Maria lately

I've had people asking me when my next blog entry would be appearing.  But I seem to have what 'real' writers call WRITER'S BLOCK. 
That, and I have had nothing inspirational happen lately. 

But, here's what Maria has done lately:

One night, she got out of the bathtub, dried herself off, got her pajamas on, and screeched, "EEEEh!" and then came running out to the living room, where myself and the big guy were lounging.  She very obviously turned her back to the big guy, and patted my arm in a panic.  The big guy said, "What's wrong Maria?  What's up?"  And she half-turned to him, pointed directly at him, and clearly said, "NO I am not talking at you.  I want to talk to MAMA."  And then she turned back at me, still in her panic, and now doing what resembled the potty dance.  I gave her my undivided attention and said, "Yes Maria?" 

And she silently pointed down at her leg.  Where there was a big, growing stain of blood on her pajama leg that was growing bigger by the second.

Then I screeched, "OMG!  Maria what happened?!"  while scooping her up and running to the bathroom.

When we got into the bathroom, she simply pointed to the bathtub, where I saw my shaving gel and razor.

She had made her first attempt at shaving her legs.  The funny thing is, she managed to not shave off any hair, only skin.

And then, last night, her prayers went something like this:
"Please let the boys have a good day at school, and please let mama get a good night sleep, and please don't let Sam fart in his class, and please make grama Velma stop dying because I like it when she is alive. Amen."
(grama Velma passed away shortly after Christmas)

And then, today, on our way to school, she was looking out her window of the van, and said, "OOOOh!  Mama!  Look at that girl's face!"

I looked out my window, at the sprawling countryside, and saw no girl's faces, and no girls ... actually no humans, no animals, no nothing.  So I said, "What?  What girl's face?  Where?"

And I watched her in my mirror, as she pointed out her window, and said, "See the cloud over there?  See the girl's face in it?  It looks like me and Estella!"

I looked over at the cloud, trying to make out the face that she was apparently seeing.  But I just wasn't seeing her vision.  I slowed way down, and stared out my window, squinting and trying to study the cloud ... and I mean really studying it, looking for any hint of the shape of a face, but not seeing it. 

So then I got excited and I started pressing her for more details, thinking maybe, just maybe she could see an angel or GOD ... something that only she could see.

She just kept talking about "that face, that girl's face over there in that cloud, it looks just like me and Estella".

I figured that was pretty special.  It really warmed my heart.  And I smiled.  Since clearly my daughter is gifted and can see things nobody else can.

But then, this afternoon we were in the van once again, and I turned to look at her, and I realized that she was only looking at her own reflection in her window. 

And that's what Maria has been up to lately.