Happy Birthday my sweet Abby girl! I can't believe you are EIGHT years old. That's half way to driving....gah! Time goes by faster than you know.
A sweet story about you:
My dear sweet Abby girl, you are the kindest, gentlest soul. You have a good heart and you are so much like me it’s like I see my 8 year old self walking around the house. You are thoughtful and kind and (mostly) a great big sister to Hazel. I was sitting here thinking which story I wanted to tell about you over this past year, one that would explain the essence of who you are right now at 8 and how amazing of a little human you truly are and I think one way that I can capture that is telling about how much you stepped up during the COVID Stay at Home order. You know, now, 5 months out from the scary time I'm able to look back and reflect on what it was like during those days....and am actually even able to see some good in those scary weeks at home. Daddy was gone most of those early months of COVID. He was working in North Carolina on a job site and would leave on Sunday mornings and not come home again until late on Fridays. He was working and providing for us and making sure that his little business survived through those scary times. He was making sure we had what we needed to get through, but sometimes that left me feeling a little bit alone, a little bit overwhelmed and honestly, a LOT bit scared. But sweet Abby, you helped me through that in more ways than you know. You really rose to the occasion. You worked on your school work without complaint....you helped me with Hazel, you played with her and entertained her through countless work meetings. You made legos, you taught Hazel what it means "when Mommy has her head phones in"...you wrote notes to me when you knew I couldn't talk, you lets Hazel join you in your "PE" workouts for the day. You helped me run this house, run my day, and keep it all together until Daddy could get home to support me. You were my partner in crime and you made me so proud to be your Momma.
Some firsts this year:
· Bike Riding! – technically you’ve known how to ride a bike for about a year now – you learned it last summer while we were camping in Kentucky with Grandma and Papa, but, this year, actually on your real birthday, was the day that it finally clicked for you and you decided it was fun (and not terrifying). You, sweet girl, are your mother’s daughter and you get all of your anxiety from me. Bike riding was just one of those things that while you knew HOW to do it, you were too afraid to enjoy it. But, on August 14th, Daddy asked you to ride your bike with him in the campground to go get ice cream. I’m not sure what happened in that 10 minute trip, but you came back with the biggest smile on your face and from that moment on, bike riding has been top of mind! You’ve convinced Daddy to take you on weekend bike rides (which ended up buying me an hour of quiet on a Saturday morning…let’s keep that trend up!). You are confident, and excited and ready to ride at a moment’s notice. It’s so fun to see you embracing it now and we are so proud of you!
· Booster Seat – Just this year we moved you from the 5 point harness car seat into a booster seat. I know, you are 8…it feels like some of our friends have been in boosters for a LONG time, but you are tiny and to be honest, we could have probably kept you in the other seat for another year. You are under but the height and weight limits. But, swapping seats means that you can do a little more in the car. You are no in charge of “kid garbage” and you can help Hazel more, because you have a little more flexibility in the booster. To be honest, it’s been a nice upgrade for me…LOL! Making my life easier.
· Showers – another way my life has gotten easier this year is that you now run showers for both yourself AND Hazel, without any intervention from me! To all you other Mommas out there, I’m here to tell you, there will be a day when you don’t do it all! Anyways, back to you sweet Abby. You have become such a big helper for me this year. You get yourselves into the shower, wash your own hair and Hazels, get PJs set up and even do towels and hair brushing all on your own.
· Reading – you didn’t learn to read this year, but I think this year your love for reading has really taken off. At the end of second grade you were reading around a 5th grade level, so this summer we’ve really been working on reading hard, longer books. This summer I said I’d pay you $5 a week if you read for 45 minutes a night and boy oh boy, I think that might have been one of the best things I’ve done this summer. You are confidently reading long books and we’re ingraining good habits. If I’m honest, it makes my book loving heart so happy!
·
Making
dinner/meals – If I’m honest, this is an initiative that your Daddy has been
doing a better job at that me. He’s been
getting you involved in making meals and cleaning up when I just figure it’s
faster and less messy if I do it myself.
BUT! He’s right and it’s time for
you to start learning these skills too.
