*You recently wrote a song, and you love singing it around the house. One of the lines is, "Oooh-oh, c'mon let the music flow, Oooh-oh" You seem quite proud of yourself. :)
*You've always had a strong desire to do what's right, but lately with your age, you're getting to this point where you not only want to do the right thing because you know it's right, but I think because you like the outward praise you get from others. For instance, we were tying quilts for a homeschool service project the other day, and I was so impressed with how you stuck to it, even after the other kids had lost interest. I made some comment like, "good job for sticking with it! I'll bet someone's going to be really grateful for these quilts." And you said, with gusto, "Yep! I'm not going to quit until these quilts are finished! I'm not going to eat my lunch until they're done! I'd rather they have their blankets than me have my food!"
*You and your friend Colston have made a few Youtube videos! He has a youtube channel and got you into it. I watched a few minutes of one you did where you were both just playing Minecraft. I'm both nervous that you're experiencing stuff "on the web" and also grateful that you have a (monitored by his parents) friend who can introduce you to some more tech stuff, which is not a strong suit of your Dad or I.
*I was watching you all play at a park this morning and it was so good for my heart. I was feeling tired, so I mostly just sat on the sidelines, but you guys had it all under control. You and Gwen played with Benson in the swing and you had him cracking' up acting like he had kicked you. And then when you all decided to play "fish out of water" there was always a fight about who was going to be "it". More than once, you acted as the peacemaker and stepped in when you could tell feelings were running high. I was so grateful.
*You never hesitate to genuinely say I love you.
Gwen
*You're also hitting some milestones with your age. Dad and I can't quite put our fingers on it, but the things you find funny seem typical for a 7 year old girl to find funny, when you're with your friends you are very dramatic and expressive (makes me wonder how you'll act in a few years with a big group of teenage girls!!!). Dad and I can get annoyed with the drama, but we realize it's just the phase you're in right now. Your humor is also becoming more...sophisticated in some ways. You're understanding puns and word plays, which is fun to watch.
*You love to play Minecraft! It was Miles's love first, but you also really enjoy playing that game on the computer.
*You're on a soccer team for a month or so with the rec center. You had your second game the other day and within the first 5 minutes you knocked heads with someone else. I didn't see it happen, but I saw you out on the field holding back tears. I asked your coach to pull you out, and you came and collapsed in my arms for a minute, told me what happened, and said- you didn't want to cry out on the field in front of everyone. After you pulled yourself together a bit, you were ready to go right back in. I thought, Wow! She really bounced back! However, I think it threw the rest of your game off and you were near tears the rest of the game. You said it was because you were so upset that your team lost. Every time the other team made a goal, you reacted dramatically. It was a really weirdly emotional night for you. I was glad your team lost, even though it was hard for you. You guys won the first one, so this was your first time ever really losing anything. Your dance performances aren't ranked or anything, and you've never been a team sport setting. It's good to lose every now and again.
*You continue to be such a great mini-mama to Benson. I can always count on you to help him on playgrounds, or help watch him when we go places.
*You are super motivated by our summer bingo charts! I keep having to make you new ones because you finish them so quickly! It's fun to see you so motivated.
Lindy
*Dad and I have both felt it lately, you have turned some sort of corner. You seem more mature, more sweet, more capable, more everything! We can't quite put our finger on it, but you're definitely growing up.
*You are a good little cleaner! Dad and I rarely have to ask you twice to clean something up, you get right to it and work usually work until the job is done with very little to no complaining. In fact, it's becoming commonplace for you to say, "Mom, can you get me a rag? I'm going to clean off the _______".
*A strength of yours is humility. You struggle with speech a little bit, so often times, Dad and I will help coach you on a word you've mispronounced. You can usually say it correctly, eventually, if you work really hard at it. Most people (me!) would be embarrassed and frustrated if someone was correcting me (even if done lovingly) You just take it all in, work hard at the word, and smile all the way through.
*You are very truthful. Just today, I was tucking you in for quiet time, and I moved Dad's computer off the bed. You said, "I played with Dad's computer last night at bedtime. I sneaked it." Dad and I realized that someone had moved it, but figured it wasn't a big enough deal to investigate. But you just wanted to get that off your chest. You do things like that frequently. I can always count on you to tell the truth.
*There are some words that I just can't bare to correct you on, because even though they're incorrect, they're too dang cute. My favorite one lately is "Heart Beep" instead of "Heartbeat", and "Eye-bulbs" instead of "eye-balls".
*You are mildly obsessed (not quite sure if that's the right word) with death lately. You'll say things like, "I just really want to see Jesus and Heavenly Father. But the only way to see them is to die. I just want to die!" We've had lots of talks about how that's not going to happen for a long time.
Benson
*You are prone to hitting when you're not getting your way. Something I'm certain you've picked up in nursery. As a plus, you're learning how to sign "sorry". :)
*Every time I go to change your diaper or get you dressed, you start beat-boxing. :) Dad will do the simple, "boots-n-pants" thing when he's changing your pants, and sometimes he gets really fancy, so you've gotten into the habit of trying to beat-box. But if I start trying to do it, you shout at me to stop.
*You are a little scientist. You want to investigate EVERYTHING!! You touch, lift, pull, push, smell, taste, drop, climb...any verb you can think of to manipulate something to see how it works...you'll do it.
*You still love reading books. You'll bring one up to me while I'm working with the kids. Before I could just keep on teaching them what needed to be taught, and flip through the pages for you. But you've figured out my trick, and so now if I don't actively read the book to you, you'll grab my chin and shout, "Ma! Ma!"
*You've taken to calling anybody "Ma" or "Mom" who you think can help you get what you want if I'm not available. Other family members? Yep. People at church? Yep. Strangers in the store? Yep. You seem to have zero stranger danger aaaand you're a runner. So I really have to keep an eye on you when we're out and about.
*The other day I was cutting Dad's hair, and then Miles's hair. I started to put away the stuff when you came up to me whining to hop up onto the chair too! I was flabbergasted! The first time you had your hair cut by my friend, you hated it. I couldn't believe you just climbed up and let me cut your hair with the clippers! You were a little wiggly, so the cut wasn't the greatest, but you were so intent on not being left out of the hair cutting party, you participated so willingly! It was awesome!
*Lately, you will grab on to me and start crawling over me saying, "oooh-oooh! Aaah-aaah" Just like a monkey. :) Then I'll say, "Are you my little monkey?" And you giggle.
*You're a big hugger and kisser lately. Lindy especially loves to ask you randomly for hugs and kisses, and you willingly oblige.
*It seems like you are learning a new word every day. It's crazy! Seriously, every day you are saying a new word.
*This morning I woke up and it took me a sec before I went to get you out of your room. Man, was I sorry I dilly-dallied this morning. I walked in a smelled a poopy diaper, but it took me 2 seconds for it to register that the poop was not just in your diaper. It was ALL over your room. You had rubbed it all over the walls, your crib, your bedding, and yourself. Man. It was so nasty.
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