Toader

As a parent of more than one child, it's a juggling act to make sure each child is given a fair dose of personal attention from mom and dad. Even on this blog, I fear I've written about some of my children more than others.

So this post is all about Lissy, my second child and who we refer to as "the Toader." Why do we call her Toad? Check out these pictures:

Lissy has huge, bulging eyes, like a toad's eyes--or like two martini olives in James Bond's glass. But we went with Toad.

Lissy will start first grade in the fall. If I were to predict what career choice Lissy will pursure based on her interests of today, I would guess she will either go into forestry, farming, veterinary science, food sciences, art, or child development. She is our domestic goddess. She loves everything "domesticky."

When I work in the garden, she's the first to help. When we find earthworms and bugs, she gets excited and grabs her bug collecting jar. When we go on hikes, she stops to pick the wild flowers and comments on the beautiful scenery. She is the first to volunteer to hold Lehua.

When Jesse our dog was hit by a car and scraped up his back legs, Lissy went into full-on emotional meltdown. Jesse almost went to doggy heaven, but Lissy's tears saved him. We couldn't put him down and dissappoint Lissy, so we paid the $750 veterenary bill to keep him alive.

She can also be very emotional and cries more than any of my other kids. In that respect, she takes after me. We've tried to help "thicken her skin" and give her tools to help her control her crying. Sometimes I'll ask her to do 10 jumping jacks. Her kindergarten teacher told me that she had Lissy get up and get a drink of water when crying ensued. One time she tried to mask her crying by saying, "Something is in the air. My eyes are watering."

She likes to follow whatever Lilia is doing, but she doesn't like Lilia or us to know she's secretly following Lilia. For example, I asked Lilia what she wanted to be when she grew up. Her answer was an artist or a chef. Then I asked Lissy what she wanted to be.

"Well, either a chef or an artist."

Lilia says, "That's what I said."

Lissy: "No, it's not."

Here's a picture of Lissy holding a feather. We were waiting outside Hot Doug's in Chicago, and Lissy and I went for a walk around the block. Leave it to Lissy to find a multi-colored feather in the grass.

This is a snack Lissy made me. I think she thinks I'm a rabbit or a gorilla or something. Grapes with cut-up vegetables. I like how she tried to make the food look pretty by spacing the grapes around the vegetables. It was delicious!

We love our Toad!