Miss E and the Engine

Sunday night, Sunday night. Even though Peter was working this weekend it ended up being pretty good. I wasn't feeling well (thank you migraines and cramps) so the kids ended up watching a little more TV than I liked and eating a little more junk than I wanted but there was no yelling, only one instance of tears, I didn't feel stressed out and the kids were happy. That's about all I can wish for.

Friday night for movie night we watched Harriet the Spy. That night, as I was checking on the kids before I went to bed, I found a note in Miss E's room next to a bag. It said (with her spelling):

I've ben work'en
Hard all nite
To Mommy
From E
Lots of love to you
Spy kite
Notebook

And there was an arrow pointing to a bag next to it, in which she had assembled a full spy kit, including magnifying glass, note pad, a pencil and a key ring. Apparently she got up after lights out and put all that together. I grabbed one of my special notecards and wrote her a quick note saying that I loved it and put it on top of her spy kit for her to find in the morning.

Well, Saturday morning came, we had errands to run at Target and I told her she could pick out a notebook just like Harriet's if she wanted to. It took 15 minutes of her looking at the 2 shelves of notebooks for her to pick this blue one with flowers on it. Since then she has probably written 20 pages of notes in it.

Today at the fire station, I let her wander around by herself "spying". She has wanted to go off on her own for awhile now (since she was 2 actually) but it's hard for me to find safe opportunities for her to be really independent. The new fire station is HUGE and has all kinds of corridors and stairwells and doors so it feels like a big deal for her to be able to wander around by herself. But at the same time,  I know everyone who is there, the station is locked and I know she knows what is dangerous so it feels safe to me.

She spent a good portion of our visit today wandering around, taking notes, playing in the weight room and just generally having a great time by herself. Mr. T and Peter stuffed goody bags for his class's field trip there tomorrow and I sat for a bit. I think we all felt rejuvenated by the end.