7 y'all... my oldest is 7. It feels like she's graduated to the next stage. Like she's not a "little" kid anymore, she's just a regular kid. She's solidly in the Elementary school age. I sort of toyed around saying, "yeah, she's in 1st grade but I'm not going to push it and if it turns out to be a slow year for school or she's having trouble keeping up then we'll just call it another year of Kindergarten." But no, She's done just fine. Finishing all her curriculum the last week of May except Math. (because our Math curriculum has like 7-8 days of lesson practice for a week of school. We love it but I don't know how to finish it on time. We're not doing school on the weekend!) We'll probably get math done in the middle of the summer. So yeah, She'll definitely be doing all 2nd grade work next school year. I'm not sure why I doubted her, probably all because I didn't feel ready to say my kid was in Elementary school. It just all sounds so old!! I'm sure every year will keep feeling like that for my oldest. Raising any child can be a challenge but first borns are special. They've never experienced their own age obviously and we've never experienced parenting that age. We're all kinda wingin it. But it seems to be working so far! She has her faults for sure but I've seen so much growth this year and it's so encouraging!!
Jane loves to dream of life when she's older. She goes back and forth between being a Chef, a Doctor and a Fashion Designer. The one she says the most often though is Doctor. From 2 years old she has been interested in everything medical. Going to the doctor and the dentist is her favorite. She also loves to cook dinner with me and bake and she is very particular about her style and what clothes she wears. All of her occupation choices make sense! I'm looking forward to seeing what path she will take. She says she'll probably be a mom like me too. She used to talk about getting married and who she would marry but now she is already acting very mature about it and saying she's not old enough to decide those things yet. She'll wait until she's older to decide if she wants to get married at all. I'm glad she seems to have a level head about all of that so far. She does say she will move away from me but close enough to come visit often. Maybe even next door. That has changed from last year. Last year she told me she would live far away. I'm pretty happy that my free spirited girl is willing to consider living close to me. :D
I like to think back and try to realize what is different from the age 6 to the age 7. The thing that sticks out the most to me is this is the age that she has truly become helpful! Before it was more work for me to have her help me clean or cook but now it really does save me time! She spent her last few waking hours of being 6 willingly cleaning the bathrooms with me. <3 I was like, "Woah, is this 7?? I could get used to this." She can help make dinner for real. She's like my little sous chef! Except she's not into using a knife yet. I'm not sure I'm ready for that either. ;) But she's an excellent cheese grater, produce washer and mixer. Another part of 7 is that I'm seeing is a glimpse of pre teen years here and there. I can embarrass her a little now. Also she will come out and tell me she has nothing to wear even though her closet and dresser is stuffed full of clothes. She always wants a new outfit or the appropriate outfit for our activity. She brought me over to her closet and said, "This dress is for Christmas, this one is for Easter, this for a birthday, this one for the beach, so there's nothing for me to wear today!!" It's always so dramatic too. When we put on music for a dance party she always has to go get her "dance outfit" before we start. She's very self conscious about her teeth. She tells me often that she really wants her front teeth to come back in because she thinks she looks funny. I tell her she's beautiful and most 6-7 year olds have lost teeth like her's. I'm trying to help her see that beauty is not just on the surface, but appearance is very important to her and I'm not going to try to take that away from her either. It just can't be where her confidence lies.
Jane is still not a fan of school. But it's better than last year! We found our groove. I figured out what she could handle as far as how much time we spend on school a day and I also figured out when I needed to push her to do the work and when to ease up. In Kindergarten we just did reading, handwriting and math. In 1st grade we added a few other subject and that helps break up the day with stuff she enjoys and things that are more of a struggle. Her favorite subject is History! We did Bede History of Me and US and we both LOVED it. The picture above is an activity from that book where we did a timeline of our family. So much fun. We also did a book called Doctor Academy that she adored. It was just perfect for her. I also added in a vocabulary book that we have enjoyed going through together called A Word A Day. Jane's biggest struggle is still reading. It doesn't come easily and she has no motivation to try to get better. Still trying to figure out how to help her fall in love with reading. She also struggles with handwriting but she's pretty good at Math and her creativity and memory are awesome. Looking forward to the journey of 2nd grade!
