In April, we went to a wedding. At some point in the reception, one of the groomsmen came up to me and asked if I was the blond girl's mom. He told me that he had a conversation with her about aquatic life and about ten minutes into it he realized that he had never had such a long conversation with someone so young. He wanted to know what our parenting secret was. I shared my truthful opinion. I have no secret, and I don't take credit for her ability to talk like a mini adult.
My parenting philosophy for D'arcy is to get out of her way and sort of yell behind "don't forget the details!" I worry, though, that every time I tell her to brush her hair properly, sort her enormous stack of journals shoved in her home locker, or take a minute to check her spelling, I'm killing her creativity. And, yeah, that's pretty dramatic. Then I think that maybe that's what she needs a mom for because really, clean, untangled hair is kind of important.
This summer we went to South Carolina, and the first beautiful day in the ocean, D'arcy approached Stephen and asked him to baptize her right then and there. Stephen shared with her what he believed about baptism and asked if she was on the same page, and then he baptized her.
She went to church camp in July and came home sharing that she had been baptized in the Holy Spirit. She still makes it clear that she is bored in church every Sunday, though. She lays down in the pew like we are horrible parents for expecting her to sit still and listen for an hour.
The other day she came home from school and said that she looked up the meaning of her name. D'arcy means dark she told us. She didn't think this described her. Jacquelyn meant beautiful and funny and smart. I'm not sure where she was getting her information, but she and her friend agreed that was a super good description of her. She doesn't seem to be lacking in confidence.
She wears a lot of clothes passed down from cousins. There was a stack of training bras passed down and we agreed that she could start wearing them as soon as she turned ten. The morning of her birthday, she spent ten minutes digging in her closet to find them. She is eager to grow up.
For her birthday, D'arcy wanted to go horseback riding. Stephen and I drove her down to Brown County and we all rode a horse through the woods. She wasn't nervous, and she wasn't tentative when she smacked those horse flies. She was eager to get the horse trotting, too.
On the evening of her birthday, we had some of our neighbors over for cake and ice cream. It was a mini party.
My mom bought one of those rubber band bracelet making kits. She sits up in her penthouse (top bunk) and creates all kinds of random things with those rubber bands.
My parenting philosophy for D'arcy is to get out of her way and sort of yell behind "don't forget the details!" I worry, though, that every time I tell her to brush her hair properly, sort her enormous stack of journals shoved in her home locker, or take a minute to check her spelling, I'm killing her creativity. And, yeah, that's pretty dramatic. Then I think that maybe that's what she needs a mom for because really, clean, untangled hair is kind of important.
This summer we went to South Carolina, and the first beautiful day in the ocean, D'arcy approached Stephen and asked him to baptize her right then and there. Stephen shared with her what he believed about baptism and asked if she was on the same page, and then he baptized her.
She went to church camp in July and came home sharing that she had been baptized in the Holy Spirit. She still makes it clear that she is bored in church every Sunday, though. She lays down in the pew like we are horrible parents for expecting her to sit still and listen for an hour.
The other day she came home from school and said that she looked up the meaning of her name. D'arcy means dark she told us. She didn't think this described her. Jacquelyn meant beautiful and funny and smart. I'm not sure where she was getting her information, but she and her friend agreed that was a super good description of her. She doesn't seem to be lacking in confidence.
She wears a lot of clothes passed down from cousins. There was a stack of training bras passed down and we agreed that she could start wearing them as soon as she turned ten. The morning of her birthday, she spent ten minutes digging in her closet to find them. She is eager to grow up.
For her birthday, D'arcy wanted to go horseback riding. Stephen and I drove her down to Brown County and we all rode a horse through the woods. She wasn't nervous, and she wasn't tentative when she smacked those horse flies. She was eager to get the horse trotting, too.
On the evening of her birthday, we had some of our neighbors over for cake and ice cream. It was a mini party.
My mom bought one of those rubber band bracelet making kits. She sits up in her penthouse (top bunk) and creates all kinds of random things with those rubber bands.
I LOVE Maggie's expression! She is so happy for her sister! Such loving kids!
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