MJ update

MJ is a very smart and challenging girl at times.  She has such a temper, but when she is in a good mood and happy she can be very sweet and loving.  A couple of Sundays ago MJ had a yucky nose and I didn't feel like she should be in nursery so I kept her with me part of the time in the primary room.  At one point MJ walked up to the front of the room along one side of the room where there are cupboards covering the wall.  Each of the cupboards is labeled with a letter of the alphabet, starting with A and I think going all the way to P in the back of the room.  MJ noticed the letters on the cupboards and starts pointing at each one and naming the letter.  She walked all the way to the back of the room pointing and naming the letters as she went.  She didn't get them all correct, but she was probably around 75% right.  One of the teachers heard her and looked back at me and said, "She's a smart girl!"

Whenever we come home in the van, MJ likes to sit out in the car afterwards and fasten the buckles in her car seat and then play in the van.  Sometimes I will let her just play in there so that I can get some work done in the front yard or to take the groceries in the house.  She is definitely a button pusher and I always have a fun time resetting everything in the car when I get back in to drive it again.

A couple of days ago I had opened up the dishwasher to get something out of it and MJ came over, saw that it was open and proceeded to unload it (and luckily the dishes were clean).  It was cute watching her work and try and figure out where to put things.  She even asked me to open up the silverware drawer so that she could put the silverware in it and she was telling me what everything was as she unloaded it.  She also stacked several of the plastic cups.

Monday evening we were getting ready for family home evening and MJ was not in the best mood because I had just taken my ipad away from her so I suggested that we sing some songs to try and distract her.  So we sang Popcorn Popping and Book of Mormon Stories.  We did actions with both of the songs and then we got ready to say a prayer.  Just as we were about to say the prayer, MJ sits down and starts babbling/singing and moving her hands around.  We sat and watched her for a few seconds before we realized that she was trying to sing the popcorn song and was trying to do some of the actions with it.  So we sang the song once more a little slower for her and she was able to come in with some of the words and was trying to do the actions with us.  After we finished again she sat there and was singing and babbling to herself for a few more minutes.  It was really cute to watch.  (She can also sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and can do a pretty good job with it.)

MJ also loves music and loves to dance to it.  Whenever she hears some music that has a good beat to it she will stop whatever she is doing and start dancing to it and she will usually try and get our attention and say, "Dance, dance."

I know that she gets frustrated sometimes because she just wants to help or participate and we either don't recognize that or don't have the time to let her help...