My baby! You are SEVEN! I don't know how the years keep flying by faster, but here we are. You are still my little blonde girl with blue eyes, although you can see much darker roots under the top layer of blonde. I will miss the blonde hair of your girlhood <3 You are such a little spitfire and just full of spunk.
You are flying through your first grade math book- you love math and are great at it! You have not been very interested in reading and are on the verge of being behind, but you are just starting to get interested and are sounding out signs you see and such. You have really taken off with reading and are now able to get through level 1 readers pretty quickly and without tears now ;) I want you to really love learning and pursue learning your whole life so we haven't pushed very hard because you just burst into tears and frustration every time we tried to get you reading until now haha. You write your 5 and 6 backward about half the time, but you have really beautiful handwriting. You love to ask Alexa how to spell words and I will find random little notes you have written all over- they are so precious. Especially cute is when Alexa tells you the wrong form of a word...like "Dear Ant Alisa" haha. You love audio books and I think that is your favorite part of schooling- you listen to an audio book every day at rest time and before bed- you have listened to the Ramona series and Junie B. Jones series many times already ;) We have been learning about the human body this year for science and you have enjoyed that a lot. We learned about hygiene and you are quick to remind me to only use a wide tooth comb when your hair is wet and are doing a much better job brushing and flossing now ;) You commented the other day while doing your evening chore of wiping the table, "Mom, it works so much better to clean the table if you wipe in little circles just like when you brush your teeth!" ha. This next week in co-op, we will be looking at the digestive system and using a hose to measure how long your long intestines are- I am excited for the giggles and questions it will bring up with all you little ladies. Co-op is 6 girls and so much fun. We also do Spanish and you rock it- you can count to 20 and use your new vocab words frequently with Ita. Miss Rosie does such a great job keeping the learning super engaging. This weekend, the co-op girls and their dads are all coming for our first annual "daddy daughter dance" and you are super excited! We are going to decorate and serve up finger foods and you've had your outfit picked out for a few weeks already. I can't wait! It is so fun to see you start to really explore your world and understand some bigger concepts- I am so thankful I get to be your teacher!
You are still my little wild girl. We had family pics taken this past summer, and you are crazy in all the family ones- like your chonies showing, making silly faces, arms everywhere haha. We settled on one to hang up on the wall where you look the most "normal" but your smile isn't there. I have the one with your chonies showing in my room cuz you have the happiest face and it is just YOU! You are such a happy girl. You bring so much joy into every place you go. You make me a better person and I am so happy you are my daughter!
You are still a little fashionista. You will spend a good amount of time choosing your outfit before we go anywhere or have people over. You love jeans and are seriously good at coming up with cute, coordinating outfits. but when we are just staying home, you love to stay in jammies or sweats and a hoodie. Grandma Sandee took you out for your birthday sleepover and took you to Target and told you to pick out a toy and you chose a new outfit instead haha. You have too many clothes and struggle keeping them all organized. I moved your and Jo's closets into the laundry room and you each have a bag where I put all your clean clothing, so you are fully in charge of your own closet. and actually you have matured so much in the past year and are doing a decent job keeping things in their proper bins! but I have to go through every few months and really help you reorganize again haha. same with your bedroom- always a mess. You do a good job tidying up once a week, but I have to get in there now and then and throw away your 800 pieces of paper and really vacuum and such. You are a bit of a hoarder and just love everything so much ha.
You recently started taking gymnastics and you have been having so much fun. You probably care more about making friends than learning skills, but I would have expected nothing less from you ;) You have beautiful cartwheels and can lay pancake flat in your middle splits! We have had to talk a few times after class about not rushing through the drills, but actually taking the time to practice your skills vs. doing 3 and running half way through the floor to get to the other side and talk ha. You have gotten a lot stronger over the past 6 weeks of doing it and I am excited to watch your strength, balance, and coordination continue to grow! I think you would rather do ballet, but I like that you and Jo can be in the same class and I don't have to run all over town for sports... sorry kiddo, thanks for doing your 2nd choice sport for my sake!
