I cannot believe she's 8 already. Eight seems like such a big kid age. But here we are.
I just read through the birthday post from last year and there are really only a few changes from last year.
School: She is absolutely thriving, academically and socially. Last year, she took some time to form solid friendships and mainly wanted to hang out with just one friend, as well as play chase with the boys. She branched out toward the end of the school year and now it seems she's friends with everyone. She plays with most of the kids in her class and likes all of them, no enemies or "frenemys". Anya is comfortable and confident around her classmates and on the playground.
Academically, she is also confident. She is learning up a storm and her teacher says Anya is always up for any challenges thrown at her. All that hard work on spelling last year has paid off. She regularly earns her "challenge words" (difficult, bonus words when the assigned words are already mastered) each week and has the tools in her belt to make informed guesses on how new words should be spelled. Second grade common core math is sometimes confusing (especially to us adults), but she works and makes sense of it. The only academic negative is her personality trait (inherited from her mother) of being "type A" and very hard on herself if she doesn't do as good a job at something as she thinks she should (be it understanding something instantly or the results of rushing and overlooking something). And she has a difficult time asking for help if she needs it. Her teacher is helping her with that as best she can.
Our family is so happy we chose her school and community. It is wonderful all-around. One new development is that she decided on her own to get baptized and subsequently go through First Communion and First Reconciliation with her classmates. Baptism is next Saturday and will be a small, private ceremony. It's not too surprising she would make this decision, being at a Catholic school. We support her in this. However, I do find it funny that she now says she wants to be a saint when she grows up (in addition to being a herpetologist), modeled after St. Francis. More power to her, but saintly behavior starts at home and I'd sure love to see more of it. :-)
Other interests are pretty much the same: animals and nature. Climbing. Running around. She loves to feed the crows and has befriended one she's named Hungry Mungry. He hangs around the house, sometimes peeks into the windows, squawking at us. And occasionally flies with us as we walk to school -- especially if she is carrying peanuts. He's taken to swooping down and coming very close to me these days (actually bumped me twice), I presume to say hi and ask for handouts. He lets Anya get within about 3 or 4 feet of him. We like having him around. The dogs, though, not so much.
Activity-wise, she has taken more of an interest in soccer than she did in previous years. I wouldn't say it's her favorite, but she likes it well-enough, and playing a team sport is good for her. She also did cross-country again. I think if she can get over side stitches and learn some breathing techniques, she'll get into it. She said she came in first place (in her age group) in the school Slurpee Run. Obviously food-motivated like her momma. So maybe if I tie a doughnut to a string and keep it in front of her, she'll keep running. Rock climbing (especially bouldering), she loves. Also loves fishing about as much as Chris, which is very boring for me. Still little interest in things I like to do, such as cooking, sewing, generally making things with my hands. So it's difficult to bond over activities sometimes. In this regard, she's definitely Chris's daughter. Hiking is one we can all enjoy, though, pretty much always.
Favorite foods are the same (chicken and bread salad, spaghetti and meatballs, pumpkin-cinnamon-swirl bread). I don't know her favorite song (will put it here if she has one). Favorite movie/books have to be Harry Potter anything. TV shows: she's been watching Garfield and Pokemon, still liked Wild Kratts.
On a side note, we are going through a major kitchen remodel right now and I have breast cancer. I'll be starting chemo soon. So we are living in the basement and things are generally unsettled. She seems to be handling everything well so far, but I imagine there will be some signs of stress. We try to keep her schedule the same and be open (yet age-appropriate) with everything that's going on. So far, so good. We may write a separate post about it sometime.
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