“someday we may see a / woman king sword in hand / swing at some evil and bleed”

While Eaglet officially turns 8 in a few days, the celebrations were this past weekend, so we now consider them functionally 8. If that makes sense.

This year, instead of events that tried to mimic a Big Party (like last-year’s drive-by), we did a series of small things—a backyard snake encounter* from a local reptile rescue group done with one friend, cake & candles with another friend (this of course turned into a playdate), and a shopping spree at a local toy store that offers appointments for single-family in-person shopping before regular business hours.

I was amused at Eaglet’s budget management during shopping. They scoped out the entire store, checking prices on things that caught their eye, but except for one Obvious Must Have item, didn’t pick anything. Scouting done, they went straight to the biggest-ticket item** on their mental list, checked their balance, went to the next most expensive they could still afford, repeat, until they rounded out the exact total with a Mad Libs book.

We have a systematic kid. Who is effectively 8 years old now.***


* They have been lobbying for a pet snake, specifically a Mexican black kingsnake, for six months now. This both confirmed their interest and gave them a dose of snaky goodness to tide them over a while.

** An adorably soft sushi stuffie. Now named Susie.

*** Yes, I’m still processing that. And that, in a month, they will be halfway through elementary school.

---L.

Subject quote from Woman King, Iron & Wine.