Bean has been pretending to be a dog lately.  She watches dog shows (think Clifford), checks dog books out of the library, and has me buying her dog toys (yes, actual toys made for dogs).  And at her request (or should I say demand), I bought her Scooby snacks, which are graham crackers shaped like bones.  So this morning I asked her if she wanted me to pack her Scooby snacks for her snack at school today.  Her reply, "Mom, I'm only a dog at home, not at school."  Oh, that explains it.

Bean wants to be bald.  She has gorgeous hair that everyone comments on and most girls would love to have.  But no, she wants to be bald.  Seriously.  This is so not going to happen.

And how ingenius is this?  Bean is saving her teeth - you know, the baby ones that come out constantly right now.  She lost one tooth on her first day of school, and another a few nights ago.  So instead of putting them under her pillow to get a dollar or two or five (depending on how generous the tooth fairy is feeling), she is saving them up to get one large lump sum.  Not sure how she comes up with these things, but it's actually a very clever idea.

And she still stims by running back and forth for long periods of time.  Frankly, it's exhausting to watch.  And not sure how it will play out when she is older.  But the other night she said it best, "I just love to stim."   Hard to imagine for us, but it's very calming for her.  

And this morning as we waited outside for the bus, she found a great way to get all her stims out.  Usually she'll just run outside, but today she was a bird, flapping her arms and running back and forth.  And I had to be a bird, too.  Hope none of the neighbors had their video cameras out filming the mommy bird.  The things we do for our children. 

Every morning I get on the bus with Bean to help her choose her seat and buckle her in.   The morning bus doesn't have an aide, has about 12 or 14 seats, and only picks up 3 other boys (2 before her and 1 after).

So every morning when Bean gets on the bus, the 2 boys are ALWAYS in the exact same seats.  One boy sits in the front seat directly behind the driver and the other boy sits in the last seat at the back of the bus.  They always sit on the window side of the seat.  Bean has picked different seats on the bus, but usually towards the middle.  And she always sits towards the aisle.

The boy in the back (Patrick) will often talk to me as I'm buckling Bean in.  I know his birthday, how old he is, and when he goes to the dentist.  The boy in the front (Hunter) rarely says anything while I'm putting Bean on the bus.

Well this week Bean decided to change her routine.  She went to the back of the bus and said she wanted to sit with Patrick.  I said Patrick might not want to sit so close (there is room for 2 kids on each seat) to her and that there were a lot of other empty seats.  But Miss Betty (our driver) said, "She can sit wherever she wants.  I teach the kids that they have to share."  So Bean sat with Patrick.

The next day Bean gets on the bus and Hunter, who usually only observes me buckling Bean in, says excitedly and eagerly, "Bean, you can sit with me!"  But Bean wants to sit alone that morning.  Poor Hunter.  "Maybe tomorrow," Bean says.

So Bean did sit with Hunter the next day.  And this morning she sat with Patrick. It's just so cute - this bus with all these empty seats and my little girl sitting with the boys.  Bean just loves the boys.