today my one and only little girl turned 8. we are frequently on vacation on mary polly’s birthday, which i think is fun. i would certainly always prefer a getaway to a party, and so i guess we’re raising her to feel the same way.

she and taido had a date in town after our morning hike. they had lunch at a mexican restaurant, went shopping at a fun toy store and, big surprise, stopped into a mountaineering shop called the alpineer. she got new hiking socks and moleskin for a blister on her ankle. jerusalem made us a great banner and a precious birthday girl crown, which she has been sporting for most of the day, along with a darling apron i got for my little kitchen helper. we had brownies for a cake. chinese takeout for dinner, her choice. she talked to grace and emily this morning, and kindell and corinne this afternoon. her little heart is spread out all over the place. but it doesn’t seem to bother her. she is enjoying a new polly pocket, drawing in her notebook and putting stickers on cards. one of the things i love most about my girl is that she is incredibly capable of making her own fun. she doesn’t necessarily need a lot of pomp, not that she doesn’t enjoy the occasional blown out affair, but she is just fine with hanging out, chit-chatting, drawing, reading and thinking up elaborate imaginary schemes.

mary polly has changed a lot this year. she has grown and changed on the outside. she is taller, her feet are bigger, she chopped off her hair and recently acquired glasses. but the biggest changes haven’t been external. for me, the deepest change has been the one that has turned her from little girl to mother hen. she is a different person as the big sister of our little simon. she is fiercely protective. and has a fairly amazing constant sense of where he is and what he’s doing. i knew that having simon would change all of us, but it has brought out a side of mary polly that i have treasured getting to know. she can be this way with her cousins as well. it is sweet to me. i have seen her actually feel responsibility in a way that other children might feel about chores or possessions. before we had simon, i was a little afraid of how little mary polly attatched herself. she cannot be bribed if she thinks you might be trying to control her, which of course, i always am. it is very difficult to motivate her, which can be frustrating for me, since i rule the roost by external motivation. this is shaky ground anyway, as i have learned in the last year with cole who previously always responded to my reward systems. but mary polly hasn’t ever really responded to them. if i threaten to take away ten beans, she will belligerently dump her entire jar out back into the bean container (the bean system is one of many i have developed to motivate my children to do what i want them to do. it has met with varying degrees of success among the chino kiddos). mary polly defies the bean system, and in fact, all systems. she pretty much does just what she wants. grounded from the computer. fine, she’ll read. can’t come out of her room until it is clean. fine, she’ll just stay there and daydream. fine. she has developed many subtle ways of what pretty much amounts to giving us the finger, but with her own little sassy style. but mary polly and simon. that’s different. simon brings her out of herself. she gives to him. freely. fully. she gave up her room for him. she reads to him. she carries him on her little eight year old hip. when they are apart from each other and then she comes home, they are ecstatic to see one another. on the way out here, she gave him back his passy about 3000 times, however many times he threw it at her. she rubbed his little head when he was crying to get out of his car seat, which was a whole lot of the car ride. she loves him. crazy love. i want to always remember this year that she mothered simon with me, because i know he will begin to annoy her more from here on out. he is growing out of babyhood. he hits and bites. but for now, she still loves him with abandon. and i will remember how much she can love.

she can light up a room with her smile. but her heart. i want her to hold light and love in her heart. for always. i pray that i will remember eight when she is about fifteen.  because eight is just precious.