Rachel These Days

It amazes me how rapidly Rachel continues to develop these days. The biggest thrill is how she recognizes words. She is not even six yet and some of the words she has figured out have to be far beyond what is expected for her age.

The downside of this, of course, is we can no longer spell words we don't want to say in front of her. She is more than capable of figuring them out.

Our daughter still has the penchant for the dramatic and at times, hyperbole. Curses by both parents with a sweet tooth, or perhaps an entire mouth of them, she has developed a little bit of a stomach. Today, we couldn't get her pants buttoned without her complaining of discomfort. She told us she was going to get a nosebleed because the pants were so tight! She has since gone to school in a skirt instead.

Another example of her sweet tooth. The other day, the Temple had a series of Hanukkah projects for young children. One was to make an edible menorah out of graham crackers, marshmellows, pretzels, some sort of miniature candy and an unidentifiable material that looked to be cross among butter, vanilla extract and meringue. We were limited to fifteen minutes at each project station, so we only got three candles done. Rachel ate her menorah before her mom even had a chance to see it, giving a whole new meaning to the term "light lunch."

By the time the session was over, Rachel was cruising on a sugar high of epic proportions, running around the room, jumping on dad, things like that. Later in the day, she went to our neighbor Christina's house to help bake Christmas cookies. We had to stage an intervention to "bring her down" before school the next day.

These days, the R in Rachel's first name might as well stand for "R" gumenative. Sometimes, I think she just wants to hear herself argue. As a result, I have developed what all parents call "the look." I look at her a certain way and if it doesn't trigger the "off" switch, at least I can get a "pause" for a second or two. The funniest thing is when I give her the look or she is admonished for something and she just heads for the corner and stands there. There is a sense of right or wrong in our 5-year-old.

In fact, when we ask her how school was, she'll often respond, "I didn't make it to step one today." Step one is a gentle reminder from her teacher. Step two is timeout. Step three is a trip to another teacher's toom. Step four is a trip to Headmistress Becky Hunt. When Rachel admits she made step one or rarely step two and you ask what she did, she usually answers in this timid, hushed voice "I don't know." It's usually for talking or not staying put, but it may take time to extract that information.

Still, she loves learning. She knows she will be six in three weeks or so. I recently gave her a Toys R Us catalogue and had her circle what interested in. I've learned from that. Next year, I will have her circle what doesn't interest her. It won't take as long. For the record, Disney Princesses and dogs are very big this year. She loves chihuahuas. We continue to hope another breed becomes her favorite soon.

All we need is a child on a sugar high arguing with us, with a chihuahua yapping behind her. Serenity now!