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| First Daughter at the zoo |
She can be silly. I think she's the silliest child we have. She just giggles all the time.
She overheard the dentist (where she loves to go) telling her brother he needs to brush better or he'll get "sugar bugs" and now wants us to brush her teeth for her because she's concerned she doesn't brush well enough. (People who are concerned about brushing well enough generally do a good job, but that doesn't convince her.)
She memorized Clouds in about three days.
Followed quickly by Ants. She memorized about five poems in the first five weeks of school and then decided she wasn't interested in memory work anymore.
She loves to play with her brother. They will pretend to be Lego Heroes, Ninjago masters, Mario and Luigi, and go on all sorts of imaginary adventures. She will, in fact, harass her poor brother while he is trying to finish his lessons, asking him to come and play with her (when she knows he can't).
It may not be immediately obvious, but she's the child that looks most like me. She looks so much like one of her cousins on my side of the family that we often have to look at other children in the picture to figure out which one of them it is. Her personality is much more outgoing and generally more boisterous than I think I was as a child, though. (As if I were boisterous now...)
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| Birthday pancake as big as her head |
She is always asking for lip gloss or chapstick.
She loves soccer and would happily go to daily practice (but no one else on her team, including her coach, Kansas Dad, would be too pleased).
This girl loves her lessons. We only do a few with her (mainly math, handwriting, and reading), but she flies through them. She narrates likes she was born to it (saint stories, stories from Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks, and her brother's history lessons). We'll often do two or three math lessons at a time (just briefly touching on the parts she already knows), but she would happily do more. She loves learning cursive and will often hover when her brother is having his lessons so she can learn the letters earlier. She is now a fantastic reader, such a wonderful difference from last year! I've overheard her reading some of her other books; she's still sounding everything out but she can read quite a lot now. She is eager to get through the next thirty lessons or so because I told her she could try to learn typing once she gets that far.
When we have painting time every other week, she's often the only one who will actually attempt the skill I show at the beginning of the lesson.
First Daughter loves to be out and about. She's always sad if we have a home-day (unlike her mom and older brother). More than anything, she likes to see people.
She loves to make things. She's made a few potholders for us and is thrilled to be working on plastic canvas with her faith formation class.
She also loves to bake. Any time I start to measure things, she comes rushing over asking to help. I'm too often in a hurry now, but there are quite a few things she can "take over." If I make dough for rolls in the bread machine, she can shape them and set them to rise. If I prepare the zucchini for crisps, she can dip them in the topping and place them on the cookie sheet. (She likes to eat them, too.)
When she's not teasing her brother during his lessons, she and Second Daughter make-believe play for hours on end. She loves this particular baby doll, which is big enough for her arms and doesn't have eyes that close if you lay it down.
She's been asking for a real haircut and I told her I'd think about taking her when she's six. So we'll probably have a little date at the hair salon in a few weeks. I'm thinking a Saturday after soccer is over would be best.
Every night in our Litany of Saints, she sings the names of the same saints and blesseds: St. Mary, St. Anne, St. Joan of Arc, St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha (who is now a saint!), Bl. Teresa of Calcutta, and Bl. Dolores. She likes to pray for the souls in purgatory, too.
Happy birthday, First Daughter! May God bless you in the coming year!
