Happy Birthday, Anya!

Our dearest Anya is now 7 years old. By all accounts, she had a wonderful birthday. She had free-dress at school, treats and her birthday announced by the principal over the intercom, and we brought Top Pot Doughnuts for class treat. The sun came out right as school let out, so she played at the school playground with friends for awhile. Then we walked to Maple Leaf Park to play with more friends on our way home. She opened a few presents and relaxed with some Minecraft for a bit. That evening we went to our annual PEPS Halloween party. It was great fun for the kids, as usual. She was pooped by the end of the evening and fell asleep quickly.

playing after school on a sunny birthday afternoon

In lieu of a party, Anya opted for a trip to Great Wolf Lodge. We're doing that next weekend and bringing her buddy, Eloise. But as a bonus, our friends ended up hosting a small-ish joint birthday celebration last weekend. Tracey, Maria, Marisol, and Anya all have birthdays within a few days of each other, so we had a lunchtime gathering. I made a chocolate cake for the grownup birthday girls, and a strawberry-lemon cake (which turned into a trifle, since the whole thing fell over while setting up in the fridge) for Marisol and Anya. It was a good time.

As for Anya, her personality hasn't changed much in the last year. She still wants to be a herpetologist when she grows up. But she's just as interested in fish, birds, and bugs. All creatures, really. Considering where she's growing up, perhaps she'll be a marine biologist or have interest in local fisheries.

School is going mostly well. Academically, she's doing wonderfully. The only thing that hasn't come easily so far is spelling (just like her daddy). But we work on it daily and she does great on her tests. Frankly, I think it's good for her to have something to struggle with and have to work on overcoming.

The thing that's not going quite as well is the social stuff. She likes to play chase with the boys and seems to prefer physical play. Unfortunately, this kind of play often ends up escalating and someone's feelings get hurt (they are being mean! she is being mean!) and has resulted in blows. It's mainly been an issue with one boy, but has been a problem with a group of boys. We are trying to help her with her communication and body language when she's playing these games. There's also a bit of girl drama, but that seems to have subsided for the moment. I hear from parents of older girls that First Grade is a big drama year for the girls. So many hurt feelings and things to work out. So, I think that's a good part of what's going on with Anya in general. I have hopes that she'll figure it all out. She is starting to branch out and make more friends.

She does seem happy when I see her at school, but often reports that she hates school and wants to go back to Wedgwood. It's only two months in and might take more time to adjust. Or she's just trying to get us to feel sorry for her (which she's been known to do). We honestly aren't sure how much are real feelings at this point. We know what we see and hear from parents/playground monitors and her teacher. I think things will ultimately be OK, though.

For other stuff, she's still very physical. Loves climbing and running. We signed her up for after school drama, which she has enjoyed immensely. Loves fishing with Chris and going on nature walks with me. She's also getting into Minecraft, which we are fine with. It's one of the only video games we condone, as it helps kids develop problem solving and logic skills, among other things. She's also very into Harry Potter, even though we've only read the first book/saw the first movie.

Anya also loves reading. She "sneaks" reading after we put her to bed every night and that's on top of the ~25 minutes of reading both she and Chris do for a bedtime routine. She's now a fluent reader, which was a hurdle for her this past year. Chris and I get a kick out of the reading material we find sprawled out on the bed after she's fallen asleep.

Some current favorites: food: spaghetti and meatballs (always), blueberry pancakes, Chicken with Bread Salad, Grandma B's pumpkin bread. Girl likes her carbs. Shows: Magic Schoolbus, any nature show, Walking with Dinosaurs, Jeff Corwin....but the last few weeks these have been skipped in order to play Minecraft. Music: Imagine Dragons "On Top of the World", Hozier "Take Me to Church", and The Pixies "Debaser" (which is so funny to us, because back in the Spring when she wouldn't stop singing "Let it Go" from Frozen, Chris had the brilliant idea to play Pixies every time she sang that song. It totally worked. She stopped singing that awful song and became a Pixies fan in the process. Win!)

All in all, I'd say that Anya is vivacious, intelligent, funny (she's developing a sense of humor liked Chris's, which is one of my favorite things about him), caring, empathetic, and giving. She can also be defeatist and quick to get frustrated, which we try to help her with. Love you kiddo! Here is to a wonderful year.