Six!

My goodness, Anya is 6 today.

What to say? She's a great kid.

This past year has had the big transition of ending preschool and starting Kindergarten. There was a jump in maturity just weeks after preschool ended and lots of learning has happened in just the last month and a half since Kindergarten started. She's made many friends at school. I'm not surprised, since she is not a wallflower. That's something I admire in her - her ability and desire to put herself out there and just charge forward. Her best friend in class is named Eva. Eva loves jaguars and they hunt for bugs together and dig in the dirt. She has (had? I never know from day to day) a boyfriend, Finn. Nice kid. He's very physical and high energy like her. School itself is going well. It seems Anya's reading currently falls in the "mid-year first grade" level. She can sound out most words easily (minus those that adults would find difficult), but is not a fluent reader (meaning, doesn't read at a pace that sounds like she's talking). She's learning about dates and gets how calendars work (she keeps on on the fridge and counts down days to important dates), and they are learning how to tell time. All in all, I'd say she's thriving at school. She looooves riding the bus and lives for recess and lunchtime.

As for interests, she still has a love for all things animal -- maybe even more than before if that's even possible. When at home, she loves to be out in the back yard hunting for bugs, digging in the compost bin (yuck!), or talking to the birds that fly near. She loves to fish just as much as her dad. For her birthday/Christmas, she's only been asking for a few things (since the summer): a frog hatchery, a necklace that holds bugs, and a jellyfish tank. Did I mention she likes animals? She tells us she wants to be either a veterinarian or a herpetologist when she grows up. Not a surprise.

Physically, she is still a climber and probably always will be. I wish rock climbing gyms were more convenient, since I guarantee she will be into it if/when she is officially introduced to the sport. Still very agile and fast. Good at gymnastics. Although, she requested that she drop from 2x a week for gymnastics pre-team to one day per week and take swimming instead. Still *very* active. She hardly stands still. If she's waiting in line, she tends to quickly jump in place. I wouldn't call her hyperactive, since she's quite capable of focusing and sitting still. She just has energy to burn. I wish I could bottle that stuff.

Some of her current favorite things:

Music: First Aid Kit's "Emmylou" and Nirvana's "Smells like Teen Spirit" (by way of the Muppet Movie version)

TV Shows: The Jeff Corwin Experience (sort of akin to the Crocodile Hunter for kids). Most recently, she's found and liked movies with talking dogs (Easter Bunny Puppy, etc). We don't have cable or satellite, so she finds all sorts of random kid-friendly shows on Netflix on the ipad. But Jeff Corwin is currently her favorite.

Friends: Eva L, Eloise, Eva H at school, Max (neighbors' grandson). She has lots of friends, but those are the ones she wants play dates with most often.

Food: Spaghetti and meatballs (which I have simmering right now for her birthday dinner), any kind of fruit, blueberry pancakes, bean and cheese burritos, and Grandma B's recipe for pumpkin cinnamon-swirl bread.

All in all, her personality hasn't really shifted since she was in the womb. She's full of life, curious about the world around her, independent, bright, funny, stubborn, empathetic, and (usually) a joy to be around.