my sweet candace

As I'm about to go to bed tonight, I scan the living room and kitchen. The card table is still up from where we were playing boggle earlier with the boggle game and papers strewn all over it. James left the guitar out again as well as his shoes. There is still a bottle of syrup, peanut butter and honey on the table from the crepes we had tonight. I'm exhausted, though, and ready to go to bed and clean up the mess tomorrow. But before I do, I look over at the sink. The sink is empty, but the draining board is full of dishes. Usually clean dishes belong here, but thanks to my beautiful daughter, it is packed full of dirty ones. She spent the last 15 minutes before bed time "washing the dishes." She loves to help and as I survey the mess, I'm so glad that I didn't interfere tonight. She was in heaven because she was in complete control of the "dishes" stituation. I know I have to wash them all again tomorrow, but when I look at the sink I can't help but smile.

Another story about Candace....Her closest friend in the ward/neighborhood is Brian Palmer. She loves him dearly and they play almost every day. There almost isn't a way to describe the bond they share. Only those of you who have heard her call him "Brian Palmer" (never just Brian) and have watched them play understand. His family is moving this week and Candace is distraught. She knows this has been coming for a while and talks about it frequently, but tonight as we sang primary songs as a family, she got very tearful and quickly became inconsolable. She was devastated that Brian Palmer was moving. This lasted for the next 30 minutes despite my attempts at diversions. Finally, I took her on a walk to visit her aunt Stephanie and she settled down. I grew up moving every 3-4 years my whole life. I know it's a painful experience to leave friends and have them leave you behind, but Candace is barely three years old. I did not expect this kind of reaction from her and I am totally unprepared with how to deal with it. I didn't think a three-year-old could get so emotional about this. Well, it just goes to show that there is no set pattern for kids. She continually surprises me.