Liberty Update

Oh Liberty...she is so unbelievably amazing.  She is so smart, so funny, and so sweet.  Scott and I are are so blessed to be her parents.

We are 75 days into her Kindergarten year.  It has been a very fun and interesting experience educating her at home (follow her homeschool blog http://www.thehaasschool.blogspot.com/).  She loves it and so do I.  I can't imagine her being away at school for most of the day and missing out on this precious time with her. 

She has finally come through the phase where she is terrified of everything.  She is still very scared of storms (particularly tornadoes), but who isn't :).  She is gaining more confidence in herself and learning that Scott and I will do our best to protect her.  Beyond that, she is learning to trust God and His ultimate sovereignty in all things.

We have also recently gone through a very difficult stage of tantrums and pushing and testing her limits.  Whew...I am happy to report that this stage seems to be on its way out as well.  Scott and I learned during this time that she is definitely over-indulged and needs a little more structure in her life.  We are working hard on this and it is already paying off.

While both of these phases have definitely been challenging, life with Liberty is always fun and enjoyable.  She is definitely a passionate and sensitive little girl.  This can lead to some pretty stubborn standoffs, but more frequently her sensitivity manifests in sweet gestures of kindness and affection.  She is very "tuned-in" to others and has such a heart to please.

She continues to adore Emory and vice-versa.  She cares for her all the time and mostly without any prompting from me.  She picks out her clothes, gives her toys, plays with her, finds her missing binkies, and tries to make her laugh.  It is so sweet and I absolutely love watching them together.

One of the greatest Liberty moments I have caught on video is below (for those reading on facebook, go to my blog to check it out--its worth it :)!).  She LOVES music.  It doesn't matter what kind of music it is--everything from rock to country.  Recently, she has decided that classical music is her favorite and we rarely listen to anything else.  I captured this video in the car.  She was in her carseat and completely unaware that I was even filming her.  She was lost in her own little world and it is absolutely priceless.  Scott and I are contemplating how we will foster her love of music since neither of us are musically gifted.

Currently her favorite movie is Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus.  Actually, all her Barbie movies are in the top 10 and she owns 9!  I guess 10th place would go to Ratatouille.  She also loves to play Barbies.  She has two "Ken" dolls.  One is named Ken (obviously) and the other she calls John :).  She cracks me up.  Her Ken dolls are always such gentlemen and they treat Barbie so well.  I hope we are teaching her what to look for in her future husband :).

She is also really into cooking in her pretend kitchen and playing video games.  The video games are a recent development.  A few weeks ago she asked that I get out one of our old game systems.  It has all the original nintendo and sega games on it.  We started playing games like Super Mario Bros. and Contra.  Of course, Scott and I just loved be transported back to our childhood and spending the time playing with Liberty was an extra special bonus.  We were all enjoying this new family activity so much that I started contemplating buying a Wii.  However, my cheapness has won over for now and I just ended up getting our old playstation 2 out.  I let her pick out a new game and she chose Lego Indiana Jones.  So, for the past few weeks, Liberty and Scott have been conquering there way through this game (I can't play because I have unbelieveable vertigo and cannot play games where the characters move in multiple directions).  While I have mixed feelings about children spending hours on end playing video games, I have decided that as long as we keep it a family activity that it should be ok--at least for now.

Liberty also continues to enjoy tumbling and cheerleading.  We changed gyms this session and she really likes it.  I am much happier with the quality of the instruction and the atmosphere. 

Currently her favorite food would have to be pizza.  She cannot get enough of it!  She is also drinking gallons of orange juice.  Her food phases crack me up.  I never know from month to month what she will be into.

She loves to be read to.  I cannot wait until she can read herself.  It is one of my favorite things to do and I hope she will share a love of reading as well.

Scott and I love that she is such a big girl.  Not that she is just growing up, but that she is so mature in many ways.  Granted, she definitely has her 5-year-old moments, but she is very articulate, and trustworthy, and she knows her own limits.  We love that we can have conversations with her and that she absorbs what we say.  She is very contemplative and after she thinks on things for a while, she will come back and ask questions.  I love that she is still so innocent.  Her little mind can barely process evil and cruelty.  She truly is the greatest.  I can't wait to see the women she grows up to be!