little black journal

I haven’t done one of these posts in ages as you’ve seen most of Juliette’s goings-on via my summer entries, but there are still a few other tidbits worth jotting down (for the grandmas and for posterity, of course).

She seems to be all big kid these days.  New big kid bed, new big kid class at school, new arenas of independence.  Everywhere we go, whether we’re hiking or shopping or walking to the mailbox, she’s five steps ahead of me, insisting “I wanna be the leader!”  She wants things done on her own her own way – I sometimes think Shane and I are just characters in the play of her life, as evidenced by this regular morning directive:

“Ok, Mommy, I’m going to get dressed in my room and then I’ll come in your room and say ‘Ta-da!’ and you say ‘Huh? Juliette, how did you get dressed so fast?’, okay Mommy?  You have to say ‘Huh?’ first, okay?”

While the constant script-writing can get old, I do love watching her make strides in self-sufficiency (incidents of early-morning yelling have gone down dramatically since she started dressing herself!).  Her teachers moved her up to the four year-old class six weeks before her fourth birthday because she really is so advanced (my words, not theirs…), and she’s handled the transition with bravery and grace.

It helps that some of her best pals have moved up with her.

These two love to compare dresses in the morning, thrilled when they coincidentally match.

And goodness!  Check out some of Juliette’s artwork!

Her tiger looks a lot like a duck, but that four-eyed jellyfish is the best!

She’s getting straight A’s in Spanish (my words, not theirs) and will carry on nonsense conversations with herself en Espanol, murmuring, “Que paso, amiga?  Ohhhh, agua, si!  Zapatos, por favor?”  She loves to pull books off my bookshelf and pretend she’s reading from them in Spanish – she’s pretty convincing.

In other big-kid news, she’s become quite comfortable at the salon, sitting alone (not on Shane’s lap) while she got her haircut last week.  Next stop: dentist!

She even sat still through this intricate braiding exercise (which actually only took five minutes – those ladies have mad skills).

She’s a nurturer through and through and often asks me to play the part of the baby so that she can be the mommy.  She’ll cover me up with a blanket on the couch, throw a tote bag full of toys over her shoulder, and say “Good-bye, Sweetie!  I’m going to England!”  as she heads for the door.  She’ll circle back 20 seconds later to stroke my hair, give me a hug and ask if I was a good listener while she was gone.  She has adopted the neighbor’s plastic yard owl as her other child and spends a sweet-but-slightly-weird amount of time patting it, cooing to it, and feeding it.

I drew the line when Juliette asked if she could bring her owl baby inside to give it a bath.

Despite our best efforts to keep the princess phase at bay, it seems she’s been bitten by the Disney bug and often tells me that I’m Prince Phillip and she’s Aurora, picking up a rock and gasping, “Look, Prince Phillip!  It’s the Crystal of the Crown!”  She adores Moana and requests the soundtrack daily.  Hourly, actually.  It’s gotten a little out of control.

We’ve done lots of good gettin’-out together this summer, but our favorite little trips are to ShareTea for boba.  If we’re due for a treat and I offer up the bakery, the ice cream shop, or the boba place, boba wins every time.  Girl after my own heart…

Girl after Daddy’s own heart, too (for no particular reason – it’s just that these two are the sweetest together!).

N continues to be her very best buddy – these two might go a couple of weeks without seeing each other, but once they’re together again, it’s somethin’ special, with grins and giggles and games.  And ice cream, apparently.  These kids consume a lot of ice cream together.

PSA:  The OK-To-Wake clock is money!  Give a kid a gadget, and they will stay in bed an additional 30 minutes, apparently.

There were a couple of lovely large horses at our neighborhood block party at the beginning of the month – Juliette hovered at a distance for a few minutes and then couldn’t resist the urge to reach out and give this one a pat.  She’d found her hair color twin!

Next time I do one of these posts, little lady will be FOUR!  I can hardly believe it.  Not necessarily because she’s growing so fast, but because it’s hard to fathom that this assertive, creative, self-declared big kid is still only three.  You are wise beyond your years, Juliette Grace.