She's also very LOUD. One of her favorite things to do right now is 'whistle'. She makes this high pitched, short screaming sound. ALL THE TIME. From the minute she wakes up, to the time she goes to bed, and often in bed. It's usually paired with running or jumping. She's happy! But hopefully the screaming will continue to be replaced by her absolutely amazing vocabulary. She can say anything these days. But she has yet to call Marea 'Marea', even when I ask. I wonder how long 'yea-ya' will last. I would be happy if it stuck around for a long time, it's a pretty cute nickname.
Marea is blossoming into quite the little girl. She's starting to understand empathy, and helping out, and that is really nice. She will occasionally walk up to me when I'm busy and start giving me a back rub. It's like she knows that I need it. She also had a pretty awesome experience at preschool the other day, involving two of her friends who didn't want to include another little girl (Bella) in their play. Marea stuck by Bella and decided that she wanted to play with her, even when her friends said they wouldn't play with her if she played with a 'baby'. Marea said that she knew it wasn't nice and that it made Bella feel bad. So she played with Bella for a few minutes and then preschoolers being who they are, well they all moved on within 5 minutes and everything was okay. But I was so happy that she was able to stand up for what she thought was right, and what she wanted, and didn't give into the peer pressure (which sounds so ridiculous when talking about 4 year olds). I hope she stays that way. And I was so happy with the way the teachers handled it. They talked with Marea about how it made her feel, instead of correcting the girls who were being 'mean'. The made the learning experience for Marea, who was open to it, instead of the other girls. Awesome.
Marea's obsession with 'Mama Mia' continues. While her class was sitting around talking about which songs they wanted to sing for music class the next day, Marea often mentions Mama Mia songs. So funny. Hey I don't blame her. 'Take me out to the ball game' (for the 20th time), is lame!!!
Marea also hosted a very fancy tea party at our house last week. She was SET on inviting Grethe (and boys) over for this tea party and bugged me every day for a week to call her and set it up. She spent about a week and a half prepping. We had real tea cups (purchased from an estate sale we went to), fancy serving dishes, and we made cupcakes and cookies and drank apple cinnamon tea. Then we both had to put on super fancy dresses (at noon on a friday) and make-up and heels. It was so cute I videotaped it.
Now she's getting ready for her first weekend away. She'll be heading up to Santa Maria with jackie and em to visit their grandpa, and spend time on their ranch riding the horses, the tractor, playing in the dirt and having fun. She is so excited she can't stop talking about it or packing. We got out the calendar today so I could show her she would be away for two nights, and she's all good to go....her eyes got so big with excitement. She's got her own suitcase now, and we had to pack two days early because she just could not wait. It's only two nights, but I will miss her SO much!!!!
