Birthday Party. Every week or so Brigit decides it is the birthday of one of her toys. This week was no exception. It was Sarah the Reindeer’s turn. So far we have made and wrapped for her two presents. Decorations were made and put up, playing with how many rings need to be added to a loop chain to get the perfect amount of ‘drop’ for it. Then a cake was baked and decorated. Sarah was a bit stoic about the whole thing, but we had fun!

Renaissance Festival. Days at festivals are always long and dusty. Whether it is dry or rainy there is a layer of dirt on all bodies. Knowing this, we go without worrying about such things and the expectation of a Brigit nap on the way home. This past weekend was as expected. Brigit wanted to do they bungee bounce, the pirate ship swing and anything else that caused thrills. We ate meat on sticks and frozen fruity stuff and unfrozen fruity stuff. Brigit’s first tooth even came out in some of the frozen fruity stuff! We watched artists paint and sculptors sculpt and performers perform. Brigit walked around with her mouth half open. Not to mention a grandma, multiple great aunts, a great uncle, an aunt and some of our lovely young friends who were experiencing the festival for the first time. There was also face painting, hair braiding, turtle races, elephant riding and parade watching. I am tired just writing about it. They great thing about these festivals is that so much is going on, the cell phone reception is horrible and the creativity is overflowing. Brigit always follows the experience with a wealth of ideas and spurts of imagination. They are wonderful! A few weeks ago she spend a bunch of her money on a new toy, but set some money aside for this festival. She carefully decided what to purchase, but ended up deciding against it. It did not hurt her pocketbook to refrain, for there is so much to entertain by just watching, and having a grandma around to make purchases does not hurt either. We were inundated with spells from her new wand. She got frustrated after the tenth time she tried to stupefy my and I did not freeze. her brain was full of the world of Harry Potter from our recent chapter reading and it was fun to watch her role play as the day progressed. There is another festival in the fall, and I will be curious to see what she remembers then.

Home Care. As with any child, Brigit considers chores around the house are a bit boring, and rarely on a list of top things to do with her time. We attempted to exchange effort for funds a while back but she wanted nothing to do with it. I must note that a week later she did the chores proposed and was proud to do them without mention of compensation. Something got through so we were happy. Learning to contribute to the household is important, but not something we want to force to strongly, for a kid should be a kid. She is always up for sweeping and folding laundry or fixing things, so it is a reasonable start. As for the kitchen it is naturally contradictory to Brigit helping, what with all the high cabinets and breakables. We don’t refuse her help in the kitchen, but do so is frustrating for her so is a lesson in patience. Brigit works on putting things away and cleaning, and we have a policy of using what we have (so breaks and damage is no issue), but she still gets tired of the up and down. When she shows interest in cleaning, or learning how, we embrace it. When she wants to sit and not help she is made aware it will take longer (kinda) and makes a choice between helping and more time with us doing something else. Making choices on how time is spent is important and will be something she does all her life. Time versus money, money versus time…

Care and Feeding of Rollie Pollies. In her continued quest to provide complete habitats for anything that fits in a jar, Brigit absconded with a plastic food container, filled it with stuff from the back yard, then added rollie pollies and poop. Her uncle was not impressed with her bringing it in and putting it on the kitchen counter next to his lunch, but they were attentively cared for until released. I expect another collection of bugs soon, for Brigit is out foraging for ‘something more interesting than rollie pollies’ right now! Maybe something that does not eat poop?

Music. Since seeing the movie Momma Mia last year Brigit has been an admirer of ABBA. Multiple times each week, this one being no different, she disappeared with my phone and found their music. I soon here it blasting out of my phone and Brigit is swinging and twisting her body, singing along at the top of her voice. Like me, she seems to have an uncanny ability to remember song lyrics.Kinda funny listening to her sing lyrics she has no understanding of – unrequited love, infidelity, etc. Another interesting aspect of music is along the same vein. When we are driving around and different songs come on the radio she asks me ‘what is this song about?’ and inevitably the answer has something to do with love, hate, happiness, sadness, angst of all kinds. This week Brigit asked why all the songs are about feelings. I asked her the question back. She thought for a moment and said, ‘people think about how they feel a lot, because it is something that they cannot control’. Well, that ended up starting a long conversation. Yay pop music!

