Trynie and Me

Tryn's homework for the past week has been to write out Valentine's Day cards for all her classmates. We have been working on them, a few everyday. We got Princess cards for the girls and Cars cards for the boys and last night Tryn was working on the boys cards after dinner.

She got to the name Felong and told Steve, "This boy is cute." Uh oh.

Steve didn't really know what to do, so he told me. And he said, "She can't mean that kind of cute, she's only five!"

So I asked her, "Tryn, do you think he is cute like Kye is cute? Or do you think he is cute like handsome cute?"

Her answer, said with the shyest of smiles, "I think he's handsome cute."

I thought Steve was going to just fall right over then and there.

I think it's funny. Unfortunately, this is an area in which I just cannot identify with Tryn. I was such a different little girl. I was thoroughly convinced that boys were plain old lame until I was about 14 years old. Although there weren't a lot of boys around as options, I don't think I would have cared if there was. I just didn't care.

Add that to the fact that I watched Tryn get dressed herself the other day and it was yet another eye opener for me. She put on a pair of pants and then picked out a skirt - pants with a skirt are her signature thing, stemming from the days where we used to fight about the fact that you actually can't walk around with bare legs when it's less than 70 degrees outside...which is a majority of the year here in Minnesota. Anyway, she picked out a skirt and then added a shirt. Then looked in the mirror for awhile, took off the skirt, and got a different one. Then looked in the mirror for awhile again, then took off her shirt and put on a different one.

I don't think I ever put that much thought into clothes when I was five. Again, something that I didn't care about until I was 12 or 13 years old. Seriously, one of my favorite shirts when I was 9 years old was a shirt that I found at Fleet Farm and wanted for my birthday. Looking back now I realize that it was one of those shirts that people over 70 usually wear. It was a regular sweatshirt with a big horse head on the front and, marking feature, it had a white lace-ish type collar around the neck. I loved it because it had a horse on it and I had no idea what style was. Tryn talks a lot about wanting to look pretty or cute. I was hoping we wouldn't have to deal with things like that for a few more years.

Finally, the other night we had already put #2 and #3 to bed as they were sick with fevers and Tryn was the only one still up. Steve asked her who she wanted to bring her up to bed, mommy or daddy. After going back and forth for a few minutes, she had to "eenie, meenie, minie, mo" the decision and ended up with daddy. She came to give me a hug and said, "Don't worry Mom, next time I will pick you," like she was worried that she had hurt my feelings!

She is so in tune with things that I am sure I didn't think of when I was her age, and sometimes still don't. I love these things about her, they make her a fascinating kid and a ton of fun to talk to...but sometimes I just feel so lost when I realize the things that are going through her mind.

Jesus, please help me be a good mother to this girl that I often don't understand.

There are a few things that Trynie and I do have in common. We both love quality time with the people that we love. We both can get lost for hours working on creative or artistic projects. We both love books and neither of us are/were the type of kids who could play outside for hours on end, although we both love the beach. We both love fruit, ice cream, and desserts in general.

Jesus, please help me to be a good mother to this sweet, sweet girl. Help me to be the kind of mother that she needs, even when I don't know what or who that looks like.