You still haven't learned how to tie your shoes, ride a bike, or skate on roller blades...and you have zero interest in doing so haha. Zeke will be schooling you on his bike soon here so I am hoping that motivates you a bit ;) This summer, I hope that you spend just as much time as years before making mud soup and swinging and running barefoot through the garden. You love to spend all your time outside when it is sunny and warm. You also have loved gardening and hope to have your own little garden to tend this year. I am going to be very preggo and have a newborn this garden season, so I am hoping you can be a big helper!!
Your favorite food right now is dumplings. You ate 12 of them the other day... 12! You will smash the serving size of 7 and then be super disappointed when we don't make you more. i mean, have some fruit or veggies with your main course ha. You still really dislike cheese and refuse to eat it whenever possible- but of course, you love box lasagna, cheese pizza, mac'n'cheese.. so i think it is just a control thing ;) You love your Ita's refried beans and eggs and flour tortillas so much and eat them for many meals. You love the Costco lentils. You are a big fan of most fruits and veggies, which is the best! You are still a pretty picky eater, but getting a little less so and more adventurous, which i love. You also love to help out in the kitchen! You helped me make some banana bread the other week and wanted to do it all yourself- you were so messy ha so we talked about slowing down and pouring and stirring carefully. You also love gum and chew it every day.
You are really great at giving gifts! One day, we went to Back on the Rack to pick up some of the stuff we were selling that hadn't sold and you were combing through some clothes and found a panda sweater in Jo's size and you were so excited because Jo had a sweater a few sizes smaller that she adored- like asked me to keep in her memory box- that she outgrew and was so sad about it. You kept that sweater a secret for months and would whisper to me about it every now and then..you were so excited to give it to her, you couldn't wait, could you just give it to her early. It was probably the sweetest gift I had seen given in a very long. and then pretty quick after Christmas, you told me you wanted to get Jo McGriddle sandwiches for her birthday- it is 2 for $5 and they are her very favorite breakfasts- like she asks to go get them often. I just can't even believe how perceptive and thoughtful you are. My favorite gift that you gave me is a picture- you had a flat, rectangular piece of wood and you made a black border and then painted these bright and beautiful flowers on the inside and then you put it on my desk in the office to brighten it up while I was working. i mean... so precious! I only work in the summer, so I moved it down to my kitchen so I can admire it all the time. I love it so much.
We have a new baby on the way this summer and it is fun watching you get excited. You were so little last time i was pregnant, so you are really enjoying learning about the baby's development every week and preparing all the things we need for him or her. We get to find out the gender in about 2 weeks and you can't wait. You and Jo get to come along to the ultrasound and I can't wait to listen to you ooh and aah over the baby wiggling and seeing all the tiny features. You are anxious to feel kicks- they're still a bit hard to feel from the outside and you aren't the most patient waiting to feel, but soon my love! You say you want me to have twins- a boy and a girl ;) but every day you make sure to talk to my belly a little at least to say goodnight and you refer to the baby as "little handsome". I am not entirely sure how I feel about it, but I think you and Jo are going to be present at the birth. I am a little nervous about having another hemorrhage or something happening and having to transfer from the birth center to the hospital- child care will be tricky because baby is due mid-July and your Ita is super busy with the farm and even daddy will have a hard time getting his golf classes covered and cancelling lessons last minute. Anyway, Miss Melissa has agreed to be on call to come grab you guys from the birth center if needed, but I am really sure everything will go beautifully and I am so excited for you to get to experience this and have a solid understanding of birth and motherhood going into your child-bearing years. I had never seen a birth until my own- craziness. As of now, you say you want 2 kids- one boy and one girl. I can't wait to see you as a mom- you're going to be fun ;)
This year has been a hard year for our family. In March of 2022, your Abuelo was shot and died. It was such a huge shock and super traumatic for everyone. We live with your Ita & Abuelo and so all of a sudden, someone you lived with was gone. and then dad and Ita were gone at the hospital. and then sooo many extended family members were staying at our house for the funeral. and dad and Ita were pretty unavailable to you as they processed their grief. and then literally as soon as the last funeral guest went home, your Ita got super sick and ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks. You were scared your Ita would just not come home the same way your Abuelo didn't. It was super hard. You weren't able to go see Abuelo at the hospital because of covid stuff (we were actually the first family that were all able to be in the room for end of life care in over 2 years), so you didn't get to say