5 going on 15 going on 2

Sometimes Sarah acts like a regular old five-year-old. Like when she decided that she should wear her swimming suit exclusively for about a week. That was really awesome. Here I was just finally getting into the groove with the skirts and dresses only phase (I had just purchased a bunch of new choices and had gone weeks without arguing her into pants.) I put up with it until we needed to leave the apartment. Like the terrific mother that I am, I absolutely forbid her from going out in just her swimming suit. It was, after all, a cold rainy spell, and people would look at us like we were nuts traipsing around in a swimming suit anyway. Her solution to the problem was to put on a skirt, some rain boots, goggles, and sunglasses. In her defense, she was prepared for nearly every weather possibility, but I vetoed the outfit anyway. She seems five when she writes cute little notes to her friends or draws adorable pictures of our family. She also appears five when she tickles and plays with Zach and makes him laugh like no one else can as well as when she teases him and pushes him and makes him cry.

Sometimes she acts like she is 15. Like when she informed me that she needs to borrow my "eye make-up." Or when she decided that we needed to go to the store and buy brown hair dye and dye her hair and cut it just like the girl in some movie. Or when she decided that I needed to take her to the haircut place and get her hair curled so it is curly all the time. Perhaps the real kicker was when she decided she simply must have her own phone for all of her important phone calls. Or when she says, "Hello" to begin every single sentence. For example, "Hello--I said I wanted Corn Pops for breakfast." Or when she told me that she needed red lipstick. Um, hello, no!

She also often acts like she is two-years-old. She is simply not capable of putting her own socks on. She recently wore a polka dot shirt with a polka dot skirt in which the polka dots were not at all complementary. Every possible opportunity for having a temper tantrum in a public place is seized upon. That presented a lovely experience in the neighborhood Barnes and Noble this week. At times she becomes incapable of dressing herself. She can't possibly turn a movie on for herself because she doesn't know how to work the remotes--you know, the remotes that she basically taught me how to use.

Now I'm wondering how old she is going to be tomorrow. I'm hoping for five--minus the swimming suit, of course.