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And the world gave a collective sigh of relief that we made it through January and its short cold days, miserable flus and viruses and post-holiday blues all in one piece. On to short little February in all its pink and red glory, please!

Olive is obsessed with jigsaw puzzles. We bought her a set of four 25 piece puzzles months ago which she mastered within a week. So a couple of weeks ago we bought her a 50 piece puzzle, to see if she would have the patience to work through it. I sat and watched her as she put it together in a matter of 20-30 minutes. She would not allow me to help her in any way.

Last week we bought her a 100 piece puzzle, "for six year olds and up." It took her just under 2 hours to complete it (and that was a straight 2 hours of undivided concentration, yelling at me anytime I offered to help her out with a difficult piece.) She has done that 100 piece puzzle twice a day every day since we got it for her and can now put it together in about 10 - 15 minutes. 

She's only three years old, for goodness' sakes.

I know there are lots of other three year olds out there who do things like this and more, but I never thought I would be raising one. How do you raise a kid who is smarter than you already (and knows it?) As I've stood back and watched Olive concentrating with all her might and succeed with a puzzle that she shouldn't be ready to do for another three years, I've started wondering if a lot of the behavior problems I struggle with in her are due to boredom. So I've started trying to give her more than I think a 3 year old can handle to see how she deals with it. 

And I think I'm on the right track so far. We've started reading "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and even though it's very wordy and there are very few illustrations, she just soaks it up like a sponge, begging for "just one more chapter." We're working on reading and writing and she's doing exceptionally well. I'm seriously considering signing her up for piano or violin lessons. 

I just ordered her a couple of 200 piece puzzles. 

And I pray. A lot. That God would give me the patience, wisdom, discretion, love and humility that I so desperately need to raise Olive up, to (hopefully) love Him and others. I go to bed so many nights worried that I don't have what it takes, but He has a way of quietly reassuring me that He knew just what He was doing giving us to Olive and Olive to us. And I really do believe Him.