Spirited, determined, independent, self-confident, compassionate, nurturing, caring, friendly, funny, creative, strong willed, bravc, fearless, drama queen, out-of-the-box-thinker - these are some characteristics that come to my mind when I think of Kylie, our 5-year-old princess.
Yes, she loves being a princess, wearing pink and frills and has a very clear idea in her mind what clothes she wants to wear, what looks nice and matches!
Pets and other animals, as well as dolls and real babies/children are high on her priority list.
She regularly BEGS us for more pets - a mouse, please? - a cat, PLEASE? - a puppy dog, P L E A S E ? - a horse, P-L-E-A-S-E!!! (what's next?!)
She still enjoys her guinea pigs, who've just had another litter of 6 cute babies.
Yesterday, she took Toby, her male guinea pig, to school, to share with her friends/new class-mates.
Kylie's favourite games are still the role-play-ones, like moms and dads and pets, or lately, teachers and pets...
As much as she's a girly girl, she's no wimp. She watches Jeremie skin possums and rabbits and gut and pluck ducks without a whimper. She loves digging for/finding worms and collects all kinds of insects. In her kindergarten, she was known as the one that brought insects to share.
Speaking of sharing, Kylie doesn't know the word "stranger". It doesn't exist in her vocabulary. The world is her home (interesting, t'was/is the same with all of our children) and she starts talking to any stranger anywhere. It is like she's a magnet, attracted to people and not shy at all- definitely no loner, that girl!
10 days after we got back home, Kylie had an operation: she had grommets(little tubes) put into her ears to drain the fluid that had been blocked in her inner ear and made her quite hard of hearing. The hospital staff was amazed at how courageous she was - both at the time of going into the operation - as well as coming out of it. What a trooper! No more excuse for not hearing well now :)!
Shortly before we left on our trip, a family from the "Mongrel Mob" moved into the house next to us. Those are not necessarily the kind of neigbours that are highly desired (known for alcohol, noisy parties, violence, rape etc).
Well, when we came back, Kylie made contact with their children in no time and invited them over to our place (with my permission).
It was so special to see her reach out and be a friend to those very neglected (abused?) children. She pushed them on the swing, jumped on the trampoline with them, played dolls, let them hold her guinea pigs, and offered them food and drink - all her own initiative and doing.
Sadly, they moved away last week-end - - - when I was just starting to learn their names and make contact with some of the moms (they had several families stay in a 3-bedroom house). I was even dreaming of having a regular "outreach" for them in our yard...
Last night, as I was reading in an old diary, I came across an entrance I wrote in 1998 that I felt God had another child for us (we had 3 at the time). It sure took a while, but I am SO GLAD and GRATEFUL that God gave us Kylie 4 years later!!!!!!
She's a character, a treasure - loved and enjoyed beyond what words can express!
What a privilege to parent her and to see her personality and giftings unfold in front of our eyes!
No comments:
Post a Comment