goodbye. But you did want to come to the funeral and you cried and processed and asked questions. It was terribly windy and you were freezing- I remember someone letting us borrow a blanket and wrapping you up and just holding you. For a few months after all this trauma, you were a little fragile. You wanted to stay sleeping downstairs to be close to mom and dad. You would often ask me to rockabye you with a sippy cup of milk. You would cry a lot and loudly at the slightest infraction. I couldn't leave the house without you crying- I remember when I went to go spend time with Ita while she was in the hospital, you cried and cried as I left. Miss Annette was so kind to us during that time and she would offer for you and Jo to come spend time with Alberta and stay at her house while I was getting the funeral slideshow ready, etc. and you just couldn't be away from me. For months after, you wouldn't let me drop you off anywhere or go with anyone. You even followed me into the bathroom one time saying, "I want to spend every day with you because you might not be around tomorrow and we never know how much time we have together." It was hard to watch you mourn. We went to some therapy and would have "special time" together each day and i think that was pretty meaningful to you to help you feel connected and safe again. We are still dealing with all of this as we come up on the year mark- we have a trial scheduled for May, but we may end up taking a plea deal in March. We will see. Thankfully, I feel like you have mostly moved past the immediate overwhelming grief and are doing really well. Your Ita is home and you feel safe and happy again. I am so sorry you had to go through all of this trauma- that is the last thing any parent ever wants for their kiddo. I know there is nothing we could have done to shield you and I know that the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and I pray that you will have deep compassion for others who are hurting and a true understanding of the fragility of life and importance of relationships as you become an adult. And always happy memories of the first 6 years of your life where you got to live with your Abuelo <3
We celebrated your 7th birthday with a getaway at our favorite beach hotel which was your request! Your bday is only 6 weeks before Jo's and then Zeke's is only a few weeks after hers. and poor Ellie has a NYE bday, so only 5 weeks before yours. haha. anyway, there is no way we can do a party for each of you every year and you actually had a 5th bday party sleepover with your cousins and a 6th bday party with friends (Christmas themed) so it was not your year for a party. We started the day with donuts- you licked off all the chocolate frosting and sprinkles and left the bread haha. We wanted to stop by Camp 18, but it was so rainy, so we went down to the beach. You chose Subway for lunch and wanted a meatball sub yum! and then we went to the movies- not a big selection of movies, but you chose Puss & Boots and it was cute. the person working when we paid let us all in for free after we mentioned we were out celebrating your bday- so kind!! I think it was Zeke's first time at a movie theater! then we went to the hotel and got down to swim as soon as we could. Ellie was a crazy swimmer ha. we got some fish and chips for dinner and then your dad took you and Jo out to the arcade and you went on the tilt'a'whirl while i got the littles down for bed. but of course, they didn't go to sleep and everyone was still awake when you got back. you were supposed to share the couch bed with dad which is what you chose and wanted, but Eleanor would NOT go to sleep unless she was touching a grown-up and i don't cuddle while i sleep so as soon as you fell asleep we moved you into the bed with Jo and put Ellie with dad ha. you love to cuddle while sleeping and kept trying and Jo hates it and kept kicking you away. no one slept very good that night ha. next morning we enjoyed the continental breakfast and some games by the fire and then went swimming again before heading home. i hope it was special for you <3 I also found a beautiful white bed canopy at Goodwill pay by weight along with a long piece of beautiful white lace and doctored up your room- looks like a princess room now! You had been asking specifically for a bed canopy so i was super excited to find that for you!
Well, my dear one, there it is. A quick snapshot of who you are right now and how your year has been. I doubt I will write again before you turn 8, but believe me I will try- maybe in my nesting before baby comes phase, I will find time! I just love being your mom. I hope you always know that. I love comforting you when you're hurt or sad. I love watching you learn and grow. I love watching you develop wonderful friendships. I love watching you be affectionate with your siblings. I love seeing your tiny little muscular body attempt handstands and learn to rock a cartwheel. I love seeing your excitement when you get your favorite foods. I love the way you love to snuggle up before bed and always want to be tucked in- even when you know you're not ready to stay in bed and will hop out again as soon as I leave the room. I love watching you feel beautiful when you do your hair and pick an outfit. I love watching you get all dirty when you play outside. You are a joy in my life and one of the great loves of my life. Thank you for who you are! I love you! And I pray the Lord will bless you richly this next year <3
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