Honor Thy Mother and Father (For Grandma Brenda)

A week or two ago, Finley was causing trouble while getting ready for school.  She wouldn't brush her teeth, she wouldn't put on her clothes, she wouldn't let me brush her hair, etc.  At one point, when I asked her to do something she didn't want to do, she swatted at me and said, "You're mean!"  I told her, "Oh, no!  Jesus is watching and he does not like when you hit your mother!"  Finley said, "How do you know?"  I said that it was in the Bible.  Finley said, "I don't believe you.  I'm gonna read it with Daddy tonight and see."  I said, "I KNOW it is in the Bible.  It says 'Honor your mother and father,' and that means you can't hit them or call them names.  I had to honor my mother.  I couldn't hit her or call her names."  Finley said, "Yeah, but your mother was nice!"

First Grader Finley!

Finley Vi started first grade in the exact opposite way she started kindergarten.  She had her outfit picked out the night before, she woke up excited, and she practically left without giving me a hug!  It was as if it was just another day in the life :)  Since starting first grade, she has had math homework every night and she's supposed to read 20 minutes 5 days a week. While this seems like insanity to this old mom, tonight, I almost cried when she asked to do her homework and said she wanted to do it in case she forgets to do it later.  When she showed me that her packet was getting harder with every page, I said, "Whoa!  That looks like it's getting harder," and she said, "It is!  I love it!"  She's doing math facts by herself for fun and reading very difficult books to me at night and it is just completely obvious that she is extremely intelligent.  Tonight, she told me her library code was "so complicated!" but, of course, she rattled it off as easy as pie.  She continues to notice every little detail of everything - cars, neighbors, people at her school, you name it - which makes me think of my little infant crawling around on the floor examining every single little pebble and item out of place. She's been sleeping on the full mattress in her bedroom most nights - of course, I have to lay down with her, but it only takes 10 minutes for her to fall asleep these days as compared with the hours it used to take.  Maybe my favorite moment of the last month was when we went to my coworker, Alison's, house.  Alison took us on a tour of her house which is filled with her art.  When another coworker came later, she gave the tour again, and Finley asked if she could take it again because she just thought "it was so interesting."  We also found out recently that, not only is Finley going to get twin cousins from Josh and Jill, but her honorary Aunties, Paige and Nanny, are going to be Mommies!  When she asked if I was going to go to their legal wedding ceremony in Octobeer, I told her no because I was saving money to visit the baby in the spring.  My cautious and worried daughter asked how long it would take to drive (implying that she wanted to come).  When I told her it would take too long, she asked if she could fly and sit in the aisle so she didn't have to look out the window and see down.  This, as you all know, is a HUGE step!  While Finley definitely has her moments (there was an instance last week where soap and a mouth may have been mentioned and may or may not have been carried out...), she is really my dream - smart, beautiful, talented, deep...We are blessed!