I said last year I would stop doing these yearly updates for Olivia on here when she was five.
And then I did another one at 6, and so I decided to still write about her again, but she’s getting older, so I’m adjusting how I do these yearly updates.
She’s just so grown up. I know I seem to say that a lot on here, but she really is now. She’s in size 10-12 clothes, and size 1 shoes. She’s in first grade and learning how to read. Her grandma got her a bunch of level 1 reading books for her birthday and she can read them to us now with us helping with the big words.
It still blows my mind that my girl can read to me.
Oh, and we just finished the illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. She’s become a huge Potterhead lately and I was going to wait another year or so, but she loved sitting next to one of us at night and listening to the story.
She also really loves her Avatar and Dog Man books. Me, I’m not much into Avatar, but I also know how important it is to give her that space to read the books she’s interested in, so I can fulfill my master plan of her loving reading as much as I do.
As far as activities, she took some art classes this year at a local art center and continues to be an artist. She’s always drawing and coloring and cutting out pictures to hang around the house. She now has a few drawing books including an Ed Emberly book that I was excited beyond reason to give to her for her birthday.
She’s continuing her swim lessons and has improved so much. Chris and I joke she’s a way better swimmer than both of us combined. This isn’t saying much because Chris can’t swim to save his life and I can float and doggie paddle. Still, I think when this last session is over in mid-December, we’ll be done. There is the expense to think about with a third baby coming, and we still want Emelia to do some sessions coming up.
Plus, she’s now joined karate and loves it deeply. She’s wanted to do this for a long time and her plans to be a ninja have evolved into wanting to be a karate teacher. It is pretty cool watching her. She got her first white belt a few days ago and she was SO proud. I loved seeing her work hard for something and then be rewarded with it.
She loves her first-grade teacher and her classmates. She’s made this gaggle of girl friends and a gaggle of boy friends and plays with them equally. Basically, she’s way more sociable than I ever was. She even has two of the girls who like to call my phone and talk to her and everyone is in the learning process of talking to another person on the phone without being able to see them. Over the weekend, as part of her birthday celebration, we had three of her girlfriends over for a few hours. It was the first time she’s had multiple girls over to play and they had a lot of fun.
I love watching her independence and how good she can be with her little sister. Don’t get me wrong, they definitely bicker and tease each other. But Olivia is always happy to help get her sister ready for bed (oftentimes Emelia prefers her sister helping her into her PJs and brushing her teeth instead of Mom and Dad.
Favorites
Toys: Legos (particularly Harry Potter Legos as of late, her art supplies, her Encanto tree house set, Polly Pockets, her Pokemon cards and toys
Books: Her Highlights magazines, Avatar, Harry Potter, and Dog Man
TV shows/Movies: Pokemon, Avatar, Gabby’s Dollhouse, Bluey, Harry Potter (the first two movies only), Christmas Chronicles, and a whole mess of other shows I wonder what she sees in them.
Activities: Coloring, art activities, watching TV, playing PBS Kids on the tablet, going to the park, walking by the river, riding her bike, swimming, karate, and playing at her desk in her room.
Birthday
We celebrated her 7th birthday last Friday with Grandma and Grandpa. Initially, she wanted her favorite meal, the shrimp fettuccine alfredo I make, but settled with spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, and Caesar salad. We did cupcakes for dessert and she opened her presents.
Overall, it was another great birthday!
