We celebrated big this weekend with hot dogs and ice cream after an ice inducing soccer practice and then followed it up with a grand slumber party that included homemade pizza, movies, and 3 giggly girls who stayed up WAY too late!
What follows in the letter that we wrote to try and summarize her year for her birthmom...
As usual it is so hard to summarize the princesses’ life in just one letter. There are so many nuances in her life that are hard to get on paper, but she continues to be a delight not only in our home, but to the people around her.
She has grown much since last year and has finally hit the 50 lb mark in the last few weeks. It's quite funny because she is so proud of that accomplishment. She is 4 feet 2 ½ inches tall now and has decided that long hair is the way to go. She’s determined to have hair that would rival Ariel, but I’m not sure we will get there. As you can see from the pictures she adds 1000 freckles each summer and for at least right now is very proud of her freckles.
She was happy to finish the first grade and move into summer. She got to attend a music camp the first week out of school and performed in a musical at the end of the week. She loves to perform anywhere from the stage at Barnes and Nobles to our living room floor.
She was also able to spend a week in Alabama with my brother’s family where she could swim to her heart’s content. We spent the rest of the summer at the local pool. She still shows no fear in the water. She will jump off high dives and low dives and can swim for hours at a time. We were able to vacation at the beach for a week which was the highlight of her summer.
We started 2nd grade in high gear, but for the first time in her school career we began to run into some issues. She wasn’t excited about going to school anymore and came home most days with some complaints about the day. Just as we were beginning to wonder how we were going to handle these issues she was moved from her 2nd grade class to a combo class with 3rd graders. Almost immediately we saw a significant change in her attitude about school and in her attitude at home. She has a great teacher that we love and one who challenges her to really learn.
She played a spring and fall season of soccer and just started this spring season today. She continues to like soccer, but it is definitely a social event for her and not an athletic event. She played a 2nd season of basketball this winter and she seems to love basketball. We have to ask her to stop dribbling the ball in the house some days because she is driving us insane, but she is getting good at it!
The princess decided after her recital in May that she wanted to take some time off from dancing. She has not seemed to miss it all since she can perform in our living room whenever she wants!
The biggest thing we’ve seen in the last year is how awesome the princess is at being a big sister. Her brother absolutely adores her. He is not talking yet, but he is very clear that NahNah is his sister. When we get in the car and she is not there he pats her seat and says her name. She plays with him without being asked and loves to make him laugh. She does have her moments when she shuts the door in his face, but it’s only because he follows her everywhere!
She still has a gentle heart that wants to care for people and wants to make sure that everybody is happy. She is becoming more independent and is standing up for herself more lately without an adult having to intervene which is great to see. She is beginning to show small signs that she is starting to become her own person and we can see hints of the pre-teen coming. Right now it just makes me smile because I know she is working on being her own person. Thankfully she continues to have a strong conscience that encourages her to make good decisions. Just the other day she told Doug and I she couldn’t keep secrets because they made her tummy hurt. I’m hoping this continues to be true as she gets older!
This year she started asking lots of hard questions about adoption and I think most of those came because our son’s Mom is still in his life. She has not met her, but she knows that she exists. Some questions have been simple, like what’s my Mom’s name, but other things have been more challenging. For a while she struggled with knowing she didn’t look like anybody, but we encouraged her that she is her own person and just because she doesn’t look like it doesn’t make her any less our daughter. The cool part is that she is beginning to understand that you made a huge decision that was not simple.
We hope this letter finds you well. As always we cannot begin to sum up in words how much we love your daughter and what a treasure she is not only in our life, but to a lot of other people.
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