Alena the Angel

Last week sometime when I was bemoaning Alena's new found grouchiness the thought crossed my mind that perhaps she hadn't changed, my hormones had. I imagine the real answer is that both of us are going through an impatient stage. Thankfully there have been a few moments in the last few days when Alena just melts my heart, and I think they would make me melty even without extra hormones.

1: The other day upon arriving at Lily's house Lily told Alena the she was drinking a juice box. Then with a bit of help she offered one to Alena. Alena, like a proper little lady, answered, "No thank you," with absolutely no prompting from me. (That is, if you don't count the hundreds of promptings from Kevin and I in the weeks preceding that day. Haha.)

2: Another day Alena and Lily were playing and I was out of the room for a bit when I heard Alena say, "Peese. I sit in the monster chair? Peese I have a turn?" No pushing, no crying, no coming to tell me to tell Lily to give it to her. Then when Lily answered, "In a minute" there was again no pushing, no crying, and no coming to tell me to tell Lily to give it to her.

3: I often ask Alena questions like, "Alena, are you a pretty girl? Alena, are you smart? Alena, are you a cutie?" She answers with, "Yeah, I peety. Yeah, I mart. Yeah, I cutie." Lately she's been cutting me off after a question or two to tell me, "I'n a . . . Child of God!" I'm going to have to thank the nursery leaders on that one. I taught that in family home evening once, but before Alena could talk. The best part of it is the enormous smile she gives when she says it, like she understands better than the rest of us that being a Child of God should bring us immense joy.

4: Yesterday morning I was listening to Elder Ballard's talk on mothers as I jogged. First just let me say that that talk is such a witness to me that Elder Ballard is truly a prophet and receives revelation from God. Old men without God's help can't possibly understand so very well how young mothers feel and what they need. As I listened to the section of what children can do to support their mothers, I got a bit emotional thinking about the day when my children will be able to thank me for clean clothes and a nice meal. Later that day I got one of the headaches I've been getting that seem impossible to get rid of and work through. I was cooking dinner a couple of hours into the headache when Alena pulled her stool up to see what I was doing. "You doing, Mommy? You cooking the food?" I told her yes. She responded, "Thank you, Mommy cooking the food." I almost melted into a puddle of love for her. But that's not all. A few minutes later when she took her first bite of the meal she said, "Mmm. It's b'licious!" And then she ate it all and didn't even ask for a peanut butter sandwich to wash it down.

It appears I have nothing to complain about, doesn't it? I love that little girl.

Dear, Courtlin. Here are some pictures of me loving that little girl. :)