AGE: 8 years, 8 months
HEIGHT: 54 inches
GRADE: 2nd
1. You continue to talk - almost daily - about getting a dog. Your current plan includes using the money that you get from your birthday (in September) to buy dog toys and then Santa is going to bring a puppy for Christmas. You are sure and confident that Santa is going to bring you a puppy despite our reminders that Santa has to okay those kinds of gifts with mom & dad. Relentless.
2. The spring soccer season just ended and you have loved every single moment of it. For the most part, you played defender, but at the last game you had some good offense playing time. You are fast, aggressive, and get right in there to steal & stop the ball. It was comical/heart-wrenching though when you came SO close to scoring a goal three separate times but missed it by just that much. At the team party the coach's comment was that you always have the biggest smile on your face. That is the truth.
3. A lot of your friends at school are the boys. I asked you why and you said that they are funny! Brigham, Tyler, George . . . those are your buddies. Apparently you and Brigham have choreographed a dance that you even demonstrated for the class. One day he gave you a homemade calendar that schedules out when you two will play together each day -- lunch or break -- alternating each day.
4. The other day you told me about all the plans you have for your future family & kids. "I want to teach them to be smart and kind. I'm going to have a playroom and there will be a chalkboard where I write the daily character trait and whoever does the best that day will get a prize from the treasure chest. And I'm going to sit in a chair in the playroom and read them a book. We will exercise everyday, something like 10 push-ups and I'll write it on the chalkboard. I want to have 4 kids because even numbers are good." I told her that she is going to be a great mom.
5. This month you and dad went on a date: dinner at Red Robin and walking around the mall. You were elated when dad offered to buy the initial "A" mood necklace that you were admiring at Claire's.
6. Every Friday one of the Special Ed classes combines with yours and you do projects together. You have been assigned as a buddy to one of the students and your job is to help him out with activities. To say that you love Fridays is a vast understatement. You always look forward to this time and have a special knack for helping your buddy out and sharing friendship. I recently ran into this Special Ed teacher and she could do nothing but gush about how much she loves you and what a bright, happy, helpful, special girl you are.
7. You have taken up gardening in a big way. We have 3 pots/cups on our dining table that you are taking care of. You even planted a few seeds outside, taking great care to water them twice a day and they grew!
8. About once a month you go into crazy-cleaning mode and spend an entire day doing a deep clean and de-cluttering of your bedroom all on your own. Your rearrange the furniture, set-up little vignettes & themed areas for various purposes, and take time to arrange things on your shelves just so. Everytime you end up with a big sack of trash! Nice job, girl. Here is a small peek at your room right now.
9. Two months ago the second grade classes combined to put on a play, "Bugz" or something like that. There were opportunities for speaking parts but you said you were too shy to try out. Wrong! I told you that you are not too shy and you should have volunteered to do one of the parts - it would be a lot of fun. A few days later you came home from school and said, "guess what? I have a part in the play! Someone with a part can't be there for the play and they needed someone new. So I raised my hand because I knew you would want me to." Aww, that made me feel so proud!
You had the part of the horsefly and your line was: "I'm a horsefly and I hurt anyone who with me tangles!" You did a great job and ended up loving the experience. Here you are in your caterpillar/butterfly costume for the group song:
10. Here are a few pictures of you today - May 21st. Researching Mars for a school project. Curly hair thanks to the sock curlers we put in last night.