Mary and I share something pretty special in common:  we are both the first grandchild and the oldest child in our families.  As Mary has discovered and continues to discover, this comes with plenty of perks but also its share of heavy responsibility.  However, she is definitely up to the challenge and then some. 

I love that Steven and Leslie named her after Grandma Grant, Mary Louise.  I love that Mary wants to be included in the "big girl" things her mother, aunts, and grandmother do.  I love that if your actions do not follow after your words or commitments, she calls you out on it.  Not in an overly aggressive way, she's just pointing it out to you.  I love that she is the mother hen to her siblings, just as I was. (Or am? Old habits die hard.)  I love her giggle.  I love that she puts up with her crazy photo-hungry-camera-happy aunt always trying to take pictures, even when it's not her favorite thing in the world at all.  I love that she wants to talk to me and seeks me out to do so, even if it does get to be a bit much at times.  (I hope this tendency keeps going through her teenage years, too!)

Mary has really impressed me with her dedication and passion about music.  She genuinely cares and has a great desire to learn piano and the viola.  One of my goals for the summer is to begin giving her piano lessons; I know she will do well at them if she puts the amount of effort that she has put into continuing to learn the viola.

The Twilight-madness has also bitten Mary.  She has read all four books and has seen the first two movies with her mom, aunts, and grandmother.  It's fun to have a common interest that we can talk about and discuss together.  I absolutely cannot believe that she is old enough to be in Young Women's now.  Crazy!