Gracie Girl

Time for a little post on our Gracie Girl.  Spunky - that's pretty much the best word to describe her...along with wild, sassy, whiny, goofy, loving, and smart.  I've tried to include pictures in this post, that show these sides of her.

Grace has, by far, the most personality of all our kids so far - I probably say this mostly because I find her so hard to predict.  She and I either get along amazingly well, or we really butt heads.  She is our strong-willed and stubborn one, and, even though this is maybe an over-used phrase, she is definitely a "second-child."  Grace has grown up a lot in the last six months - she's gotten so much more independent with getting ready in the morning, is overall more eager to help, has developed more patience, and is a better listener.  However, she is still loses a ridiculous amount of stuff (not because it's lost but because she's the most non-observant person ever), is extremely demanding, gets her feelings hurt really easily, and likes to use a baby voice.  Grace is pretty predictable in one sense:  if she has a meltdown or is getting out-of-control sassy - she needs a break and possibly a nap.  If she spends some time along or just conks out - all will shortly be well.  Grace loves to laugh and to entertain.  She's a crazy dancer and has an expression-filled face!  She is a fantastic sister, eager to please, a total entertainment, and an overall great girl.

Grace's best pals continue to be her sister and brother and Maggie and Elsey.  She talks about a few kids from school a lot, and was absolutely thrilled to get her first official invite to a birthday party (to which Olivia was not also invited).  She loves having sleepovers with Mags and Els, and it's nice because they're together so much, sleepovers aren't really a stressful or (too) crazy experience.  Grace's super excited for her own birthday in a couple months and wants nothing more than to have her birthday party at the gymnastics place in town and to start jazz with Olivia.  Also, apparently she's learning because when we got so fed up with hearing the phrase "I'm not inviting you to my birthday party" every time she'd get mad, we threatened her with no birthday party - she hasn't said it since!  Whew!

Grace loves school!  She's doing really well; reading is going to be much easier for her than it was for Olivia.  Once again, probably a bit of the product of being the second, but she has really strong phonics skills.  She loves doing her daily "Reading Eggs" on the computer, and we usually have to tell her it's time to be done with it.  The teachers had nothing but good things to say about Grace at conferences - she's a good friend, does quality (but fast) work, cooperates/plays well with others, has really solid handwriting, and is learning what she should be.  However, she's also the first kid we've gotten a email home about - a little silliness in the bathroom with her gal pals coupled with denial (aka - lying) about what happened to her teachers.  This was both a humorous and serious situation - the bathroom stuff made me laugh, but the lying was not cool...especially when she told me that she had had a "great" day at school when I asked.  :)  We hashed it out, and overall, it was a good learning experience for us as parents and for her.  I'm glad school has been so positive for Grace - both she and Olivia enjoy seeing each other there and sometimes play together, but it's great to see how they are also independent and have their own friends/activities.

Speaking of activities - Grace loves to be busy.  She likes playing with her doll house a lot, reading books on her own, coloring, playing babies, playing kitchen, playing basketball, and just being active.    She's a pretty imaginative little girls.  She also likes to relax though - her favorite is a good movie with her blanket and her same two fingers stuck in her mouth...although this habit is lessening much more quickly than Olivia's thumb sucking!  Grace enjoys her dance (ballet/tap) but really wants to "be big" and start jazz, as I said earlier.  Grace has mentioned learning to play piano, but as she hasn't been pushing for this, I think we'll hold off.  Grace is relatively competitive, likes to blame her mistakes on others, can be really supportive or totally not, as has the makings of a great athlete - she's really fast and looks like a runner to me!

I'm sure there is plenty more to say, but as it's only a couple months away, her birthday post should cover the rest.  Grace Elizabeth:  undoubtedly, one-of-a-kind (except for the fact that her little brother is showing some distinctly Grace-like traits as of late!).  PS - This is a totally fake frown...can't you see the sparkle in her eye?