Rites of passage, stages, kids stuff

The girls cut a few of their barbie's hair this evening. I was annoyed, despite the fact that they have over 50 of the silly things, and Amelia actually gave one of them a really fantastic cut(I was really surprised-it was really good). The point was that they did not ask, but I had a hard time arguing it-mealie argued that they are their dolls, can't they do with them as they please? She has a point, and well, I did the same when I was a kid, except I only had literally one barbie. So all kids cut their dolls hair. There are worse things in the world. It was disturbing to find a big pile of doll hair on the back step though...lol

Mimi is a big kid now. No longer a baby, she has turned into a real tween this summer. Different attitudes, different ideas, interests and vague pushes for more independence. I remember so well being her age. I am just so glad she tells me literally everything, as I hear the conversations of her friends I think wow, they are too young to be concerned about this or that, but really, this is when they think about such different things. Don't get me wrong, cuddling is still needed, but it is not the same as when they are 5 or 1. Different stages, such different needs. I try to have individual time catered to each child though, as much as they relate to each other as siblings, they need their own time to grow in themselves and our relationship together. I do love so much that I get to have three totally different stages in my house at once-I have never been happier or more excited for what lies ahead.

Nonsters is looking forward to school. Overall the schools here seem less intense, with no junior kindergarten I am annoyed, even the private schools for all of their $12,000 tuition price tag seemed a little lacking. I hope that her start in kindergarten is not too lagging, I worry the girls may not be at par when they start at their new school. At least noni can read before kindergarten, in english anyways, she is dying to start french, although she has been mixing some up with spanish. That should level out in school I hope, as it did for mimi.

Popper has certainly been busy. He has been monkeying around getting into things a bit, but still prefers to cling to me. He is better in stores now than he was, I can actually let him walk a bit on his own without him completely tearing apart the shelves(only a little bit). He is using his words a lot lately, trying hard to enunciate. It is so cute, but I am finding some relief from his angry demands when I did not know what he wanted. He calms down being able to say what he wants (and then get it of course). He still gets annoyed if I am not with him though, which is SO rare! I definitely only want part time work when I do go back, the kids need me here.