A Season of "Finally!" and "At Last!"

This Fall has been filled with a series of much-anticipated firsts for the Uber-Princess. It began with the start of kindergarten in August, which came at last for this little girl whose birthday misses the age requirement cutoff for our school district by NINE DAYS. Last year when a bunch of her neighborhood friends started kindergarten, Uber-Princess watched them go--without her. With her good-natured disposition, she seemed to let it go easily. But inside she was cataloguing that and all the other events that had to be put off for the year.

Now this year she has welcomed those things with gusto: her first day at our elementary school, the first day of soccer, the first day of Awana, her first field trip. At long last she gets to do all these things that she has been watching her sisters do for years. And she is loving every minute of it.

On our way home from her last soccer game this weekend (played in cold temps, drizzle and even some hail), she proudly wore her soccer medal. "I got my very first medal," she proclaimed to her sister, who had taken shelter in our minivan during the final minutes of the game. Blessedly her sister (Timid Daughter) congratulated her on it. I think TD gets it - this whole waiting thing. After all, she watches Little Miss History going before her and continues to wait for her turn to come for things like Outdoor Ed (fifth grade) and Safety Patrol (4th/5th grade).

And now today the Uber-Princess hovered around Amusing Dad and I as we sat chatting on our couch after dinner. She couldn't wait to get started on making her car for the Awana pinecar derby. Once Amusing Dad was free, she proudly marched down the stairs behind him to his workshop. Pretty soon the sound of power tools buzzing and humming issued from our basement. About a half hour later the Uber-Princess emerged, a satisfied grin on her face, muttering about having all the 60's and 150's and 200's lined up for tomorrow. Huh? A moment later Amusing Dad showed up to explain that he had things all set for her to start sanding the next day and she knew just what to do to go through the grits. Yep, she'd been waiting for years to have a car to work on with Dad. She knew plenty already from watching her sisters. She was ready. Finally. At last. It was her turn.