The day is going better.  School is done.  Paul came home for lunch and I have been working in Eden’s room which is a little hell hole. I have been trying to deal with it for weeks as it is a constant drain of energy and self esteem.  It’s almost completed.  I encouraged the messy little lassie to help me, giving her small tasks to complete.

She lolled on the bed and whined, “I can’t.  I’m too tired.  I’m just a little girl, Mom!”

Once she understood that the alternative to helping was to take a nap, she began to work. Everything in me wants to abandon ship but I am committed to getting everything cleared out. We have sorted through her big basket of books and she has a large pile for Goodwill and a smaller pile for her baby cousin.  I showed her a Mercer Mayer book called, “My Family” and she said,

“Oh I want to keep that one.  It’s…” she thought for a moment, “presuss to me.”