My Little Helper

I just need to brag about my Abby-girl today.  That little girl is 3 going on 20!  It's like she has grown up over night, budded and blossomed without me even realizing anything was happening.  A few highlights:
~ Whenever there is laundry to be folded, in the last week or so she is right there as soon as I bring it in, asking if she can please help and beaming with pride when she folds something!  I need to get one of those cardboard folding stations.  My mom has one and my nieces just LOVE it! Of course, I would need two -- maybe three! ;-D
~ Every day, she is in the kitchen asking me if she can help me make the meal.  And she is so excited about it!  She actually falls apart, like her heart is aching at the thought of being excluded, if I don't JUMP on her invitation to help.
~ The other day I realized she had been in the bathroom a bit longer than normal and went in to find her with the bucket out from under the sink, the floor soaking wet with water.  I was a little miffed by the mess and asked her what in the world she was doing.  She said, "Mom, I'm just cleaning the floor!"
~ Tonight a very tired and wired Isaac hit a very tired Brianna while I was getting Abby out of the tub and dried off.  I immediately went in to get Bria next and wrapped her up tightly in her butterfly towel.  When I unwrapped her to put her diaper on her, she fell apart!  So I wrapped her back up and just held her for a minute.  She calmed right down.  Then a naked Abby ran over to me and said, "Oh, sweet Brianna.  I so sorry you got hurt.  Mommy, can I please cuddle and rock Brianna, too?"  So I took Bria and put her in Abby's arms, me having to hold half of her because she really is more than half Abby's size and way too big for Abby to cuddle like a baby. Abby just nuzzled up next to her forehead and closed her eyes before kissing her temple softly.  The sweet look on her face was priceless, and Brianna was LOVING it!  Then Abby looked up and said, "Mommy, I sure wish I had a baby!" LOL! She is just so good and so sweet with Brianna.  They literally NEVER fight -- NEVER!  Isaac and Bria are getting there as well -- he's learning to be a little less rough and tumble and Brianna is learning she doesn't have to have her arms out in defense every time Isaac comes near her!  But Abby -- she is just a little mother heart and really loves her little sister! (And the other morning, she out of the blue said to Dave, "Daddy, do you think we need more babies?"  And then she answered him that we probably did.  How old is she again?  Where is this coming from?  I guess her favorite little boy in Primary just got a new baby brother -- so maybe that's it.)
~ Isaac went outside, half naked, no shoes, without even telling me he was going.  That is a big no-no around here, for obvious reasons!  So I put him in his room in time out, explaining that he didn't ask if he could go outside and he wasn't even dressed to be out there.  Abby asked if she could go out, and I was a little frazzled from Isaac and told her no.  As I was cleaning in the kitchen, I turned around from the kitchen table a few minutes later to see Abby, completely dressed in a clean shirt, pants, and socks, putting her shoes on.  I sad, "Abby?  What are you doing?  Why did you change your shirt and get dressed?"  She told me she wanted to go outside.  I told her that I thought I already said no to that.  She very matter-of-factly, in a voice that said, "Mom, you are being ridiculous and we both know it, but I'm trying to be nice here and not point it out," told me -- "But I thought you'd say yes!" I laughed!  She burst into a smile and laughed with me, then she said, "Now can I go outside?" Of course EVERYONE ended up going outside and playing for an hour before naptime and an hour after!  Abby built a "nest" out of grass and dandelion "flowers" for the baby eggs to rest in.  Isaac broke her heart when he kicked it to pieces because, "But Mom, there ARE no baby eggs!" And I tried to mend it when she fell apart. Then they took turns on the slide, the trampoline, and riding the bike around the patio. In other words, it was a PERFECT "Spring" day for being outside and I am so glad that she lovingly put me in my place when I was, in fact, being utterly ridiculous!