply by chance; so you and Greta slept in separate rooms, avoiding any problems with giggling late into the night.) The day of the wedding, you woke up happy and excited, and stayed that way throughout the day. You got your hair done; took pictures with the bridesmaids in matching bathrobes; got dressed; wore your fancy headband; followed instructions from multiple people, which changed a few times before you actually walked down the aisle; sat (mostly) patiently through the ceremony and Mass; carried a banner back down the aisle, behind the bride and groom; and charmed everyone with your smile and cuteness. You were also excited about the fact that Greta had to stay with a babysitter while you got to eat dinner with the grownups. (You lasted through dinner and a little dancing--and then crashed, sobbing in Daddy's arms as he took you back to the room, where the babysitter put an exhausted you to bed.)
It was a lovely wedding, and you were such a star, and I really think you'll remember this forever.
The other big news is that I finally told you we're sending you to a different preschool this fall. All summer, I've avoided any mention of it, but lately you've been missing school and your little friends, asking when you're going back to school, and so on, and I just couldn't hide it any longer. I talked to you about all the fun elements of your new school, your new teacher's name, the little boy you're friends with who'll be in your class, and promised we'd have playdates with your friends from your old school. You took it in stride and seem unfazed. I'm sending you to a one-week camp at the new school so you get familiar with it before the school year starts, but I'm feeling much better about the transition.
In other news--you're acting more kid-like all the time, doing kid-like things, saying hilarious things all the time. When we were making clothespin mermaids this week, your mermaid had a tail but I hadn't yet drawn on her face, and you were making her swim around while saying, "I can swim! I can swim but I can't see! I can't seeee!" Too funny. You've been wearing the mermaid tail Aunt Katherine got you nearly all day, every day. You're in a real mermaid phase right now, have been for a while, and the clothespin mermaids have been a lot of fun. We worked on them today for a solid two hours. (Of course, by the end it was me and the glue gun, finishing them up, while you and Greta spread out all the porch-furniture pillows to make a "pillow patio," but no matter.)
You would prefer to eat nothing but snacks, but sometimes you'll eat your whole dinner and then ask for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich--so you're definitely growing. You wear a 5T and a size 10 shoe. You go to sleep around 8:30pm and get up around 7:30am.
Favorite toys/activities: clothespin mermaids, mermaid anything, Li'l Me dolls, Barbie-size princesses, Magiclip princesses, Playmobil animals, coloring, drawing pictures, arranging things in rainbow colors, large quantities of anything, bubbles, bubble machine
Favorite books: Twelve Dancing Princesses, Berenstain Bears, Three Little Horses, Frog and Toad, The Mousery, Father Bear Comes Home, Mercy Watson books
Comments