I am partial to her, a lot. She is my child!

There are always two schools on thought on everything, some say, appreciate your child, it gives them a lot of confidence. Some say compliment but advise, they need the guidance and don’t need the re-enforcement.

I don’t know which school I follow with my daughters. I guess I never will know.

But I do know, I tell my Chatterbox, Miss V often, how proud I am of her and then at times, I tell her how silly she is (this generally is in my angry voice). I tell her often to not be over confident and then in gatherings not to be shy. Sometimes I yell at her for being 'such a child', sometimes I hug for being a child, my baby.

Bottom line, I KNOW I confuse her. But I hope deep down she knows, I love her! A lot. I wake up to her sneaking in my bed and hugging me. I can’t imagine starting my morning any other way!

My little Chatterbox (7 years old) was preparing her speech for 'Student Council & House Captain' last night. She wrote the speech and rehearsed it in about 2 hours. She enunciated, engaged with her pretend audience, made it exciting and smiled through her test run.

Last night while I tucked her in bed,

She asked me, "If I win, can I sleep in your bed?"

I replied: "Even if you lose you can sleep in my bed!"

She rolled her eyes and said: "Yeah yeah, I should just go and have fun" (My Smarty pants)

As I write this, she must be in school gearing up for giving her speech in front of primary school. I wonder what she is feeling. This morning, it was a combination of happiness and excitement for her. Me, however, I have had butterflies all morning! I could barely sleep last night since her video of the speech was playing in my mind in repeat mode.

Let me add, I am not anxious of the results, I am just amazed at this little wonder of mine.

But Miss V, My Chatterbox, is wise beyond her years. She is confident (sometimes over!), she can keep adults engaged in conversations (earlier I used to feel they are being polite, but now I see them coming over just to spend time with her!). She plays with little kids, her little sister and young friends follow her like a shadow. She loves hanging out with her friends and Sumit and I look forward to spending our lazy afternoons playing Scrabble with her.

She is sweet and yes, I know she is my daughter and I am partial to her, but hey in my school of thought: 'Be proud and share your pride'