A Day With My Oldest

My daughter was having trouble controlling her temper.  She arguably has many stress causing reasons for this, namely her three younger siblings.  I read a little story about a man who made his son hammer nails into the fence whenever he lost his temper and then take one out for every day he didn't.  I don't have a fence so I got a scrap of 2x4 and a box of nails.  I told my daughter that when her board had no nails we would spend a day just the two of us. She was hovering consistently around six or seven nails for several weeks until one Thursday when it jumped to 23.  Then, my lovely daughter made a decision to not lose her temper.  She removed 23 nails in a row and kept them out.  So, last Saturday she got a day with me. 
We started our day with a two mile run.  She kicked my butt.  I think we both learned how good it feels to not quit on something.  We did intervals the last half mile and we were exhausted.
After our run we went to buy new underwear for her.  It seems that she's been needing some for a while but didn't want to buy it with her brother there.  I tried to explain that he's four and really wouldn't know what we were doing but it was a big deal to her.  This really made me think that she is growing up.  We had a nice discussion about how much boys stink and boys her age are silly.  It's funny because they didn't used to be any different from girls, but I guess that is another sign that she's getting older.
Then we met the rest of the family for Monsters University.  AWESOME!!!  I am a big Monsters Inc. fan even though I've seen it about a hundred times I still enjoy it.  This was arguably better.  And the short before the movie you ask.  Can you say "show-off"?  That was an amazing short, the skills of those artists at Pixar are simply awesome.  Needless to say my children loved it too.
After the movie we all went out to sushi, we laughed, we cried, we fed the baby wasabi, it was a typical lunch at sushi.  Then we watched my four year old eat more than a normal four year old.  That boy can pack it away.  I'm thinking his food fund might trump his college fund.  I really hope he gets a scholarship.
Then my daughter and I went to tea.  It was lovely.  We had two hours to eat way too much yummy food and drink way too much delicious tea and talk about everything that has her worried about the future.  Then we talked about her career plans and what she wants to do after college.  I was glad that visiting me made the list, she's going to leave me way too soon.
We stopped by the bookstore on the way home because a new book is the best way to end a great day.  She talked me into a whole American Girl series, but they were used so I think I got off easy.  We spent the last two hours of the day reading side by side, it was lovely.  I hope I can reward her with a day again.