This girl. The thing I hear from her every morning is, "Where are we going today??" Anywhere and everywhere other than being home is her favorite thing to do. I mean she does find ways to have fun at home but she would much rather go somewhere else. She wants everything in life to be new and fresh and exciting! I love that she makes sure our family isn't staying stagnant and we're always trying new things and going to events, but it can get exhausting trying to keep up with her always on the go personality. I hear a lot of "I'm bored... no one with will play with me." Just because her siblings won't play the game she wants to play. We're still working on learning to enjoy playing independently. I have seen some improvement in the last year! The dress she's wearing in the picture above she bought with her own money from the thrift store because she really wanted to have a new dress. She told me it had been too long since she'd had a new dress. I have to remind her that it's important to be content and grateful for what we have because she'll always want more. She's starting to understand concept of money and everything we have costs something. Just this past year she realized that we had to pay for groceries! I didn't even realize that was something she didn't know. When I say we can't afford something she says that's boring, but I try to remind her what Bluey's mom says, boring things are important things too, like sticking to the budget for example. Once she gets in the right frame of mind Jane can make almost any boring thing interesting! I love that about her!
Jane is at the age that she is really solidifying her closest friends for her elementary years. Paige and Cambrie are her besties! (top pic) They love to be together. We're all in the same homeschool group and we do a science co-op together. She's also really close to everyone in our co-op class since it's only about 7 families. We have our long time friends too, Nicole and Brianna. (Bottom pic) They are the babyhoodies! She has known them the longest and gets excited every time we get to see them. Unfortunately it's not as much as we would like because they live an hour away. She even called one of her fellow babyhoodie friends her cousin. It was sweet! I guess they feel like that to her because she's known them since she was born, we see them almost as much as her real cousins and they live a little farther away than her other friends. ;) She still makes friends fast and loves to be social. She has too many more friends to list but these are the ones that stick out to me this year. I see her making more and more of the right choices when she plays with friends too without my intervention. I love to see her have such sweet friendships. We are blessed.
Jane adores having built in friends! Siblings are the best! Sure they fight and irritate each other but mostly they love each other and have a great time playing together. Jane is always sad when Xan and Atlas would rather play on their own for awhile. She's the only one of my kids that has a really hard time playing on her own. Since Flynn was born Jane would say that we were good on siblings and she didn't want anymore but recently we got to see a couple of friends newborns and she has baby fever! Haha... but I don't. ;) She says they're just sooo cute!! I told her we'll just have to make due cuddling friend's babies. Atlas and Jane have the closest relationship and although they know how to push each other's buttons they also stick up for one another and are great at coming up with fun games to play together. Jane was a little disappointed when Xan ended up not being a girly girl like her. Alexandria prefers Bowser to Peach. So yeah for Xan Reptiles are greater than princesses. But Jane has started to learn to roll with it because she never has to fight with Xan to be the one who plays the princess in their make believe games or in Mario games. I think they will bond over girl stuff as time goes on. Jane is still completely in love with Flynn. Flynn doesn't let her hold him like a baby anymore but she can still mother him a little which she enjoys. Their energy matches each other. Jane and Flynn get each other with the never stop moving attitude. They have a special bond as first and last born. I'm proud of Jane for taking up the role as leader of the kids and knowing she has a responsibility to be a good example and make sure they stay safe as much as she can. It's a big job to be first born of 4 kids, but I know she is up to the task!
