Opal at 34 Months

Opal continues to keep us on our toes, and bring laughter and frustration to our days.  She knows what she wants and doesn't want, and she talks non stop with us, but only says "mama" when she is being shy with people outside of her home.  A friend of ours had fun with her the other day when we were playing outside and started asking her questions like: who's your favorite person?  To which Opal responded "mama."  After a string of mama answers he asked her, "Who's the worst cook?" and my smart and sweet girl looked at him with her mouth tightly pressed shut.  She knows who feeds her!   

I'm worried that her shyness could be a result of her being quarantined for more than a third of her life.  Here she is above, at the Chiropractor with Will.  Besides doctor appointments, she really doesn't go anywhere inside.  Here she is below, waiting in the car with Emma, Violet and me while Lucy was at an eye doctor appointment with Will.  She got quiet, and so I looked behind me to see her sniffing empty sucker wrappers.  

Maybe the young kids of COVID will be the kind of people who find joy in even the smallest things, like sniffing empty candy wrappers while waiting in a car for two hours.  Really, is this such a bad consequence of quarantine?  Here Opal is below, helping Will read a story for his school district's social media.  I am hoping online socializing doesn't leave lasting scars for this generation.

Opal loves playing with PlayDoh, and I am a lover and a hater of PlayDoh.  It is never just a quick thing - it is a time investment for sure.  The reason I love it, is that PlayDoh can keep Opal happy for at least an hour, sometimes more, in educational play.  The reason I hate it though, is that the mess feels like it takes at least an hour to clean up.  No free ride!

You might know Opal is the youngest of a brood of kids by the way I use snacks to keep her happy and keep her quiet.  I would have never parented Lucy or even Emma and Violet like this - snacks were at set times and only at the table.  Opal snacks around the clock and there is evidence of that in the appearance of our carpet and the wrappers left in random places like the empty yogurt tube I found on the couch the other day.  She loves these organic yogurt tubes from Trader Joe's and refuses to eat any other brand or kind.  A true foodie.  We put it in the freezer, and then they don't make a mess when she squeezes the yogurt out.  The only mess then being, the wrappers left in various locations.

Favorite phrases heard from Opal this past month:

A loud crash came forth from her sister's room and Opal from her bed, when she should have been sleeping, yelled out, "That didn't sound good!"

When I need to get something done with minimal interruptions, I will assign one of the older sisters to "Opal Duty" without giving much thought to how that may make Opal feel.  Well, I shouldn't worry, as the other day I heard Opal entice a reluctant Violet to play with her by saying, "Violet, you are on Opal Duty!"

When Will comes home from work, Opal will talk nonstop to him about her day and he always asks the questions, "Did anyone talk to her today?"  To which we all respond, "Alllllll day."  

Opal, we never smiled nearly as much until there was you!