The Butterfly Who Wouldn't Shut Up

We've called Honor our Butterfly since she was teensie-tiny. As soon as she was mobile, she flittered and fluttered from adoring fan to adoring fan, beaming her smile and verbally sharing everything on her heart. It's hard not to smile around her. She is innocent and hopeful and full of dreams. Some days I fear there isn't a pragmatic bone in her body. I worry that life could crush the optimism out of her. I worry that her cheerfulness won't be appreciated by a world that generally finds bubbly personalities annoying. I worry that I'll ring her neck.

Not really.

I do worry that I will be the one crushing her dreams. And, in all honesty, I do occasionally find her zeal annoying. I have to be the pragmatic one that settles her down to business. The mean one who makes her stop the incessant chattering. But it's also easy to convince her that I'm the fun one, simply by setting out a tea party.

playing indian princess at the pumpkin patch, happily coated in dirt and hay

She's messy as all get out. Her room is packed full of her collections. The only thing she ever throws out are old drawings. This makes me gasp because they truly are adorable drawings and I'm shocked she can part with them. She sees nothing wrong with it because she has 5000 more in her head. If she is ever a famous artist, I will mourn the many drawings we've thrown away. (do you see where she gets her pack-rat tendencies?)

She is sweet and reasonable and nearly always easy to parent. Her one struggle is making herself stop doing something fun in order to do something not as fun. Time to pick up? You can see her wondering whether I mean it or not...whether I'll notice if she plays for 5 more minutes.  Or maybe I'll forget altogether. But she is very honest (finally) and will tell you if you ask, "I didn't stop to put my shoes on because I didn't want to." All is said in complete penitence. It's an area we continue to work on.

I struggle with homeschooling because I fear crushing her love of learning.

She loves reading. Loves. It. If it can be taught from a fairy tale, she can learn it. Fables and poetry delight her. But if a lesson comes in another form, it is rarely enjoyable and she absorbs much less. She is willing, but uninterested. If you have tips on working with her on this, I would highly appreciate them!

To keep her on task, workboxes have been a huge help. She sees what is to be done and she works through them systematically. She loves surprises, and workboxes make it fun to sneak in a cookie mix or craft that is out of our ordinary routine.

If you have a butterfly, I would love tips on what works in your home.