The Harris Family: Introducing Sunshine Rainbow Butterfly.

THAT is what I am convinced we should have named Ella, had we known her personality before birth. Good gravy this child is a free spirit, which can be good and bad at times. The good: I LOVE her imagination and the fact that she cannot make it through one single hour in the day without flitting around the house like a fairy and she loves to play pretend games and again with the flitting around. The bad: The child cannot pay attention to anything for more than about, oh, 7 seconds. And that's a generous estimate. Since she is my first kid I have no clue if this is completely normal for a 3 year old girl, or I have a space cadet on my hands who is destined to be the kid in school always gazing longingly out the window, chin in hand, daydreaming about clouds. Don't get me wrong, I love her creativity and her sweet way of being a little bit dippy at times. I just don't love it ALL the time. Like when I'm, say, trying to get her to just get dressed already so we can race out to the car to get somewhere on time. And we do not have twenty minutes to sit around and ponder the intricacies of the pattern on the rug in the hallway and why don't ponies have wings but birds do?

I am more convinced than ever that she should have been named something like Butterfly after today's soccer game. Now, I was just glad that the day didn't involve crying, screaming, or tantrums, so we didn't really mind that Ella seemed more interested in laying down on the grass and looking at the clouds go by than actually playing soccer. We had been talking up the whole "The MOST important thing in soccer is to just have FUN! And do your very best!" thing all week long in anticipation of the game. And think we did a pretty damn good job at getting that through to her, because she most definitely had fun...rolling down the hill, picking clovers, and running up and down the soccer field during time-outs. And, as she pointed out, she was "doing her best" while rolling down the hill. Oy. She did exactly what we asked her to do...she had fun and did her best, just not at soccer. She did play for about 10 or 15 minutes, though, and actually got the ball a couple of times. But then she decided that this whole soccer thing? just wasn't fun anymore and gosh darn it Mom and Dad told me to HAVE FUN. So she ran off the field and started dancing about. Then she ran back onto the field and danced about. And took a bow. On the field. During the game. We're signing her up for dance class this summer where she can flit about to her heart's content, and she may never wear cleats again. Fine by me, my little Moon Pixie Dewdrop.

In the game! Actually playing, sans tears or meltdowns or whining!