Weight
Birth: 8 lbs
1 Years Old: 18 1/2 lbs
2 Years Old: 25 1/2 lbs
3 Years Old: 29 1/2 lbs
4 Years Old: 34 3/4 lbs
5 Years Old: 40 3/4 lbs
6 Years Old: 45 lbs
7 Years Old: 52lbs
Jane continues to stay near the middle of the percentiles for weight. She's a foodie but she also super active which helps her keep a healthy physique. What sticks out to me this year about her weight is she halfway to 100 pounds! And she's not easy to pick up anymore!! In fact I barely pick her up at all these days. I always think about the fact that you never realize the last time you pick up your child. I feel it inching closer and closer lately.
Height
Birth: 21 Inches
1 Years Old: 28 1/4 inches
2 Years Old: 32 3/4 inches
3 Years Old: 36 1/2 inches
4 Years Old: 3' 3" (39 inches)
5 Years Old: 3' 6"
6 Years Old: 3' 8.5"
Look at how much higher that dress is off the ground! She's almost 4 feet tall!!! That seems crazy to me. With shoes on she reaches the 48" mark. So she was able to ride all the big kid rides at the fair. I love having a thrill ride buddy! Her head almost comes up to my shoulder. It's going to be weird when she gets taller than me. ;) She's still average for height though. We'll see if she'll take more after me or Sam in height.
Firsts/Notable Moments
I really had to stretch what I considered a first to find enough to fill this past year. They truly are all firsts but I guess they are becoming more like notable moments. So I think I'll change the name from now on. I might have to fill in with favorite moments too next year. I just love documenting all of the significant moments from each year. It's so fun to see them all in one place.
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| Wearing a mask during a pandemic - May 2020 |
Lost Tooth - June 2020
Rock Climbing - June 2020
Stitch Fix - July 2020
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| Day of 1st Grade - August 2020 |
Tropical Storm evacuation from our beach vacation - September 2020
Handstand on the beach - October 2020
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| Reaching the top of the swingset - October 2020 |
Climbing above a roof top and big kid friend - November 2020
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| Bumper car ride - December 2020 |
Riding a bike (no training wheels) - January 2021
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| Getting a tooth knocked out - January 2021 |
Climbing the walls - February 2021
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| Enduring the Texas Tundra - February 2021 |
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| Dissecting - April 2021 |
Big kid amusement park ride - April 2021
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| Being my Sous Chef - May 2021 |
Favorites
Like I mentioned earlier, Jane is a foodie!!! She's willing try almost anything and loves to cook. She definitely knows what her favorites are, White mac and Cheese and Pigs in a blanket is her favorite dinner that I make and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers are her favorite dinner that Sam makes. For breakfast she loves breakfast quesadillas and pancakes. For lunch her go to is a pepperoni sandwich and she's kinda bread snob. She will tolerate regular sandwich bread but bakery fresh sub rolls are her favorite. Other favorites are Pizza, Ravioli, Grilled Cheese, Cheese Quesadillas and Chicken tenders. Her favorite restaurants are Cilantros, Pappa's Seafood, Los Cuccos, Schlotzsky's and Cici's. Anywhere that has superior bread and butter as a free appetizer is a good restaurant in her book. Her number one fast food place is Whataburger, but she also likes Sonic, Canes, Papa Johns, Chick-fil-a and the chicken sandwich from Popeyes. I don't think she'd turn down anything sweet but cake, cookies and milkshakes are the best to her.
Even though Jane dislikes reading by herself, she still loves it when I read to her. Favorites this year have been, Farmer's Market, (when I asked her favorite this was her answer) Dragon Post, We Help Mommy, You Choose, Green Eggs and Ham, That's Not My Mermaid. Since the library just opened back up we've been enjoying a variety of wonderful books! And we found an audio book she really enjoyed listening to in the car called the Phantom Tollbooth. Her favorite book to read on her own was a bob book called Ten Kids and she was really proud of herself when she finished Go, Dog, Go on her own. She's definitely not up to grade level but I know she'll get there eventually. We're really just focusing on making it fun and enjoyable since it doesn't come naturally for her.
