September 23, 2003 - 9:54 a.m.

Birthday Bragging

Today is M's 7th birthday, so I thought I would do a little bragging about her. While all three of the kids I work with are wonderful most of the time and aggravating once in a while, I have a soft spot for M. I think it mainly has to do with the fact that we are both the middle child of three, which produces certain personality traits that we have in common. I am more able to sympathize with M than the other two much of the time.

She really is a wonderful child, all bias aside. I remember the day I first met her. She stood slightly behind her big sister, shyly, but smiled her charming smile at me in a very friendly way nonetheless. It wasn't long before I discovered her infectious giggle, either. Though she is a touch shy, she opens up readily once she has a chance to get aquainted with you. She can make friends with just about anyone, because she is naturally caring, helpful, and aims to please. She's loyal to a fault, as evidenced by her adoration of her headless, threadbare, stuffed Peter Rabbit. Though she just started first grade, she is already reading chapter books on her own, can write in cursive or print, and can do simple addition or subrtraction.

M is naturally pretty quiet, but she is also very energetic. She loves gymnastics and soccer, was quite proud to start riding her bike without training wheels last spring, and has huge calluses on her hands from spending all her playground time on the monkey bars. She also has a great imagination and loves to pretend with stuffed animals and occasionally dolls.

Like her sister, M is not particularly girly. She prefers jeans to dresses and sports to dancing. She loves to dig up worms and catch frogs in the backyard. She has a great love of nature, especially birds and butterflies. She's the best of the three kids at cleaning up after herself, but certainly isn't afraid of making a mess.

I am very proud to be her nanny, and feel lucky to get to work with such a wonderful child every day. There have been many times when M's hugs have saved me from totally losing my temper or that her giggle has brightened my day. Like everyone who gets to know her, I love her dearly.

Happy Birthday M!

today's project: spoiling the birthday girl

musing about: what to get M for her b-day

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