What She's Teaching Me (with the help of others!)

Hannah with our "Aunt Anni"

I continue to struggle with Hannah.

Not in a "she's driving me crazy" way (although that sometimes happens of course) but in a "What do I do with her?" type of way.

From the time she was very little, she didn't like to do things that all the books tell you a two/three/four-year-old would like to do.

From the time she was very little, all the things that had worked with my first three kids, did diddly with Hannah Joy.

It has actually been other people who have given me ideas with her. They've suggested things (or even initiated them) and in my mind I am thinking: She's four. She can't do THAT.

And then she does. Take my friend Anni for example. She had the idea to sew with Hannah. Sew? Like with a needle and thread.

YES! And not only did she actually sew, she sewed well, she sat and focused for well over an hour, and she started threading her own needle.

(Let me compare that to Abigail who started sewing at the same time. Abigail has always been an "old soul" but she can't focus nearly as long as Hannah at anything that isn't a sport: gymnastics or ballet particularly. But Hannah can sit in a chair when the right activity comes along and go and go and go.)

I honestly was so blown away by what Hannah was doing that I had to take a video to show everyone what she was doing. Quite something.