Travelingjenny

Grace has been waking up pretty consistently around 5:30am for the past two weeks. This is NOT a good thing for any of us. The odd thing is that she doesn’t seem tired as she goes through the day, but she has also been consistently taking an approximately one-hour nap. This morning, after being awakened by Grace at 5:15, and then by Tess at 5:30 (although Tess went back to sleep for two hours), I decided that this early morning nonsense simply MUST stop – so that I have may have any chance at all of clinging to my sanity. I came to the conclusion that the early morning wake-up call is taking a harder toll on my ability to cope with the day than a napless afternoon would. And so the ‘no nap’ experiment was born. It is only logical that if she does not take an afternoon nap, Gracie will require more sleep at night – right? I’ll keep you posted.

Of course, I still need some kind of afternoon break to regain my composure and regroup for the hours before Adam comes home. So, I told Grace that she had to have quiet time – she had to stay in her room for 30 minutes – and she had to be quiet. If she could do this, she would be permitted to watch one of her taped shows at the conclusion of the 30-minute period. Much to my surprise, she stayed in her room – quietly – for the entire time. When I went upstairs to release her, Grace was wearing polka-dot tights – and nothing else. And her dress-up clothes were strewn about her room. I asked what she had been up to, and she replied: “I decorated my room for Valentine’s Day.” Oh, of course. And then she explained: “I waved my magic wand and my clothes flew were I wanted them to go.” Ah yes, it was a ‘no nap’ miracle.

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On Sunday, Gracie had her first soccer practice – and she loved it. Even though she is about 6 inches shorter than the rest of the “munchkin” players, and is one of only two girls out of ten kids, she really seemed to have fun. Not only did it involve running around and playing games, she also made a new friend (typical Grace), and she got to have bonding time with her daddy. Playing soccer is a very big deal to her, and she has been looking forward to it for a long time. On Monday, she went to Meeting for Worship at school, and the Head of School asked if anyone had anything to share. Confident little Grace raised her hand and told the entire school that she had played soccer for the first time, and that “the white team won one goal.” Grace was on the white team, however, it was actually the blue team that scored a goal. I guess all of that stuff about “it’s not who wins or loses that matters, it’s how you play the game” comes a little later!

It is cold here. Really cold. And there is a lot of snow. I hate to say this, but I really don’t like winter. I don’t like that we can’t spend all afternoon outside playing. Or that we have to bring our jackets into the kitchen to warm up twenty minutes before we go anywhere because our entryway has no heat. I also don’t like having to spend ten minutes bundling the girls up just to walk out to the car. However, our surroundings are beautiful when covered with a blanket of fresh snow. And I love Gracie’s enthusiasm for making snow angels and footprints in the snow, and for rolling down the mountain of snow built by the plow. And who doesn’t enjoy warming up with a mug of hot cocoa by the fireplace? So I guess winter isn’t really so bad after all. How can you hate it when you have an adorable snow angel of your own to enjoy the season with? (And don’t worry, Tess, next year you’ll like playing in the snow, too!)