This one is for Lauren...

This morning Lauren requested that I take a picture of her and "put it on the computer". She's figured out yet another way in life to be the star of the show. She's a trip! Middle child complex? We are still trying to figure that out. I suppose only time will tell. I call Lauren our "firecracker". She by far is the most dramatic child I've ever met. OK, she might get a little of that from her mom. But even my own mother begrudgingly admits that I was not quite that wild (my own siblings might disagree). It's interesting each day picking her up from school and finding out what her behavior report for the day is. In her kindergarten class, you either end up with a happy face, straight face, or sad face. We were thrilled when Lauren recently went 5-6 days with a happy face (that's a long stretch for her) and then the inevitable happened - straight face. Not only straight face, but the teacher wrote in big letters - "Too loud, talks too much". Her behavior always gets mixed reviews. We've always said Lo thinks she is "above the law" She went through a phase where she would zone out on the TV, or whatever she might be doing and completely ignore the world (and mom and dad's requests). We even went so far as to have her hearing checked at the doctor recently. The pediatrician laughed and said "I hate to tell you, but her hearing is perfect!" So we had our proof that she had no issues hearing us. On the flip side to our wild child, she is full of passion and compassion for the world around her. She can be very thoughtful of others when they might me hurt or lonely. She is extremely passionate about her artwork. Not a day goes by that she doesn't have her art kit pulled out to the kitchen table making some kind of masterpiece. She is not shy or embarrassed about anything. This can be good and bad. She's the first in the car to scope out the playground before we even get out to see who her next friend can be. Her standard pick up line is "I'm Lauren, do you want to play?" She loves to dance and sing. We laugh because she still hasn't figured out how to keep a beat with the music. Rodney and I aren't the best dancers in the world, but we had hoped that our children would at least be able to clap to the music. (She's a bit like Elaine on Seinfeld) It's been so much fun watching a child so high on life begin to blossom. I have no doubt that her teenage years will be my payback for being such a troublemaker. (I'm sure my mother is secretly pleased)