Happy flowers?

Um, first of all, how can it already be March?  Somehow I have gotten out of the habit of updating this blog.  It has been a tad bit busy around here (school, swim lessons, Lego Physics, ballet, etc.) so I guess I haven't been sitting around twiddling my thumbs.  But I am going to try my best to post updates more often than once every three months.  So let's get back to life in the Nelson household, already in progress.

Let's review:

Pretty flowers?  check!

The preferred color of pink? check!

Squeals of delight from the resident almost 4-year old, pink flower lover?  no check?

This was the unexpected response I received today after bringing home these lovely flowers from Trader Joe's.  Instead of happy Kaitlin, I got sad, crying Kaitlin.  And the reason?  She wanted the other flowers to still be on our table, the ones that lasted for nearly a month and just recently looked less than stellar.  I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised since she is our creature of habit, wants-things-her-way-or-no-way, will-only-eat-rice-and-soy-sauce-for-lunch child.  Actually we have two children who are creatures of habit (minus the rice and soy sauce part though).  But still.  The flowers are pink!

Here's another example.  I recently bought The Game of Life.  I had previously been a little hesitant in buying it since it says for ages 9+.  But Jack said he plays it at school sometimes, and I always loved to play it as a kid, so I picked it up.  There is a lot more to this game than I remembered and soon realized why it is for ages 9 and up (paying taxes, taking out bank loans to pay for college and to buy a house . . . it really is like real life!).  But with lots of help from us, we've had fun playing.  Except when it comes to picking careers.  Kaitlin wants to be a Teacher and only a Teacher.  And the couple times we've played she has landed on the square that says "Lose your job."  She cries hysterically!  So we let her keep her job (we just say it's a "new" teacher job) to keep her happy and the game going.  Now, she doesn't always get her way (despite what you might think) but sometimes, the battles just aren't worth fighting.  And being a teacher is a lovely occupation and she certainly loves her teachers.

Now, if we could only get her to eat something other than rice and soy sauce for lunch . . .