Happy Due Date

We find ourselves in an interesting bind. The first time that we met Shoun, we found out that his birthday not only falls in October, a popular month around here, but it falls on exactly the same day as Eden's birthday. Or should we say, her birthday falls on his birthday? So, you can imagine that these two children have had numerous discussions about who gets to celebrate first and how we are going to deal with this dilemma "fairly" in years to come. Since one of the birthday traditions around here involves getting donuts for breakfast when there's a birthday, we certainly aren't going to start eating two donuts on one day, someone must go a day earlier or later. This year's solution just kind of fell into our laps since other things are going on and life happens. So, the 2011 solution: Eden gets to celebrate today, which also happens to have been her due date, and Shoun gets Sunday, their actual birthday. On a side note, to those who believe that the first baby comes late and subsequent babies come earlier, I would have to concur. My first was two weeks late but Number 5 was only 2 days late; it did get better. And labor? Went from more than 24 hours down to 19. Much easier, that one.

But anyway, on to birthdays. It took us 5 tries but we finally produced a child that received more of my genes than John's. This is the child that is bound to be a teacher. She has all gifts needed to do just that; she loves school, she's organized, creative, crafty, and bossy. Yes, just like her mother. She received a sewing kit for her birthday and was just as thrilled as could be. Did I mention she's just like her mother?

Give the girl paper, a scissors, and tape, and she can create just about anything. It's kind of like what would happen if MacGyver gave up hunting criminals and instead headed a classroom. A recent creation became just the tool she needed to keep her place while reading.She folded a piece of paper in half, then in thirds. She taped all of the sides shut and drew a face. Voila! A puppet.

But one day she couldn't find her bookmark so she grabbed her puppet. Then as she was reading, she unconsciously slipped the puppet onto her hand and began tracking along the page, the puppet leading the way.

She discovered that not only does it keep you from losing your place, as you hold your arm sideways across the book, it also keeps your book from closing. Wow! I think we not only have a teacher here but we can probably narrow the field down to either early elementary or even special education. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?

She recently discovered felt, needle, and embroidery floss. Anyone need a pillow?