Mom and I were talking about how psychologists say to 'beware of the easy child' - it's so true that those are the ones that can easily lose out on personal attention because they're just easy-going. Kas is that 'flower child' - just happy to float thru doing her own thing, not really requiring anything ever - and I've recently tried to pay special attention to her so she won't ever feel like she's left out, with her 2 energetic brothers. She has said a few times that she's alone without a sister, and we've talked about how it's kind of fun to have just the 2 of us be the only girls in our family. We've decided, especially with Stephen about to homeschool, that she and I will start regular mommy-daughter dates. She's so fun to talk with when she's alone. They're all 3 like that - it's good to get them alone sometimes and just chat and let them talk away - different kinds of things come out, than when they're together as siblings. I LOVE watching them interact together, but it's good to have them alone too.
Last weekend, I took her on a date to go hear a talented family from Utah do a musical fireside at our church (
http://www.garrettsmusic.com/photo-gallery). They were great - but I just really enjoyed being with her. She comes up with these funny things to say, and she's a great listener. The whole 1 1/2 hr concert, she just paid perfect attention, and commented on the singing and background slides (especially the ones of Jesus being crucified - she was very saddened by those). After it was done, she popped right up to the stand and shook all their hands and told them what a lovely job they did. It just cracked me up.
Today she 'sang' her scripture in Primary - they asked her to give one of her choice, and she loves that scripture song "Matthew 6:24" from Sterl's seminary CD (
http://www.ldsscripturerock.com/), so she sang it for them. I came in and accompanied her - she was great. I love her confidence. Here she and Kenny are singing it for the sister missionaries who came to dinner tonight -
This evening when I was reading Anne Frank to the kids for their bedtime story, we were at the part where Anne is afraid to go into hiding, and thinking thru what she'll take with her. So I asked the kids what they would each take with them if they were in a similar situation - having to go hide out, not knowing how long they could be stranded or what would happen. They each listed things off, then Kas said - "well, after food and water, I would just take this" - and she leaned over her bed and picked up the carved statue of a girl that Mom and Dad gave her for her baptism last year - she keeps it on her bedstand. I said - really? That's so nice... and she said, "well, it's just so special. It means a lot to me, Mom." I wouldn't have thought she'd say that! It was a good reminder that we do need to talk to our cute little babies, and spend individual time with them to realize that so much goes on in their sweet little heads, and we'll miss out on it if we don't make the most of our time with them. I cherish my memories of Dad doing 'interviews' with each of us, asking us a long list of our favorite things, our thoughts, etc, and taking notes. He'd do that regularly, which is so impressive now, thinking about how there were 5 of us, and a houseful of activities going on all the time. What a great example they have always been of spending time with us.
