Braggart
(Photos to come as soon as blogger decides to be a cooperative blogging site.)
braggart [ˈbrægət]
n
adj boastful a person who boasts loudly or exaggeratedly; bragger
I'll admit it. I'm a bit of a braggart when it comes to my kid. I don't know that I do it loudly or exaggeratedly, but I brag on her. The fact is, she's a great kid. When she was between 18 months and 2, I had trouble bragging on her. People would say, "How is Gabby?" My response was usually, "cranky and challenging," with a roll of the eyes. Looking back, that's not the most loving reply I could have given, but it was what I was feeling at the time.
Many friends have told me that the age of 3 in girls is harder than 2. For Gabby, I have to disagree. 3 is wonderful! Sure, with her new-found vocabulary, she is learning how to talk back to us and add "tone" to her words, but overall, she is super and here is why... (Hey, I told you I was a braggart.)
1. Gabby is very dedicated to pleasing both Kenton and me. I like this about her, but at the same time, I don't ever want her fear of disapproval to overshadow her honesty with us. We try to really praise her for honesty.
2. The kid has the BEST sense of humor for a 3-yr-old. She cracks me up on a daily basis. It's not just that she is silly, but she is really funny! For instance, when eating pudding or yogurt, she likes put it all over her lips and then look at me and say, "Mommy, is there something on my face?" The child is just funny. No doubt about it.
3. She is interested in so many different things. While she loves to use her imagination playing princesses and dolls, she also loves to dig in the dirt, ride on tractors, play with train sets, play computer games and the Wii, work on preschool activities, do crafts, read her books, go to the playground, ride her bike, kick a soccer ball, throw a baseball, etc. I think she just loves life itself.
4. Gabrielle has such a high desire to read. I am not sure why this is, but she really wants to be able to read. She will pull out her preschool activity books all the time to work on letters, tracing, sequencing, cutting, and more. She has a few computer activities that work on letters and asks to play them frequently. Lately her favorite thing has been to rearrange the letter magnets on our fridge to spell out words. She can sound out and read words that end in "ad" and "at" like "cat, bat, hat, bad, mad, lad, glad" and "dad." I'm not sure where she gained the ability to sound words out and then smoosh those sounds together so quickly, but I will often hear, "Mmm....aaaaa......duh." Mad! I'm amazed at how she doesn't have to sound a word out multiple times to hear what it really is. Let's hope once she does learn how to read that she actually enjoys it and can make time for it.
5. She loves to make cards and things for other people. Often I will be busy doing something and I will hear, "Mommy, can I go make a card for grandpa?" or "Mommy, I made a card for Mamaw!" I recently made the construction paper available to her at all times (which has been good and bad of course), but she usually will fold it over and draw a few people on her cards along with her name. She has "Gabby" down pat (although sometimes it doesn't go straight in a line - she curves it downward when she writes it). Now we are working on Gabrielle. Poor kid HAD to have such a long name.
6. Gabby has the greatest laugh. I always thought this, but many other people have said the same thing about her. When you get her really rolling, this full-bellied laugh comes out and it is just hilarious and infectious!
7. She tells me that she loves me at least 5 times a day, but it is usually more like 10-15. What parent doesn't love to hear that? Someday as she gets older, that repetition will end and I won't hear those 3 little words as often. I was always surprised to hear my high school students on the cell phones with their parents. Many of them ended conversations with "I love you." I hope Gabby will be one of those high school kids someday! (Who am I kidding really? She'll probably have a cell phone by the time she is in fifth grade at the rate kids get technology these days!)
8. Gabby is maternal. I'm not sure how a child is born with the maternal instinct, but she has it. She is very loving, gentle, caring, and sweet with little babies. She is also very nurturing with her friends and family, especially if someone is sad or hurt. She always wants to help make someone feel better. Maybe one day she'll become a nurse or doctor, although she has already told me that she is going to be a teacher "like Mommy." I wouldn't doubt that either!
9. She is very social. She wants to talk to any and everyone. I have no idea who she got this from. Ahem. When at the store, she always has to talk to the cashier about what we are buying, where she is going, and what she has been doing. Usually in exchange for her jibber-jabber, the cashiers at the grocery will throw a few stickers her way. Gabby loves any kind of sticker, so that's just the icing on the cake for her. When I am on the phone, she always wants to talk to my friends and family, too. She will grab the phone from me, then go walk around the room talking like SHE was the one who made the phone call to begin with. Such a stinker.
10. Her preschool teachers love her. I can say that because no one in her preschool class reads this blog! Haha. They do. It's true. And she loves them in return! They are wonderful teachers and really pay attention to all of the kids individually. They have commented that Gabby's Thursday class is a "challenging" bunch (aka...group of rowdy kids who misbehave), but that Gabby is never an issue. One teacher told me that Gabby will get wide eyes when they tell the class to "knock it off" if they are being particularly challenging and then they look at her and say, "Oh, not you. You are fine!" She has also been labeled the "peacemaker" in her class since apparently she is always nurturing her friends and giving up toys if another child wants to play with something she has. I told her that sharing is wonderful, but she doesn't HAVE to give up a toy she was playing with just because another child is crying for it. Hey, I'm not raising a pushover here! Instead, we have been talking a lot about taking turns and being fair.
11. Bedtime. I really don't like bedtime. I don't like the whole routine. I don't enjoy bath time normally. There, I said it. I know bath time is supposed to be some sort of ritualistic bonding time. Have we had that during baths before? Sure! Gabby loves the bath, but Kenton is so much better at doing bath time than I am. I try to be patient and play with her, but my brain is telling me, "Ugh. I'm tired. We've been together all day. Can we speed this whole process up?" What I do love about bedtime is when I begin to close Gabby's door after she is all clean and tucked in. I hear a beautiful little voice that says, "I love you! I'll see you in the morning!" Still makes me tear up.
So call me a braggart. Call me a bragging parent. Call my daughter annoying because she is so cute (we all know she is...remember, I'm a braggart). Whatever you call us, just remember that we are simply a loving mommy and loving daughter. And with love, comes a lot of admiration.
posted by Emily at 8:02 AM
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