Friday, December 24, 2010

Will Wonders Never Cease?

I am just sitting here, quietly, contemplating how much my daughter has grown this year.  I don't mean her height or weight, though she has grown that way as well.  She has matured this year, her thirteenth year.

A couple of days ago we received a package from my Mom.  Haley loves packages.  We had to open it. 

Actually Haley's Big Sis grabbed it and started opening it, so I can't really put it on Haley. 

My Mom had wrapped the presents inside and labeled them, of course.  Haley can recognize her own written name now, so she new exactly which ones were hers.  She wanted to open them, but I told her that we were going to wait until Saturday.  "Saturday is Christmas Day, that is when we open presents."

That was a bit hard for her, but I asked her to put all of the presents under the tree.  She felt important doing that, so it was OK.  We have never put presents under the tree.  I was fully prepared to hide them if there was a problem, but they are still there.

She sits in that room next to the tree.  She sits in the chairs that flank the tree, or she sits on the floor in front of the tree.  She has quite a collection of toys that she has been playing with while she sits there.  If someone walks by she will point to the presents.  She says "presents" or "Christmas" or her version of "Saturday," which really doesn't sound much like Saturday. 

She hasn't opened them. 

I think if any of us were to tell her that she could they would be open in a heartbeat, but she is being very patient.  I think that she is showing a new level of maturity that I have never seen in her before.

We changed up the Holiday Season on her this year, first by having Thanksgiving here and having Grandma and Grandpa come to our house.  Now we are planning to go to their house after Christmas.  She knows we are going. 

For a while she seemed more excited about going to their house than she was for Christmas.  I have both occasions written on the calendar that hangs on the refrigerator.  She points to the days that are marked Grandma and Grandpa's House, but she hasn't been pointing to Christmas.  I have explained the timing to her several times.  I say that we are going after Christmas, after we open our presents.

I think she has finally accepted it.  In desperation about a week ago I actually put on the calendar the day that we would pack so that she would stop asking to pack her "case."  I think she has come to terms with the timing.

I actually think she gets it.

I am so proud.

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