In my previous blog entry, I noted that Chloe was never a big cuddler. I still stand by that statement, but yesterday I witnessed a miracle. I don’t know if there was cuddling in the air the other night after I wrote my little story about hugging, but when Chloe returned home after a couple of nights at Grammy’s, she came into my room and proceeded to join me in bed where I was reading.
And before I could yell “Is this a joke?” Chloe was cuddling me. A genuine, full-blown cuddle. That lasted for a couple of minutes, which is a record for her. She hadn’t even read my last blog entry – so there was no calculated political move on her part to compete with her sister in an area where Sophie truly has no competition.
I was amazed. It was as if I had sent my Chloe irresistible cuddling vibes as I was writing about it the other night. Don’t get me wrong – I have absolutely no expectation that the moment will ever be replicated again. But it sure was nice while it lasted.
I love to cuddle with my baby Sophie. She is the best cuddle monkey. Chloe never liked to hug or cuddle when she was four years old. She had that stubborn independent streak going from the time she came out of my womb.
Sophie, on the other hand, is an altogether different story. I think she likes to cuddle with me as much as I like to cuddle with her. She’s even promised me, on several occasions no less, to give me hugs and kisses when she’s all grown up.
You can bet that I’m going to hold her to that promise. Consider yourself on notice, little one. I expect your cuddles to continue into adulthood and beyond. The cuddles are starting to get a little more challenging – I can barely carry her anymore. But she’ll happily join me on the couch or in bed for big hugs. And I just adore those hugs. I hope they never end.
We’re having one of our rare Sophie weekends. Chloe is at Grammy’s until Sunday and we have our little one all to ourselves. So far, so fun.
When I told Sophie where her big sister was, I expected a bit of an outburst. She frowned a little bit, but when I told her that she would have her own special time with Grammy in a couple of weeks, the frown quickly turned into a big smile.
I left work early and when we got home, we played some “Mommy Bear, Kid Bear” and walked to the local pizza joint for dinner (her choice). Tomorrow’s main event is a little “Shrek 4.” She can’t wait.
All of the activity and attention apparently tired her out. She’s already in bed for the night – it’s 7:46 pm. And it’s quiet. This weekend is starting off great.
Chloe loved her creative writing class so much that she asked me to continue giving her assignments. The theme of the class was “a picture is worth a thousand words” and the teacher used works of art to get the kids’ creative juices flowing.
I decided to go with the most famous painting in the world for her first post-class story. The Mona Lisa. Mysterious, intriguing, that smile that’s not a smile. And hell, she’s part owner of the painting now, since it belongs to the people of France. Without revealing too much about the plot Chloe devised (I’ll post it to the blog in the next few days), let’s just say that my 9-year old resolved the mystery of who the Mona Lisa was by providing a compelling back story.
She completed the story this evening. And I’ve already given her the next assignment. We have time traveled from the beginning of the 16th century to the mid-20th century and World War II. Piet Mondrian’s “Broadway Boogie Woogie” will provide new inspiration for Chloe’s creative endeavors. And if she’d like to see it in person, she won’t have to travel to Paris. MoMA, here we come!
She’s having a week, our little Sophie. Perpetual cranky pants. Not getting enough sleep. Crying, yelling and crying some more when she realizes that she’s been yelling and yelling is wrong. This is the Sophie I would have expected in the terrible two phase. Not in the “four is so cute” phase.
Still too young to control her tears. Scaring herself a little bit with her outbursts, I suspect. Which gets her more upset. Ah, the vicious catch-22 of childhood.
Papa took her outside to play and she started to feel better. I even heard her laugh. And after laughing a bit, she felt good enough to give her dad a wet willy. Now that’s the Sophie bear we know and love.
Chloe recently won an art contest – on the theme of “Peace Begins With Me.” There were 12 winners – all in grades 3-5 – and their drawings will appear in a 2011 calendar put out by a local not-for-profit organization.
That Chloe’s illustration was chosen out of 343 entries (!) makes us very proud.
Now, if she were to extend her message to peace at home (and with her sister), that would be a real achievement. I’m feeling hopeful – she had an argument with a friend today and wrote the friend a lovely poem to apologize. Unfortunately, when she went to his house to deliver the message, he was getting ready for bed. Which upset her all over again! As I told her, life is never easy. And sometimes it tests our patience. But tomorrow is a new day, and she can give him the note then, if she decides it’s not too late. The travails of childhood…
Sophie is jealous of the letter ‘e’. Because it’s more common than the letter ‘s’ and her name starts with ‘s’. For a few minutes earlier this evening, as she was writing a note to one of her teachers, she realized that the sentence contained more Es than Ss. She was inconsolable. Seriously, tears and everything. Not the crocodile kind, but the real kind.
Keep your finger on the volume button after you press play. The girls loved this work of art at Grounds for Sculpture the other day. It gave me a headache, but I plugged my ears and smiled as they banged away at the chimes.
