Our 1-year old is very much in a clingy stage right now. So much so that I rarely feel as if I can walk into another room without her little arms wrapped around my calves.
Often she and Mac have a battle royale to sit on my lap or to be picked up.
Watching our independent 7-year old it is hard to imagine she could have ever been so clingy. At last night's spaghetti dinner and book sale, she darted off with an independence encouraged by being surrounded by school friends and family. She also brought her own money to buy books herself. We counted it together before we left home: $3.34, in nickels, dimes, pennies and quarters.
Veronica loves books and plunked herself on the floor in the "bookstore" while the rest of the family ate and socialized. (She's also a very social child, when her nose is not in a book, mind you.)
Several friends commented on her progress--her arms loaded with stacks of books--throughout the evening when suddenly she appeared at my side.
"I need $48," she said, casually.
I learned afterwards that she had taken her books to the register, they had rung her up and she had held out her change, her handfuls of coinage tossed into a Hello Kitty purse. They politely told her she needed more money.
I couldn't stifle a laugh but I did winnow down her selections, making mental notes of some of the others (for Christmas gifts). We bought her and her brother a book apiece. (Oddly without Veronica's money appearing.) I'll go back and get some of the ones she wants as surprises.
I really enjoyed watching her independence, while noting that Veronica's may still be dictated by strings, but not the mommy strings, as with Petra. Rather while Veronica's independence is growing in some areas, it is shrinking in others with shorter purse strings. In a lot of ways (with this economy), those are the much stronger ones.
But it will only be time before she figures out that keeping her room clean, brings about an allowance, which will mean...I should buy some stock in Scholastic Books.
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