Scarlett, in Kindergarten

Dear Scarlett,

Today your lost your third tooth, although lost isn't very accurate because you really really wanted it gone, and it was hanging down 'all wonky' and flipping around, so we tied a string to it and pulled.  It's your first upper tooth to go.  I wish I could post a picture of your quirky and beautiful smile, but you weren't ready for us to take a picture.  You need to get used to the tooth being gone for a few days first, you said.

You like to name things.  The tooth is "toothy" and a little chick you sewed at school is "cheepy" and the golf ball you found last weekend was "golfy". 

You were home sick from school today, so you and daddy finished reading The Hobbit.  You and I have been reading the Series of Unfortunate Events books and you love them, sometimes you're a little frightened but you like feeling that way.  So far we've ready four of them.  You'd sit on the couch all day reading with us, if that were an option.  You bring a book to the dinner table, and to the bathtub.

I slept on the floor of your room last night, because you were sick and needed mama close by.   It was uncomfortable but it reminded me of when you first moved into your crib in another room, and we slept on the floor next to you for a while.

You like to wear our kitchen colander on your head, tied with pipe cleaners.  Sometimes you tie wooden spoons to your legs and call it armor.  You love to play Life.  You love the spot near the bushes by our house that you call your hideout.  You love Legos and climbing up the side of our porch, in a move that makes my stomach drop.  You are my big girl and I love you tremendously. I am so proud to be your mama.

Emily

Thousand Chain

Scarlett's teachers sent this picture, of her finished a project called 'the thousand chain'.  It's a counting and math work where the student lays out beads by tens and then hundreds and does counting along the way.  Each yellow square is a collection of 100 beads.  The blue marks indicate 10.  She told me she spent most the day on it, and she was really excited after school that afternoon. 

Scar-ism

"Back in the war times, people didn't have cars"

Day of the Dead: Scarlett style

We had a long discussion about why her mouth and chin weren't painted.  You have a runny nose, I  said. It will not be pretty.  But, she countered, the kids in the pictures online all have their mouths painted.