This time you don’t need tissues.

I meant for Gracie’s birthday letter to be a little bit more about who she is at five instead of how gosh-darn much I love her…and then it went even beyond that and dissolved into a puddle of goo. So today I simply bring you 10 things Gracie loves and 10 things she really, really hates.

Things Gracie loves:

1. Rock n’ Roll. If I had to pick her favorite band, I’d say it was The Eagles. Or Tom Petty. Recently, she said to me (out of the clear blue, by the way), “Mommy, I heard rock n’ roll and it was beautiful.”
2. Food. The quickest way to get the girl to shape up is threaten to take away her dessert privilege. She loves cheese, corn, chocolate, gum, lemon pepper chicken, salmon, and macaroni with sauce (and “pepper”, which is really parmesan cheese).
3. Reading. After we opened up her presents yesterday – which included a new summer wardrobe, the flip flops she’s been begging for, Barbie furniture, and a basketball hoop – she immediately asked me to read her one of the books she got. Like, Oh, thank goodness the presents are out of the way. Now I can see what else happens to Laura from Little House on the Prairie.
4. Shoes. Seriously. She loves shoe shopping. She wants cowgirl boots. Flip flops. Two kinds of sneakers. She can spot a bogo sale faster than any ten people I know.
5. Following the rules. I mentioned yesterday how she takes getting in trouble very much to heart. She hates disappointing her teacher, me, Daddy, or anyone in charge. Her manners are spectacular when we’re in public and when we read? She raises her hand to ask a question. Please, please let that rub off on Bee some day.
6. Little Einsteins. It doens’t matter how many times she’s watched the same episodes – it will keep her riveted every time. Last night she said she didn’t want that particular episode, but then she changed her mind. “Never mind,” she said, “I thought it was the one with Shubert.” Oh. Yeah. That one. Sheesh.
7. Talking. My mom used to ask my sister and I if our tongues were tired. Now I know why. Who knew listening to little people could be so. darn. exhausting! I love the kid to death, but a little quiet every now and then would NOT kill her.
8. Driving me crazy. She can do it like no one else can. Except maybe Bee. And don’t tell me those listening skills gets turned off accidentally.
9. Being bossy. She likes to tell me what’s for dinner. She thinks she is Bee’s second parent. She likes to “suggest” my orders with a cheerful, “I know! Let’s do blah blah instead!” Unfortunately for her, I already called dibs on bossy.
10. Sharing. This one is just to confuse me. She shares being Line Leader in the morning (yes, we do that here, too). She shares her dinner. Her snacks. Even her chocolate! I told you she was amazing.

Things Gracie Really, Really, REALLY hates:

1. Green beans. They make her gag and throw up. No, it’s not her superb actressing skills – it’s a genuine retch.
2. Letting anyone chose a song on the radio besides herself. (How did I miss Being In Control on her list of things she loves?)
3. Not getting her way. Ooooh, the whine never comes out faster. Most of the time Gracie acts much older than she is. But when I tell her no? Instantaneously, terribly two.
4. Cheeseheads. Any team we’re rooting against, she calls the Cheeseheads. God bless her.
5. Having assigned seating in the car. Usually she loves order and predictability. Lately, she’s been jonesing to sit in Bee’s seat in the car. I tell her no. See #3.
6. Getting up early. She ignores me. Then whines. Then screams and cries and tries to go all spaghetti limbs on me. I threaten to take away a privilege and everything but the crying magically disappears.
7. Sleeping late. You’d think this would be a contradiction. Maddeningly, it’s not. She only sleeps a whopping twenty minutes later on the weekends. It’s enough to drive a momma to the brink of insanity.
8. Thunderstorms. It’s enough to make her scale her way up my side without any help whatsoever. I kinda hate them myself, so I don’t really mind.
9. When the plug-ins don’t work on my computer and she can’t play Elmo or Playhouse Disney. Tell me about it, kid.
10. When she can’t get something right. She’ll give it a few tries, but then the frustration sinks in and she yells and slams her fist on the table, or yells, “I can’t DO IT, Mom!” She gets an A for effort (and for letting out the feelings), but I hope this is something we can work on. It hits too close to home.

So there you go! I’d like to add Youtube and Football as runners-up for Things Gracie Loves, because I just now thought of them. This is just some of what I was trying to write about yesterday before I went all She’sJustAwesomeBecauseOhMyGodSheIS! I can’t wait to see how many different ways she’s awesome next year, because you just know she’s going to mix it up just to keep me on my toes.

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Tags: birthdays, children, dislikes, likes