Another August, Another Abbyless Week

As has been pointed out before, Lizzy-without-Abby is a different beast altogether.

But she's two years older than the last time I wrote about this, in that link up there, and the differences are palpable.

For one thing, she can read, and read well above her grade level - going into 2nd - at that.

This is a challenge... finding books that are appropriate both to her reading level (about fifth grade) and her emotional / social level (not quite second). I've written about that before, thanks, Encyclopedia Brown.

But back to Lizzy-without-Abby.

She's far more self-sufficient than she used to be, but she still misses Abby, and she needs something to be self-sufficient with. It's also back-to-school time.

So after dropping Abby with her Nana, Lizzy and I did her back-to school shopping. We got her this great backpack (it comes with a BPA-free water bottle, an insulated lunch bag, and a soft-side pencil case). That white strip in the middle is a reflective strip so drivers can see her if she's walking in rainy weather or dusk (common in the winter around here), and there are matching strips on the straps. We also got the other stuff on her back-to-school list, like crayons and paper and glue sticks.

Additionally, we got her the first four books in the Monster High series. There have been a gazillion posts in the blogosphere about Monster High and body image, but I like to think that my kids are bright enough to grok that the Monster High girls' shapes are not realistic. In fact, we've discussed it, and the general consensus is that Frankiestein and friends are "cartoon-person-shaped" rather than realistic. Same goes for the Ever After High characters and Equestria Girls.

Why not Ever After High, you may ask, since Lizzy is in a girly-princess stage at the moment? That one is easy; Abby has the Ever After High books, and she shares them with Lizzy when she's done.

And although Lizzy is in that girly-princess stage for the most part, that's not all there is to her interests either. Which is why, when she requested an alarm clock, we chose this one, to the left. Ninjago Kai, the Fire Ninja from the LEGO company. He's fully poseable (as much as LEGO figures ever are), and one pushes down on his head for snooze mode and to see the time glowing in the dark.

So cool.

Or hot, as the case may be: Kai is the fire ninja, after all.

He should be a hit at tonight's sleepover, as our sleepover guest introduced Lizzy to Ninjago in the first place.