I Tried to Explain the Tooth Fairy, but I think that got lost in translation.....

Most nights when K goes to bed, she will jump under the covers and pull them up to her chin and turn away from me and Ava. (She is sharing a room with my middle one and I have to sit with A to make her go to sleep.) When i try to hug her goodnight, she is stiff as a board. She won't acknowledge me or even say good night. Really, any touch towards her gets met with stiffness. I have tried to just do simple things to let her know we're not going to be rough or mean....mostly I pat her back or hand. At night, because she jumps into bed so fast after we pray together, I will kind of pat/scratch her arm and/or kiss the top of her head. I haven't actually tried to hug her goodnight in a few days since I sensed she was tense at night.

So tonight, she gets in bed and stays facing me as I walk across the room towards her. I hadn't planned on hugging her, but she reached out and initiated a nice hug and then said good night! I couldn't believe it! I was so happy, I tucked A in as fast as I could and then ran out to find Gabe to tell him.

We had an overall good day. Two of mine weren't so great, but by the afternoon, all was well. K jumped in and helped my oldest clean her room. (And I mean, they CLEANED it. Under the bed, under the mattress {which is another story in itself} and the closet.) J has embraced K and told me she likes having K as an older sister; she thinks she is fun! They even came to the table holding hands. Then we all had a silly evening playing Wii bowling. There was lots of laughing and smack talking. Every time Gabe does something funny, she calls him Mr Bean, and then dies laughing.

She is showing her dare devil side too, and I think if and when we have issues, it will probably be from that. She is really compliant and helpful otherwise. Oh, and she talked a lot today too. Lots. Gabe all of a sudden at dinner demonstrated some new Russian words he had learned from a guy he works with (whose wife is Russian) and that brought lots of giggles too.

Too bad she couldn't follow his story of a bug literally jumping in his throat while he was out watering the tomatoes.....