Cute Boots

All of the girls got new boots over the past couple of weeks and I love how they reflect their personalities.  Strawberry wanted Ugg knock-offs originally (everyone has them), but she found this pair that was a little more stylish and she had to have them.  She always wears them with skirts or skinny jeans.  She's such a little perfectionist and likes to look put together.  Do they still call this preppy?  She's had some crazy stuff going on at school.  One little boy in her class got caught smoking marijuana in the bathroom.  Yipes!  There's also the "going out" stuff going on.  She was asked out by a boy and just thought that was the weirdest thing.  "Going out means going over to where the trees are and just standing around.  No thank you!"  My sweet little innocent girl.  I love it.  She always has a major crush on some boy or another, but wouldn't dream of actually going out with him.  Ah, elementary romance.  It is weird to see this grade-school drama as the parent, rather than the child.  I realize now how ridiculously young these kids are, but at the time, you think you are so grown up.  She actually got chosen by her teacher to win a trimester award for character.  She was so happy about it.  Last trimester, she had been devastated because her class didn't win a single award.  They are kind of the trouble kids and she has been really frustrated that her class is always getting in trouble.  So it was really nice for the teacher to recognize her.  Anyway, so yes, her boots fit her perfectly.

Apple, on the other hand is crazy and found some hot pink sequined boots that light up when she walks.  They are so her.  She wears them all the time, even though she recently decided that she only wants to wear black shirts and blue jeans.  The black tee she is wearing in this picture is the only black item of clothing that she owns.  Every day that she can't wear that, she has to go through her clothes and figure out what is the next closest thing.  She's so funny.  I can't keep up with her changes.  Half of what she owns, she absolutely refuses to wear because she doesn't like it anymore.  I'm tempted to just let her wear the same thing everyday so I don't have to fight with her about it.  Just this last week though, something seemed to sink in.  She decided that she doesn't like time-outs and groundings and realized that if she does what we ask her, she doesn't have to get in trouble.  She actually ate her veggies at dinner last night without having to be nagged or threatened.  She just scarfed them down first and then got to enjoy the rest of it.  Mango (who does everything Apple does) followed her example.  It was the nicest dinner we've had in months.  

My little Mango got the boots I wanted.  :)  She's definitely a mamma's girl.  I mean, we spend almost all of our time together so it makes sense.  Luke says it's pretty bad when I leave.  I love when I get home from a meeting at night, and she comes sneaking out of her room to say hello and goodnight to me and she is sooo excited to see me.  Although, she's been showing some signs of switching loyalties lately.  The other day, she couldn't get her purse to button and said, "It okay.  Daddy ah do it."  Now, everything that is too hard for her, she says the same thing.  Daddy has become the hero.  Again.  I wonder if it is an age thing.  Because when all of them were babies, I was the best.  Then when they got a little older, they decided Luke was the center of the universe.  But now, Strawberry is actually changing course a little and seems to prefer me a little bit.  I took child psychology when I was 18 so I don't remember if this is established in their brains or something.  I think with Strawberry, though, it's just that I have a lot more time to talk to her and she has a lot of things that she wants to tell me about and learn about and she knows that whatever she asks, I can give her a real answer.  Plus, she's starting to get to that age where she is going to identify more with me than with her dad.  It makes sense.

Anyway, Mango has been changing a lot lately.  She has been actually really grouchy lately and I was praying that it was teething, which has usually been the cause of her prolonged bad moods.  (And they are really bad).   When I was flossing her teeth last night, I saw a tiny molar just starting to peek through.  Yay!  She's not just moody.  Her face has been changing a lot too.  I don't if it is that the structure is changing rapidly or if it is just that she is developing emotionally more and has more  facial expressions.  Probably both.  She's definitely not a baby anymore though.  Don't tell her that.  She's clinging more tightly to the baby label than any of my others have.  She doesn't not like to be told that she is a big girl.  She is a baby or a baby princess or a baby monkey.  If you say, "Wow, you're a big girl" she responds, "No!  I a baby!"  If she sees something that we have that she wants, she says, "A baby one a me!"  She's still lagging a little bit with her language, but she has become very thoughtful about what she says lately and will pause for a bit, searching for the right word.  She gets really frustrated with me though because even I can't understand her sometimes  The other girls were a lot more fluent at this age and I feel so bad for her when she is trying to get something across to me and I just can't figure out what it is.  She'll restart and try to say it another way.  We usually figure it out.  She has such a sweet little voice and I love to hear it.

Anyway, so that's my kids at this moment.  I love these girls so much!