4-yr old glimpsed on horizon (was Think of a title later)

LOL nearly didn't blog because I couldn't think of a title! That kind of thing used to be my downfall in essays too, never got the hang of writing the body of the text, then writing the introduction and conclusion, then the title. So forever starting introductions and not liking what I'd done and restarting etc. W..a..s... t ...i ....n .....g . . . . . . . . . t ....i ......m .........e.
Like now, get on with it, woman.

Having some really good days with F recently. One very social day and one at-home-mummy-has-some-work-to-do day. Both of which went really well.
Social day:
We went to a history storytelling thing for 4-8 yr olds at a local historical site. I felt a bit bad that I had snuck F in under the wire as she did try and dominate the whole event on and off instead of listening. There was an 8-yr old boy there who I'm sure was very frustrated about it, but when we left the woman doing the storytelling was offering to show him some grittier history stuff so that's good. F seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself.
At one point the woman asked 'does anyone know any jokes' and F claimed to and then proceeded to tell this very long story, about 12 long sentences that hardly anyone could understand. It didn't really qualify as a joke from what I could understand, by most people's definition, but it was kind of impressive in its way, or so the storyteller said. Have to admit I did the horrid parental eye-rolling thing, I hate that I do that.
Then on the way home we bumped into my mate Katya and her two, Ria and Belle (made-up names) so we all spent half an hour at the playground. Afterwards F told me in confidential tones that her and Ria are now a good team and also superheroes, by the way.
It was great to just bump into a friend, really feels like this small town is our home now. I need that. She and I had a good chat, in between resolving a few dilemmas such as roundabout etiquette etc. We'll see them again next week.
Then at home our neighbour's granddaughter, about 18 months younger than F, popped round with one of her young aunts, which was nice, though the little ones didn't really seem too impressed with each other.

Mummy-working day: I had a good 4 hours worth of work to do, and she was great. I worked at the puter, but I responded to her every time she asked for help, or for my attention. The thing is, it was easy to do that because she wasn't asking every 3 minutes, she was engaged with things for 10-20 minutes at a time. She decided 'to make some traffic lights' - this was her idea completely - and assembled the paper and paint she needed, with a bit of help from me. She asked me very clearly for the help she needed i.e. where scissors were involved.
She's done this kind of project a few times recently and I love it. She has a clear idea in her head of what she wants to do, she only asks for help with what she can't do herself. And I make sure, if I'm doing other things, to look at what she's doing, react to it, ask her about it, etc. Is this autonomy in action?
I'm really finding things so much easier (fatal to blog that, isn't it, just wait for the next blog entry titled 'can't cope with this...'), when I'm only asked for attention every 10-20 minutes or so, it makes a huge difference. I find myself really giving attention gladly instead of having it wrenched from me as I have felt sometimes. And the painting/making projects she undertakes on her own initiative are really interesting to me, so it's easy to give her attention with those.
I really hope things are going to be more like this over the next 6 months.
I've noticed other changes too: I can put the bin-bags out without her needing to come with me, or even watch me from the window; sometimes she pops up to her room and plays for a while; she's got better at trying again with things that she can't do first time and she seems more secure. There's just a bit more independence over this last few months.

Today will mainly be a getting shopping done day, we need to go into town for a few bits, and also have a Tesco delivery coming at the end of the afternoon. Tomorrow morning we have Mandy and Madeleine (made-up names) from Music and Movement coming round. First visit, don't know if the girls, or the mums, will get on, so we'll see.