All about Alice
Rebecca commented in the previous post on Alice's poses. Here are a few other pictures taken at odd moments in recent weeks. Essay question: What can one deduce about the child from the photographs?
No, we don't know where it comes from.
She has decided bangs are not her look, and she's eager to cut them off, not understanding the counterinutive idea that you have to let them grow out to get rid of them. I've managed to catch and stop her so far. So the other night she stood in front of the mirror after a bath, sleeking back her bangs with water for a full ten minutes, until she was sure she had just the right look.
She wants to comb my hair for me after my shower and can actually do it, working through the tangles successfully and without pulling.
She's also eager to be helpful in other ways, whether sweeping, or getting food out of the refrigerator, or generally trying chores around the house "by myself." She has a wicked memory for where people have placed random objects, so that I often find myself asking Alice where my keys are.
She loves learning foreign languages and math. She glanced at a check that Edith got for her birthday and told us that her sister had received a gift of $83.75. We thought she was just throwing out random numbers little-kid-style; it wasn't the amount of the check. Then Tom noticed the check number: 8375. She is getting eager to read and write and will ask us to spell sentences that she laboriously but diligently copies out on cards or slips of paper.
The line between reality and fantasy is paper thin these days, and for months she has been having us play adoption agency, a game that seems to fill a deep need she has to be chosen as our baby (or puppy), again and again and again.
She is an in-your-face extravert, full of words and likely to report on her day at school by recounting every squabble and spat between the girls with whom she's friends. Meanwhile, we have very little idea what the formal instruction may have included from one day to the next.
Whenever she hears music, she will spontaneously begin to dance, in time and in keeping with the mood of the piece.
She makes up songs all day. Our current favorite, "We're Flying to England with Sauce on the Side."
4 comments:
This is so lovely. What a delightful, complicated little person (and how understanding you seem to be of her traits, even though I can bet they are not easy to parent). I think she and Frida would get along swimmingly, if Alice would be able to tolerate a younger hanger-on.
One of Alice's favorite relationships, in fact, is with younger friends. It makes her feel less like the hanger-on herself!
OH my gosh. You are totally right. Our girls are MADE for each other. I felt like i was almost reading a post about Stella. Save for the math bit. ;) But spot on. Maybe one day they will be closer... ;) I would LOVE to meet her!
While tales of the birthday weekend are obviously a greater priority for the next blog update, eager readers eventually would love to know: what are the lyrics to "Flying to England with Sauce on the Side"?
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