This year Jane started enjoying a lot more live action shows, but her interests have stayed very broad. Some of her favorites from this year were H2O: just add water, Brainchild, Emily's wonder lab, If I were an animal, Power Rangers: Ninja Steel, Scooby Doo, Zig and Sharko, Bluey, Nailed it and Sugar Rush. It seemed like Jane couldn't quite understand the rest of the family's love for video games. She would play multiplayer with Atlas sometimes but she's like I'm just not into games like everyone else. I told her it was good to be different, but I also wanted to give her a taste of video games that are different from the standard Mario. So I got her Animal Crossing for her birthday and she has really enjoyed it!! She's not consumed by it at all but now she seems to understand how fun video games can be. :D Other favorites are Just Dance, Super Smash Bros, Kirby Star Allies and Raving Rabbids 2. The only thing is she's terrible at losing... That comes from me. I was the same way. I struggled with being a good sport for so long. I hope to help her through it faster than I did.
Jane loves movies and Frozen 1 and 2 have yet to be dethroned as her favorite movies. I asked her if she had any other favorites and she said no... Haha! It's hard to tell what other movies are her favorite because she always wants to try a new one. She enjoys most of the Barbie movies and any Disney princess movie. Raya was a big hit! She was inspired to practice her ninja moves. ;) The only other favorite that comes to mind that we watched again and again was The Mitchells vs. the Machines. They all thought it was hilarious! I did too! :D She always wants to watch the live action movies, like super heros but usually the elements in those movies get just a tad too intense for her. We haven't try in a while though. Maybe she'll be ready soon.
Toys do not hold Jane's attention for long unless someone is playing with her. She will be really into a new toy for a week and then barely plays with it after the newness wears off. There are a few toys she comes back to more than others. She loves her cake decorating Barbie set and Melissa and Doug Baking toys. When I asked her what her favorite toy was she said her Our Generation Doll she got for Christmas. Her favorite stuffy is still Lamby by far, but recently she's wanted her stuffed cow to go to bed with her too. Most recently she has been really into her roller skates she got for her birthday.
Jane's favorite activities are staying strong. They are swimming, jumping on the trampoline, gymnastics and imagining. Even though we stopped the competitive gymnastics she still really enjoys going to Open Gym with her friends. Cooking has become a recent favorite activity! I love having a helper in the kitchen! <3 She also enjoys drawing, dress up, painting, monkey bars, crafting, and puzzles. As long as she's active doing something she's happy!
Like I said earlier the phrase I hear every morning from Jane is "Where are we going?" She LOVES to go anywhere!! Her absolute favorite place to go is THE BEACH. She prays to go back every night. 2nd favorite is Marmee and Pappaw's house, especially for a sleepover. She also loves the theater, friend's houses, the Library, Urban Air, any inflatable jumping place, the zoo, the fair, the park, the dentist, the doctor, Uncle Scott and Aunt Anna's house and any restaurant. I can barely think of anywhere she does not like to go!!
This picture feels like it represents Jane well. At such peace at the top of a tall climbing structure. Doing something active and exciting is her happy place. I wrote a personality summary of Jane for her birthday blog post last year and everything on it still holds true. You can read it here it's at the very end. Really it's hard to add anything to it after reading it. I guess this is the year that her personality has really solidified and there won't be as many drastic changes from year to year. She is a joy and a challenge all at the same time. I adore her passionate spirit, Imaginative mind, brave heart and loving soul. Her adventurous drive and boldness to take on any challenge always keeps things interesting!! She keeps me on my toes and I love watching her grow. Recently she went to my grandmother's with my mom and dad. Due to my mom and dad needing to help my grandmother with various tasks more than they expected, Jane had to entertain herself there for almost the whole time. It was over 6 hours. My mom told me she did amazing! Never complained and was very respectful and polite the whole time. Jane even told me she had fun and she would want to go again. Hearing a report like that makes me feel like maybe I'm doing something right. (right??) I am so proud of the 7 year old she has grown to be. Here's to another year with my vivacious Jane!
Happy 7th Birthday Girlie! We love you so much!
Isaiah 60:1
Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
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