S, also reintroduced

See that necklace? Z made that for S. Who else in the world, besides a girl with three brothers, gets to wear a necklace lovingly made out of army tank wheel parts? The bright flowers and the black go together well, no?

I promised a while ago to reintroduce you to the kids.

Today is S's day.

The girl is girly. Her papa says she is way girlier now than I ever have been or ever will be in my life. She is obsessed with Barbie (not given to her by me), Polly Pocket (ditto), princess movies (ditto again), and beautiful dress-up gowns and jewelry (geez, are we horrible parents, because I have to say ditto AGAIN!) I just am not girly. At all. I have a dress, but I haven't worn it since before I got pregnant in 2003. (Think Rachel's wedding, Ange!)

She is compliant to the point of getting her feelings hurt when we correct her. Today, she said, "More milk..." and I said, "Could you ask for milk in any other way? Like maybe more politely?" and her lip quivered as she said, "Milk please?"and then, "I'm sorry I asked like that."

She is a helper:

I was drying my hair in the bathroom. The girl came in, and said, "Ohhh. I am so tired. (Wiping fake sweat off her forehead). Man, gettin' those boys ready is a LOT of work!"
Later, I passed S in the hallway. She was leading Z to his room by his elbow, exclaiming, "Now, it just doesn't make sense that you aren't dressed yet."
And while I would usually object to S being the "parent", I was running late that morning, and I was just grateful that someone was directing "those boys".

She is a wimp! I mean, um, safety-conscious? I wouldn't mention this, except that we just put up her new loft bed, and I wondered if we would even be able to talk her into sleeping there.
Surprisingly, she learned rather quickly how to convince her feet (rather shakily) to "just keep going one-by-one".

She is social. She knows WAY more people's names than I do, everywhere we go. If I have a question about someone at church, I only need to find S, and she will tell me who it is. She just wants people around. I found her crying once, in her bed, and when asked what was wrong, she said, "How come B and Z have a room together, and you and Papa have a room together, and I am stuck in here with no one. I want someone to talk to in here!" We got her a Fur-real Pig (temporary fix) and promised that when the baby came, she would also have a room partner (more permanent fix).
Today is the day for the permanent fix! M has been sleeping through the night for about a week now (10 hours last night! Woohoo!), and he has earned a place underneath his big sister's bed. She is elated. "Someone to talk to at last!"