Magdalene

As intriguing as her name. Her name is unusual and does get noticed by school officials, doctors, etc. Quietly defiant, internal and what some people might call and introvert (however I don't like that label) we always have interesting conversations with her teachers at school. She seems to come into conflict with authority in some way or another. I remember suppressing laughter when I took her to a hearing screening years ago when she was 4. She wouldn't agree with the nurse about what to label the sound that she heard and consequently only partially finished the screening with a very frustrated lady. I wanted to laugh because I realized for the first time it wasn't just me she challenged constantly. This year in 2nd grade, her teacher told us she has learned with Maggie she has to pick her battles which include anything from neatness, organization or following directions.

She is also very bright. They have an "open response" optional section after every math unit assessment and she nails them every time (when sometimes only 3 others get it right.) She also sees things differently. On a math worksheet, she had to write a word problem using a picture of lions. There were various lions--male, female, large and small as the focus of the sketch. She chose to use the small trees in the distance to use for her word problem. I didn't even notice them until I looked over her work. I thought it was so interesting that she looked past the obvious but still did something valid. This is a classic photo I pulled up--one of Joseph's favorites taken when Maggie was 3. We lived in Belgium at the time and went up to the Netherlands to see the tulip fields. There were rows of tulips as far as the eye could see in every variety. It was spectacular. We went down to get a closer look and let the girls run through the tulips. On the way down, Maggie found this yellow dandelion growing by itself and she was absolutely taken with it. She carried it around with her almost oblivious to the millions of tulips surrounding her, content with that little obscure dandelion.

She snorts when she laughs, and has an easily recognizable laugh that starts low and grows louder and louder until it fills a room. When she was a baby, she didn't cry so much as she growled. She also has great expressions. Whether she is pouting, angry, annoyed, excited, bored or whatever, it is all clearly written on her face. But when it comes to things that are deeper or of greater consequence, like friendship issues, warnings from a teacher, or things of that nature, then getting her to reveal anything is like trying to crack a secret code. She is a great sister and has a special relationship with Ella. She is sweet and generous, the quickest to share in our family and the least concerned with who gets the most or the biggest.