Sarah: Just turned 15 months, she is a stubborn one, sweet but stubborn. What we love most about her:
- sometimes when you pick her up to hold her, and she lays her head on your shoulder, and pats your back, like a "thank you for holding me" without saying anything. Adorable.
- other times, if she's feeling in a giving mood, you can ask for a hug and she will lay her head down on your shoulder and wrap her arms around you. So Adorable.
- when she waves both hands at cars passing by on the street while you are out on a walk
- when she bounces up and down in your arms upon seeing her big sisters coming home from school and smiles really big to say hi to them.
- when we sing our night-time song as a family before bed, she laughs and sings along with us, obviously not the words, but her type of humming. I remember at Christmas time she was so sweet when she would get so excited every time "Angels we have heard on high" was sung-I think she is going to love music more than the other girls even.
- She stubbornly won't walk. She's been able to stand on her own now for about a month, but only in short bursts, then sits down. If she's feeling so inclined, she will walk with you when you hold her hands but I think she just can't stand the thought of moving slowly that walking would necessitate. Consequently, she sticks with the crawling everywhere. That said, just today at church, she did take her first official steps--three!--without holding hands or any support.
- she is petite. I can still wear 3T clothes on her, though I've slowly been able to put away items this summer with some recent growth, but she has never been a great eater, so that makes growing pretty difficult.
- she hates potatoes. Really? Who doesn't like potatoes? Doesn't like them mashed, baked, or roasted, but will tolerate them as tator tots or French fries. Salt and Oil can improve lots of things, of course.
- She manipulates situations to get what she wants because she knows she's cute. No joke. Last week, she gave Todd her Fathers day card on Friday. She said very sweetly, "Here's your fathers day card, Daddy. [Pause, wait for positive reinforcement] Now can I have a treat?" Or, she'll ask for something she wants, and then she does a deliberate eye-bat, and face tilt, or "let me be as cute as possible to charm you to say yes". In other situations, she's been given things because she's so cute even though she wasn't actually expecting anything. A few months back the worker at my friends house gave her his canned juice "because she was just so cute and reminded me of my niece." Or the manager at the McDonalds that came over to the table where Todd and Camilla were eating and gave her a free Lego movie cup just because she was cute. (We didn't get a kids meal so it wasn't related to that.)
- That girl LOVES to dance, twirl, sashay, sway, bop, jam, every word you can think of. It's even better in a "cupcake dress"--the kind that billows out beautifully when you twirl. I have got to get her in a dance class.
- She is obsessed with boys--worse than Kayla was at this age! She's always asking about marriage, when she's going to be married, etc. She almost had an emotional breakdown a few months ago because she was crying about how long it would be before she could get married. It's disturbing. I'm not sure how we are going to survive this girl as an adolescent.
- She's funny, really funny. She makes jokes about things that take me by surprise. I wish I could remember one for an example, but I've drawn a blank. But, she's got a pretty robust sense of humor for a five year old.
- She loves the color purple, her stuffed monkey, and oh yes, she is going to make gummy bears when she grows up.
- Kayla is all about correctness. If you say the wrong thing, i.e. wrong phrase or word or name for the girl, trust Kayla to correct you.
- She"believes in fairies; they are real." Her favorite series is a the Rainbow Place Fairies books, filled with stylist fairies, fashion beauty fairies, music fairies, party fairies, and at least 5 more I've forgotten. She well exceeded the 1st grade reading level for end of the year.
- She loves pizza and loves to help me cook in the kitchen. Her dream is to have a pizza parlor one day. The fact that we found out she had either lactose intolerance or milk allergy (not sure which) doesn't faze her. She also dreams of being a fashion model and she has quite the poses for it. It's funny watching her do a pretend catwalk. And we have lots of fashion shows in our house.
- She loves shoes. It made her year when I bought her a pair of Sunday shoes with a 1/2 inch heel. I've never know anyone to fawn over a pair of shoes like that.
- She loves Art--Painting, weaving, pottery, you name it. Her Art teacher showed them how to weave in May, and that week she came home, made her own loom from cardboard, begged yarn out of my craft pile, improvised a needle using a bobby pin, and has now completed at least 9 blankets from the loom. Her self-portrait was included in the District Art show by her Justin Elementary teacher. She always wants to do crafts.
- She loves cupcakes and watching a show on the Food Network called Cupcake wars. She's determined to go on that show when she's older and win $10,000. Her favorite T-shirt is one that says "More Cupcakes, Less Homework." My friend is having a cake camp in July so she's excited to learn techniques like they do on the show.
- She LOVES to read. She is reading middle school books even though she is going into 4th grade in the fall. (This is particularly embarrassing to Emma because Emma hates that she is reading the same books as her little sister. It makes her feel stupid. My reassurances don't help the matter--but I hardly think stunting Abri's interest in books is the solution, even to avoid injuring Emma's pride.)
- She wanted a medal really bad this year (she was jealous of Emma's medal from Destination Imagination in 2012). She participated in Spelling Bee and Battle of the Books, hoping she could get a medal, to no avail. The highlight of her year was getting a surprise medal for Perfect Attendance. If I could have captured the look on her face as she stood there on the stand at the awards ceremony fingering that medal around her neck--priceless. She didn't gloat about it, she was just so happy to get one after wanting it so much. She earned that medal though--she was always up on her own every morning, independently preparing what she needed for school. It was especially earned on those crazy mornings just after we moved--I almost didn't take them to school a couple times but resisted the urge and it paid off.
- She loves her Wish bear for helping her not have bad dreams, her comfy but fashionable clothes (because you can't forsake comfort for the sake of fashion), her mp3 music player, her journals for writing, and of course, Sarah. But, "math is not her friend."
- With 3 out of 4 core classes "Pre-AP" or Pre-Advanced placement (the precursor of college prepatory classes in high school), Emma earned A/B Honor Roll this year as she encountered her fair share of trials with difficult team assignments and unbalanced work loads, late nights studying for multiple tests, and more responsibilities than she had time to handle. She got positive feedback from her many teachers for her work ethic and attitude.
- She started playing the French Horn in Band--the first musical experience she's ever had and really excelled. She has an excellent range for a beginning player, and she made the top performing band as a new 7th grader in the fall to beat out 8th graders who also auditioned.
- Turning twelve she got her ears pierced for the first time. She was nervous when the time arrived, but firm in her resolve, she took the pain and then took accountability to clean her ears everyday.
- She had her braces removed in Aug 2013 for a new improved smile. She still doesn't think she's pretty though. She told me that adults may find her pretty but teens have a different concept of beauty. Hmmm.
- She's not the most patient with her sisters, but she is definitely responsible and works hard at home, whether weeding, cleaning, etc.
