Wow, hard to believe we have a 7 year old girl.
7 to me is such a huge year, I don't really know why. But 7 seems old, not a little kid anymore. Overnight camps start at this age, sending your child away up until now has been a one night kind of thing. But at 7, they can go away for weeks at a time.
Scary for a mom. So I of course have solved this problem, I am going to camp with her. We will spend 7 days together at Brownie camp.
Scarlett at 7 is still a loving child, the hugs and kisses have slowed down but she still starts her morning by crawling into bed with me for a short little snuggle buggle.
She wants to please, she wants to succeed at whatever she tries. She easily gets frustrated now when her work isn't perfect, or she can't figure out something on the wii. I think she's learning that she can't do everything, and that it takes patience.
Her interests now are art drawing, coloring, writing notes and stories. She loves the wii, and being on the computer. She was so shocked the other day when she saw that my dad had Microsoft Office, she is amazed that papa knows how to use Word. LOL
She now has 3 penpals , and is enjoying getting letters from them. Writing the letters back is a bit of a challenge but eventually she gets it done. Everyday we have to stop at the mailbox to see if she got something.
Having to be equal with the two kids , is now very important to her. If I take her out and get her a treat she wants Kaleb to have the same. But if she finds out that Kaleb got a treat without her, she tends to get very upset and says it isn't fair.
Kaleb and Scarlett are still best friends, they do everything together, and get along really well. I think it helps that Scarlett is still not a girly girl, she wants to run, jump and crawl around like a horse. Buying her new shoes or pants is such a waste of money, as they spend a lot of time on their knees whether its on the grass, sidewalk or driveway, she has been known to put holes in her jeans in the same week I bought them.
Her friends have stayed the same this year, Katherine from next door is her bestest friend, followed by Kate from school and Victoria from up the street. The girls are becoming more independant and spending more time outside without supervision, they will take polly pockets, petshop or barbies out onto the driveway and play for hours. (of course the barbie's don't belong to Scarlett as she gave all of her to Alexis, but she will play with them if a friend wants too)
School was a challenge this year, but it was more of a teacher problem then anything else. We had to stand up and advocate for Scarlett and the others in her class, as the teacher had some big issues. In the end we ended up going to Superintendent , getting the teacher disciplined and a promise that she would never teach a primary grade again. It wasn't exactly what I would have wanted for an introduction into full-time school, the classroom was not a positive environment at all.
This was Scarlett's first year in French Immersion and she is loving it. She has asked to go to French camp for the summer, so she can continue to practice and learn and hopes to be the best in her class in the fall.
School friends seemed to change from day to day, but for the most part seemed to be Faith, Kate, Neely , Beth (although they seem to have quite the love/hate relationship going). She wouldn't talk much about school and what went on, and at the end of the year on the zoo trip I was hearing the names of kids I didn't even know were in her class. She seemed to have more friendships with kids in the older grades than her peer group.
She was also very proud of the fact that towards the end of the year she was asked to be a Kindergarten helper. This did wonders for herself esteem, and she would come home beaming about it. She was asked at the beginning of the year also, but she didn't have the impulse control to do it, as she would get distracted by anyone in the hallway. So we have seen her grow so much in this area.
The principal commented that she came to school everyday with a smile on her face and was excited to be there.
Attitude is also on the rise, we seem to fluctuate between a girl who wants to please to one who thinks she will die if you ask her to do something. Lately I have heard many times "Why do I always have to do that" when I ask her to help Kaleb with something, like its such a hardship.
But for the most part she is very willing to help, she wants to help cook now. She loves to be involved in grocery shopping, cooking, (not cleaning thou). She will walk ahead and get the stuff on my list for me, and really just wants to be able to do it on her own.
She's 53inches and 78 pounds now, still taller than most of the kids in her class, although some of the boys have now caught up to her.
My favorite things about my 7 year old are hard to put into words. Its the look she gets in her eyes, when you know all she wants is a hug from mom. Its also the look of joy that comes over her when she accomplishes something new. Watching her grow and mature is amazing, the way she takes charges of things with Kaleb, yet still needs help from us. How determined she is to be able to do everything on her own.
I love just listening to her talk, she is noticing everything around here and is full of questions. Just driving to daycare can bring out 20 questions, why are they cutting down the trees, how do you make electricity, why is beef on sale etc etc I laugh at our conversatins now as they don't begin to make sense, the topics are so varied over a short amount of time.
Another thing that has changed this year is that we are no longer allowed to call her Scarlie Barley, or Scarlie Girl not sure why but she hates those names. So for now she is angel pie, dolly lolly , sugar pie and of course Scarlie. All of her friends now call her Scarlie too.
Scarlett loves music, and has her own ipod. Her taste in music is varied from the Dixie Chicks (Travelling soldier) Avril Lavigne (Girlfriend), Montgomery Gentry (Something to be proud of), Finger Eleven (Paralyzer) and thanks to her dad she has a love for Johnny Cash (this one I will never understand). Her favorite song has been Tim McGraw - Fly Away.