Minecraft. Oh heck what a discovery! About six months ago I set up Minecraft Pocket Edition on Brigit’s tablet. She poked around a bit and created waaaay too many pigs, but soon lost interest. Since then she has focused on building things with crystal climbers and Legos. After spending time with playmates that played the game she returned attention to it, then during our recent road trip the wide world of creating got more complex. When I loaded the app on my tablet there was even more attention. Her brain exploded with ideas and plans, while having much fear about ‘survival mode’. My brother is a fan of the game and has much deeper knowledge than me. The difference between him and me is that he has actually played it before. I am still quite a fledgeling along with Brigit. The nuances between creative and survival are becoming clear to Brigit through daily sessions with her uncle. He loves having something to teach her and she is soaking it in! I could dive in and figure it all out, but when you have an uncle with prowess why would she need me?! I have no desire whatsoever to be the one stop shop for all that she is interested in. I am sitting back and letting her teach me as she figures stuff out – a role reversal. We both have tablets that can connect on the network, so it works out great. She is so excited to teach me something. I would like to say I play stupid so she can have more opportunities to teach me, but it is not an act.

Park visits. Kids in our new Texas neighborhood are kinda mean so far. Brigit walks up to them, smiles and introduces herself. So far, kids look at her strangely and proceed like she is not there. WTF? A couple of times there was an ‘alpha’ kid who straight out told her they did not like her. How dare Brigit propose a game of tag? We had extensive conversations about individuals choosing how and with whom they spend their time, and how she has the choice as much as them. The concept is still sinking in to the open and welcoming mind of my lovely girl, but reality sucks sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, she has found some sweet playmates. I just hope the good and bad experiences are getting the warranted amount of time in her busy brain.

Roller skating rink. She and I packed up our roller skates and went to the local rink for a three hour open skate session. Again, she tried to converse with kids her age, but they were soon called to a birthday party set up in the concession area. In their absence and wanting to expand her skating prowess, she sought out other people. She ended connecting with an older woman who was just learning to skate, encouraging her to keep trying and showing her how to ‘glide’. Another connection she made was with a young lady about 12 or 13. Brigit has evolved with roller skating since she got her skates in December. She is pretty smooth and is getting faster. What she saw at the roller rink this week was skating backwards and doing spins and swirls by the young lady. She sooo wanted to learn it. I am just figuring out how to skate again (with a wonky left skate, by the way) so I was not the person to try and show her. She introduced herself to the young lady and asked a bunch of questions. I have no idea what the conversation entailed, but I did observe about thirty minutes of intense conversations between Brigit and the young lady about skating as they rolled around the rink. Before we left they shared a big hug. I expect that next week’s session will be more intense with a few more bruises than this week. I love watching Brigit constantly seeking more skill and pushing herself to learn, as well as finding resources to do so. I am glad to be of help, but feel no need to force anything upon her, no matter how much I have the tendency (and it is definitely there!). The miracle (or not so much) was that Big D joined us for a second session. He has not skated for 30 years, but laced up those tan and orange rentals and rolled away! As with me, getting back on the wheels was quite nostalgic, and he is thinking of getting his very own pair.

Lego Adventure. I know this place is an elaborate ploy in a large metropolitan area to encourage the purchase of a play building supplies provided by a huge corporation. We went anyway. It had rides and a water play area too, so the attraction to Brigit was inevitable. We spent a few fun hours exploring the space. Most of her time was spent building and testing cars on a race track and in the water play area (no surprise). Until thunder and lightning forced us inside, Brigit spent a pleasant chunk of time with a new found friend hunting ladybugs and protecting them from the spraying water. Don’t be deceived – the picture reflects a look of joy not terror. Hard to tell by she just got squirted during a chase. I too found a new friend – in the mother of the other girl, which always makes future activities more pleasant. The place encouraged Brigit to exercise in the climbing playscape inside and water park outside. She was able to build to her heart’s content and, of course, came home with a little kit to build and keep. As a result of getting her first Lego set last Christmas Brigit has been inspired to build build build! She has taken to breaking down already built things lately, sending us to the internet and library to research architecture and structures, they trying to recreate them. We spent an hour at a construction site last week so she could just watch the workers prepare frames and rebar for pouring concrete. I am excited to see where this interest takes us next!