Life Update

 A few weeks ago I took the kids to Utah for South Weber Days, it's a family tradition. On the plane Kate was sitting next to me, she was tired and had her head on my shoulder and her arm draped over my lap. It was chilly, it always is on airplanes, and Kate was sharing my jacket as a blanket. I looked down at her long, graceful arm, letting my eyes follow to her hand. Longest fingers ever. Her wrists are even long. I don't know if others see it, if they notice her long limbs. I know they notice her height, people comment on it all of the time. Especially when they find out she is only 11. She will be 12 in October. But still. It used to break my heart a little when someone commented on how tall she is, but she is so happy to be tall at the moment, I try to take it in stride. I pray her growing with slow down, even stop. I don't tell her that I pray for this, but I do. Constantly. Not only so she doesn't have these things that might set her apart from others, but so her heart and back can remain steady, no more enlarging, no more scoliosis questions. 

I have this little thing for books, some people might know this about me. One thing I like to do in Utah is take my kids to a bunch of second hand book stores and see what treasures we will find. This trip I took my two nieces with me. The blond is the same grade in school as Kate. The brunette is a couple years younger. But the difference in height is staggering. Granted, my side of the family was not gifted with height in any way, shape, or form. I try to convince myself that the difference is really because I come from a family who is vertically challenged.

Kate is as enthusiastic as ever with life. She has been over a year not eating any meat other than fish. She did go full vegetarian for about 6 months, but the call of fish was too strong and she went back to being a fish girl.  She and Noah have had some animated conversations about animal cruelty and the health benefits of not eating meat. She darn near went total vegan, but I told her if she wanted to do that I would take her shopping, but she would be in charge of all of her meals and would have to chart how she was meeting her nutritional standards. Not sure if that felt like too much work, but she decided against it. I have to give her props, she makes up her mind about something and sticks to it. Amazing little kiddo.