My girl.

I love this girl so much. She is light in my life. She helps me fill all the water bottles and put each of the lunches together most mornings. She hugs me and holds my hand on her terms only, but her terms are always my terms. She just cut ridiculous bangs because she was mad at me for not cutting them sooner (I was hoping she would grow them out...guess not). She still writes her kindergarten teacher bi-weekly. She loves chips--all chips. She is devious and sneaky, and it drives me absolutely nuts when I don't know what she's up to. She has very low self esteem, and I can't quite get a handle on it because she's mostly happy and very well liked at school, but when she makes a mistake and is caught in the mistake, she plummets. She writes notes and tapes them to her door about being the worst kid in the world. I've learned to breathe before yelling at her because I hate seeing the notes on her door. I try to speak calmly because even speaking calmly cuts her sharply, but at least I hope it isn't making things worse. I ache when she aches.

I love her so much. I can't believe how grown up she's looking. I often have to remind myself that she is only 8 because she has such an old soul. I love her old soul.