Tales of a Yummy Mommy: Ariel, our toothless wonder

As I typed yesterday's blog post, a certain six-year old sidled up beside me. She pulled her chair up close beside mine, and leaned over my shoulder.
"What are you doing?" she asked cautiously - sweetly - looking in the direction of my computer screen, careful to avoid any instigation of a bedtime threat.
"I'm writing a blog."
"What does that say?" she asked, pointing to the word POTTY.
"Potty." I told her, without elaborating.
"Why does it say 'potty'?" the ever curious little mouse then asked.
"It says 'potty' because I'm writing a blog about Elyse potty training."
"Oh.... Are you going to write a blog about me?"
At this, I smiled into my daughter's face, a smile which shone down on her like the sun; and being the flower, her little face blossomed as she relished the sustenance of her mother's affection.
"Yes, Ariel. I think I will write a blog about you."

What to say about Ariel? She's our eldest of three girls. She embodies a kindness I can only really hope to aspire to.

Let me give some examples.

Generally speaking, she looks after her sisters. She will put her own game or task aside, and watch her baby sister while I run upstairs a minute; she plays with both her sisters while I make dinner; she knows enough about what is safe and unsafe, and tries to keep her sisters from the latter. She is responsible beyond her years.

We've been having some issues with Elyse not wanting to eat food while at school. Ariel overheard me mention it, and joined in on the conversation. "Isn't Mme. C supposed to be watching her?" she said, with disdain. She then turned to her sister, "Elyse, you have to eat your lunch! I'm not there to help you this year - okay? - so you have to do it yourself. You can do it." Ariel was making reference to the fact she's now in grade one, and no longer a fellow kindergartner.
"Yeah, okay," Elyse said. She listens to her big sister.

Ariel understands Elyse sometimes needs extra help, and she's never been shy or too self-centered to give it to her. She'll help her get her socks and shoes on, or carry her backpack. If Elyse has an accident, Ariel will run upstairs to get her a new pair of underwear, or reach for a Kleenex for her runny nose. She never loses her patience waiting for her sister. And waiting for her sister. And waiting.
She doesn't bat an eye when Elyse pees on the floor or throws a tantrum.
Through Ariel, I've come to understand that a lack of patience and understanding is largely an adult problem.

Ariel's a typical kid, too. She's struggling, somewhat, to learn how to read phonetically right now. Never mind, she finds another way, and correctly memorizes her spelling words for the week. She speaks two languages, and her friend at school corrects me on the proper pronunciation of my daughter's name, "Non," her camarade says, "C'est Ari-EL", emphasis on the 'L', roll it off the tongue. Friends preoccupy her now.
She is strong in math, especially patterning, and writes her numbers from 1 to 60, like the teacher asked. She goes to gymnastics, and plays outside with the neighbourhood kids every chance she gets. She's into drawing pictures with a pen, and knows what table to use where she can build intricate structures that will remain untouched and untouchable to her sisters' hands. She's going to marry Mason in her class when she grows up; his mom told us today the plan is mutual.

Ariel has wants, needs, and demands for attention, too. A few weeks ago, Penelope took her first steps AND Elyse stayed dry the whole day. I was ecstatic for those two! Lavishing them with praise. Well, understandably, Ariel couldn't take it, and burst into tears, screaming into the couch pillow as we all stood around like frozen statues, "WHY DON'T YOU EVER CELEBRATE ME????!!!! WAAAAHHHH!"
I had to try really hard to suppress my smile with that one. Ariel gets praise for LOTS of things, but it was pretty hard to praise her for yelling and screaming, and generally having an all out fit, and also pretty hard to convince her that her behaviour wasn't helping her cause. In the end, we hugged it out, and I made sure to praise her extra hard the next time she earned it, which I can tell you, didn't take long.