Growing up

Our girls are growing and changing and working hard everyday.

Fe made it through fifth grade and is now entering middle school!

She's maturing physically and will be ready to move out of the "training bra" stage much too soon for my taste, but is doing great at taking care of her body and learning to respect herself. She remembers to shower about every night and has started to get into the habit of brushing her beautiful hair one hundred strokes on each side at least twice a day! (This was necessary because she's not actually good at brushing her hair and the method gets most of the "rat's nests" out.)

There are a few things that she does really well like to cook and do laundry (probably because these are things that she doesn't get to do often to completion and it gives her a feeling of purpose to take a job (that I enjoy) from mom, but I appreciate it.)

She is remembering how to cook drop biscuits! We've done Sunday morning breakfast together for a while now and I generally don't use a recipe book because I tend to improvise. At first, I used the recipe. Now, I've generally stopped and use it as a reference instead of a rule book. This led to a total panic! I changed things!!! ("how dare you", she declares) It lead to a pretty long discussion about cooking being a "magical activity where you get to do TWO things at the same time!!!" Probably exactly (in her eyes) what her teacher has told her NOT to do in science or math because it can cause terrible things to happen! She had come to accept that cooking is math and science and she needs to follow the steps until she understands what she is doing and why. This was comfortable for her. it was planned and controlled and made sense.
Then... there was a little olive oil thrown in because the margarine had too much water in it and things turned out not-as-good-as-they-could-be! (AGH, that was NOT one of the directions!) and then berries got thrown in one day to sweeten the deal! (eek! different! different! different! the food might explode!!!) Fe has come to accept that cooking is not *just* math and science, it's also ART and it's okay to play around a little once you understand what's happening(!) and have a little fun. Sometimes, when you cook, it will turn out BAAAAAAD (the flour is yucky) sometimes, it's good, (cinnamon or blueberries change the taste in a very nice way.) Cooking has become a safe chance to do three things at the same time, the third things if ART, which is awesome. And without the pressure of exactness, adding the freedom to play a little, she loves it even more now.
She remembers the (very simple) recipe and can make drop biscuits without a book all by herself!!!! She can also (almost) make sausage gravy. And follow that directions on most boxed foods, and make a few basics (pb&j, cheese sandwiches, etc)
Fe loves to start a load of laundry (something I do) but also loves to see how many items she can stuff into a single load (by standing on it)!!!
She can start the drier!

Fe graduated fifth grade(!!!) and aged out of her school! (can I say that enough?) Her grades were pretty good and we're proud of her. She has worked really hard and even has a few friends to add to her good grades. Fe's teachers really enjoyed having her because she's a great person!!
She will be entering MIDDLE school (which is haunted at night, they even have a bloody locker! and if you say "Bloody Mary" in the mirror, you'll see the ghost of the person who killed herself in the bathroom and shares that bloody locker!!! I don't know how that works, I just laugh at the tradition and that people are still doing it) in the fall. While she's already had two field trips and a play at the school, she hasn't really had a chance to explore the facilities, so in the fall she gets to start a day before the older kids and get to know her school, teachers, and classroom locations a little better (because this district is smart!).

Overall, despite the fact that she is becoming a little more... physically assertive with Sunshine, and bossy all around, Fe is growing up.
RAD signs are starting to mature a little, but they're just above the NT norm right now that we can work with it. It'll be interesting to see where she goes from here, but right now, she tries occasionally to include her sister and attempts to be nonviolent most of the time. I'm forced to wonder at times if she actually NT and becoming "normal" by healing and feeling safe here!!!