Dear Addie,
Every now and again, I'm reminded of your way of thinking and how very matter-of-fact it is. Allow me to explain.
If you see a swing somewhere, well, then you should swing on it; no matter if it's a baby swing at a park, you'll try your best to cram your almost 5'11'' self into it for a ride. Swings are for swinging, right?
You see ice cream, and you know it sure is delicious, so of course, if you see a picture of ice cream, it's worth a lick to find out right - I mean, ice cream is for eating, after all. I can't tell you how many picture books you have that are worn out, specifically on the ice cream picture.
The list goes on; we ring doorbells before entering someone's home, making Halloween seem weird and frustrating; even if candy is involved, why aren't we going in? Eggs are meant for cracking, so why would we just let them sit in the fridge whole? It seems like a waste of a fine motor activity; we should get them out and finish the task. Water is for swimming, so a cannonball in a garden pond is appropriate, right? While we don't condone these activities as such and are constantly educating appropriateness, it makes sense why you see it the way you do when we step back and watch you process a situation, which brings me to this past weekend.
While enjoying your birthday break, we visited our favorite go-to aquarium. Keeping consistency, you ran through the whole thing to get to the end, where there is a light-up water feature with a video of aquatic animals swimming through it. Sitting there like you are somehow part of their dolphin or whale pod brings you so much joy, and you can never get there fast enough. But before you make it there, we must stop at the restrooms, bringing me to yet another matter-of-fact moment.
Being 13 now, I try to step back and let you (safely) figure out a situation with less help from myself. On this day after you finished using the potty that included a solid six flushes (one day, I'd love to know why you love to flush toilets so much, but I digress), stepping up to the sink to wash your hands, you notice the stool used for much smaller children to help reach the sink. Now, these stools are only sometimes present in restrooms, but we've stood on enough of them for you to know what it was, and clearly, it was there for you to stand on right? I must admit, seeing this scene made me giggle a bit. Stool = stand on it.
Addie, you keep us smiling, and we are very proud of how well you are navigating this great, big, sometimes confusing world. Keep being you baby girl!
Love,
Mom