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May 26, 2010
Every night we have a tradition of stories, prayers and a secret…It’s the same secret every night. Miika won’t let me leave the room until I recite it. I won’t let it out of the bag, I’ll just say that it’s a confidence-builder—something the mirror on the wall would say if it could talk.
As I watch Miika grow, I see such an amazing, inventive little lady, precocious and full of independence. I am so proud of her. Miika is not a follower, she’s the lady in charge. Sometimes I just stand back in amazement as she instinctively takes care of Nathan when I’m busy. At the same time, she’s very much, simply seven. Loves bugs and “her” playground in front of our home. I call her “Queen of the Playground” because all the regular visitors know Miika. She’s kind.
All of that said, she’s far from perfect…perfectly imperfect perhaps. Tonight after supper, she informed me that she was going to fix my dessert. I protested a bit because I knew it was her way of pulling out all the stops on her own duplicate dessert…yup…mango icecream topped with M&M’s and Skittles with a strawberry on top. The bowl was VERY full.
I haven’t said much about my kids lately because I’m so consumed with working and getting the word out about the workshop. And it dawned on me that I need to celebrate them more. They enjoy the workshop but it’s a delicate balance. Nathan often asks to go to the workshop when we are home and when we’re at the workshop, he gets his fill of it and asks to go home. Miika’s the same way. But I feel good about that because my goal for them was to feel at home there…like an extension of home.
Lastly, I just have to mention that in the photo above, Miika is jumping rope with the rope she made by ripping rags and braiding them. Three 10-foot by 3-inch strips braided makes the perfect rope. Each section can be make up of several pieces. Just glue-stick them together by overlapping the strips by about 2 inches. This eliminates the knots. Miika takes this rope with her almost everywhere.
She doesn’t do pink, she’s done with “Hello Kitty”, the more bugs the better, and she loves a hike in the woods with just Mom. That’s Miika.