Where does she get this stuff?

SS is now able to secure herself in her carseat, although she can't get the bottom part open yet. But it is a milestone and progress. Last week SS was on her carseat and had something on her mind. "Mama, you guys have to buy me a new carseat, this one is old, REALLY old, like 1970 old." Seriously, where does she get that from?  The thing is that SS is right, her carseat is past its expiration date.  And yes, carseats have expiration dates, and living in Southern California, the heat does a job on the integrity of the plastic.

P and I are a bit at odds as to what to get SS. I would like to keep SS in a carseat for as long as possible, due to her petite frame.  P feels that since SS is nearing her 8th birthday, a booster is more appropriate for her age. Most of the kids her age are using backless boosters, but I really don't care. Backless boosters are not safe, and most kids SS's age out weight her by at least 30 pounds. Looks like a compromise is in order, a five point harness booster seat. I can live with that compromise, because SS will be secured in the same manner she is in her carseat. We found a Britax booster at Babies R Us, all we have to do now is read Consumer Reports to find out the safety rating. Yet another milestone that brings home the fact that our baby is far gone, we are definitely in big girl land. The more SS grows, the more we go back to reconsidering whether we want her to be our last child. I know, here we go again, but we are talking and considering extending our Summer of 2015 deadline to decide if we are gong to put ourselves through the emotional rollercoaster that is adoption. On the bright side, the outcome makes up for all the emotional suffering.

Last week SS and I had our Saturday in pajamas and movie day.  We watched Transformers: Age of Extinction. As soon as the movie was over SS hopped out of bed and made a beeline to her Legos. She spent hours making her own Bots. We are still amazed at her concentration when she is creating something with Legos. It is not a phase for SS, she is deeply entrenched in her Lego world. 

Very proud of her Bots.

October is a fun month and since there are cool Halloween shirts to wear, uniforms get a break.

SS is doing really well with her reading and exceeding the required 15 minutes a day. Last week she wanted to read her Lego The Movie book. The book is basically the movie in written form, and is a long book. SS read for 90 minutes, and P had to stop her, because she was showing some fatigue. It's tough to read out loud for that long, but SS loves anything Lego or Super Hero. I talked to the school librarian Friday and she told me that it breaks her heart to deny SS super hero books. In Kinder and first grade SS could check out whatever books she wanted. But in second grade she can only check out AR rated books. I told the librarian not to fret, because SS has plenty of super hero reading material at home. That made her feel a little bit better, but she said it still upsets her having to deny SS.