Ah Girls.

I have a friend that is expecting a girl in August and she expressed to me some of her concerns and then blogged about it and it got me thinking about all the concerns I had with having a girl. Remember this post? Well, I had to look back over it to remember exactly what I was concerned about and see how this being a mom of a girl thing has all worked out so far. More than half of  my concerns are in the future and still quite valid I believe. :) But there are a few things that I've experienced so far.

#1 The DRAMA!!!! Oh this girl. I think Moms of girls are given a certain extra level of patience to deal with the "throw yourself on the ground screaming" tantrums. This child has been doing this for several months now and I swear if a year ago Cache had done it I would have pulled my hair right out. With Season though, I just laugh. Is that mean? Is that wrong? Should I be doing something different? I try not to I promise! But seriously if you could only see this girl roll around on the ground when she's hungry, or tired, or Cache steals something from her, or when we took the Book of Mormon away from her because she was ripping it tonight I think you would have laughed too. Of course, I really try to just laugh in my head or turn around so she doesn't see me so she doesn't think it's funny too, but I'm sure sometimes she sees me laugh. It actually kinda makes her more mad. I know that these kind of tantrums do not usually only occur in girls, but in this family it does so it is unique. I also know that it only gets more..... interesting from here. Can't wait to see what the future holds, and Heaven help the patience level in me to keep rising as well. :)

#2 Doing Hair - I love it! I didn't think I would but I do. I think it's because my Season likes it too. Every morning after I get her dressed in her mostly pink ward robe (see next concern) I say,  "Ok, time to do your hair," and she walks right into the bathroom and points to her bows. I sit her up on the counter in front of the mirror so she can see herself and usually put a few distracting things in front of her so she will hold still and then just have fun. My favorite 'do is a little side braid with a bow at the top. She likes to look at her bows, but will only keep them on if there's something there with an elastic around it to hold it in place. Then we look in the mirror together and say "Pretty". She smiles and is happy and keeps saying "pretty" over and over again. So cute!

#3 The PINK!!!! Her room is not pink. She does have a few blankets, sippy cups, toothbrushes, etc that are pink to differentiate between hers and Cache's but for the most part I try to make things either brown or orange or something like that. Her wardrobe however is where it all goes downhill. You just can't avoid pink. I have to admit, I like people to look at her and know that she is a girl, and that doesn't always happen right now if the hair didn't get done that day and/or she is wearing anything but pink really. She just looks so much like Cache that in the store when Cache tries to introduce complete strangers to his sister they all say, "Oh is that your little brother? They look so much alike!" UNLESS she is covered in pink and has a bow. One time someone even started to say brother even though Season was ALL DECKED OUT and then they caught themselves. Her hair is getting longer though and that will help out a lot. So for now, we do wear a lot of pink. I don't LOVE it, but don't hate it like I use to either. I do LOVE when I find cute girly outfits in any other color though, and we really like the skirts especially in the summer.

#4 Girly-ness - At first I thought I might have to convince Season that yes, she is in fact a girl, and not her brother's identical twin, but lately she's figuring it all out on her own. Aunt Sarah Beth gave Season a little charm bracelet that she absolutely adores. I usually don't even have to show it to her for her to hand it to me to put it on her, and then once it's on she shows it to everyone she sees. She's quite proud of that bracelet. Also, this girl loves her some shoes! She usually finds a pair, or even two mismatched shoes sometimes and hands them to me before I even get her pajamas off. Tonight as John was putting her in her pajamas she got mad that he didn't put her shoes on before her pants. John hurried very quickly with the pants so she could walk around right before bedtime with them on. She almost fell asleep in them but I remembered right before I put her down to take them off. She normally cries when I take them off but she was just too sleepy tonight.

 She found a purse at Grandma Paige's house and discovered that if she put it on her arm and walked around she'd get lots of praise and compliments so that is now expected every time. There's not much you can get her to sit still for, but the other day I discovered that she will sit still long enough to get her nails painted. We had matching finger nails last week. Lime Green. No Pink. :) Season gravitates to other little girls now. We have a lot of little boy neighbors and 1 little girl neighbor. Season will always head straight over to the little girl and want to be with her. I think she sometimes gets tired of the dirty roughness, though she does appreciate some mud and tackles too, she just has to be in the mood. :) I've found that the girly-ness doesn't bother or scare me, but makes me kind of excited. Excited for her to become a sweet little lady. Excited to be able to share some of the things that I like with her. Like earrings and make up and cute clothes.

#5 PRETEND - My BIG concern.Well, she's only 14 months so I haven't had to pull out a barbie yet and PRETEND like I care what she is doing. BUT, the other day Cache pulled out his little kitchen and said he was making me breakfast. He made me a hotdog for breakfast in the form of a baseball and told me to eat it so I PRETENDED.(That one was kinda easy) Then Season did the exact same thing. Handed me a ball and waited for me to PRETEND to eat it. I can do that. She then pretended to eat it and her and Cache were off cooking more meals and PRETENDING to eat them together. It's moments like this that I'm so thankful they are so close in age. They play sooooo well together and it kinda makes me tear up to think what great things are in store for them together.  Ahhhh. Anyway, so if we keep this up and don't ever buy her a barbie and hide any barbie gifts from her maybe I'll never have to play PRETEND with her and she and Cache can continue to eat baseball shaped hotdogs together. Here's hopin'.

There you have it, the long version of my updated concerns which aren't so much concerns for the most part. (Does this help you at all Ashlee???)

This is where I need to add in the things that I love about my girl that I didn't even realize I would get.

Season is one of the SWEETEST little 14 month olds you will meet. She already has the nurturing caring instinct of a Daughter of God. I could feel that in her when she was in my tummy. She would move, but in a "Special" way ( I don't know how else to put it) when I was under a lot of stress, and there were times when I was pregnant with her that I really needed that extra comfort and support. I felt it from her then. I feel it from her now when I am upset and so does Cache when he is in time out. Those time outs are getting less and less effective because I can't keep Season away from him when he is in trouble. She will go over to him, hug him, give him a kiss, and then sit on the step and talk to him. HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO SAY NO TO THAT!!!!!????? I can't. It's too sweet.

Season loves babies. LOVES them! And not just baby dolls, in fact I've found that baby dolls are not even a close distraction when a real one is around. She immediately wants to kiss any baby she sees. I love to hear her say "baby" in her cute little voice. She is like a magnet to strollers and car seats and anything else that should have a baby in it. She is almost the same way with dogs and puppies, but does not go to immediately kiss them. She's a little bit more nervous about touching those, but she likes to get just close enough to see them real good and then just stare at them. She calls puppies, "puh puhs". These are actually characteristics that Cache has too, but they fall under the nurturing category so I had to include them. :)

And the last and maybe best thing I love about  my girly girl is her hugs. Cache always gave hugs and I love them to death, but Season's are fierce. They connect you to her. She doesn't give them away easily, especially not to other people so they mean A LOT when you get one. In the middle of the night if she wakes up, which is very rare now, YAY! :), I will go in and just hold her and she just hangs onto me for dear life. It makes me not want to let go. EVER.

One impression that I had when Season was about 3 months old was that I needed to start teaching her right then, that she is a Daughter of God. She's loved by him and he wants her to be happy and live with him again. From that day on I sing all 3 verses of "I Am a Child of God" to her every night, in hopes that those words sink in. I know as time goes on I'll have to do more, but for now, I think she gets it. 

Wow, so you didn't know you were going to get a novel when you started this did you, but if you actually made it to the end good for you. :) Or I'm sorry? :) I'm not sure which one.