This year you’ve started making ego waffles (toaster) and Mac and Cheese
(with adult supervision). You tend to do
better with “Daddy Mac” (Velveta Mac) because when we make “Regular Mac)
(Kraft) you have a hard time with the powder cheese and most of it ends up on
the stove top because you aren’t careful enough when you stir. But, making messes is part of the process and
I need to let you do that more often. Like
the showers, I seem glimpses of more independence each time we teach you these
things. It’s good for you, and for
me. I know someday I’ll wish I could
bottle it all back up again, but for now we’re celebrating these milestones and
embracing them.
Favorite Toy: “My Owies, they are most important to me because they are the first animals I ever had”.
Your favorite toy has been, and
probably will always be your Owies. The
same two, well worn, well-loved Owies you’ve had since the day you came home
from the hospital. 8 years later you
still snuggle with them every night watching TV, you still bring them to Brenda’s
each day (and if you could I think they’d ride in your backpack to school
too). That being said, you do love your
kitties. The “kitty of the day” changes
over time, but next to your Owies, there’s always a cat tagging along. I know you’d love nothing more than a real
life cat, but baby girl, I just can’t do it right now.
Favorite TV show: “Netflix….I mean Barbie shows”.
Since quarantine in the spring, you girls have started
exploring around the Kids Netflix profile and you are loving all the new shows
there. It’s sad to say, but gone are the
days of Disney Junior in this house. You
watched it faithfully for 7.5 years, and I have to remind you that Hazel still
enjoys Disney Junior because when you were 5 you still liked it. We’re working to balance the time so that each
of you gets to pick shows you like, but some of your current favorite shows are
Boss Baby (I hate this show), Barbie Dream House and Troll Hunters.
Bears or Packers? “Will
you be sad if I pick Bears? I like both
of them”.
Just a few days ago you asked me “Mommy, is it ok if
I cheer for the Bears this year”? If I’m
honest, I did pull a quick guilt trip with a sad face…but in the end, I said that
you can cheer whomever you like the best.
And, as Daddy says “always the politician” you ended up saying “I’ll
just cheer for them both”. But, darn it
if I didn’t just invest in some new Green Bay Packers stuff for you. I’ll leave Daddy and Erin in charge of
filling your drawers with that yucky orange and blue stuff.
Favorite Outfit: “It depends on the season and what’s going on…but I really like my new high heeled boots”.
I don’t think there is one specific outfit that you
love over all else, but at the age of 8, you’re still perfectly happy letting
me pick your clothes. But what we buy
for you to wear and your daily outfits.
Most mornings I’ll ask you and Hazel both if you want to pick your
clothes, or should I and 90% of the time you just say “you can do it Mommy”. So, I’d say your favorite outfits are really
just MY favorite outfits.
Favorite Movie: “My favorite movie, I have a couple, but I think my most favorite is Trolls World Tour…but my other favorites are Frozen 2, Spies in Disguise and Onward”.
All of the movies you listed above came out recently
and yes, they are your current favorites.
Trolls World Tour (or Trolls 2) has been a huge hit this summer and I’m
sure that’ll continue for awhile. I don’t
think there are any long standing favorites movie-wise. Nothing that we watch over and over on
repeat. Its just the latest and greatest
and then onto the next (newest) latest and greatest.
Favorite Color: “Blue and Pink but Blue is my most favorite”.
Blue has forever and for always
been your favorite color. As constant as
your Owies being your favorite things.
Favorite Food: “I already told you, MY Mac and Cheese, that I make”.
This is easy – your favorite foods haven’t changed
since you were tiny. You love buttered
noodles, Spaghettio’s (oh! That might be
new this year), Mac and Cheese, grilled cheese…all of the foods you’ve loved
since toddler-hood.
Nicknames:
Probably the one nickname you get is Pearly….Peanut
and Peanut Butter were nick names that I used for a LONG long time, but those
seem to have fallen by the wayside as you’ve gotten older. Sometimes I use just funny names for you both
collectively like “Ok, stinker minkers…” or “Zoo-ka Zom-ma little Mommas…”
(which means “hurry up…” in our house).
Just funny little things that we’ve said over the years that are still
sticking around.
Fears: “Losing my teeth”.
Yes, losing these teeth is currently a big to-do
around the house. You’ve decided that
you are very afraid of losing your teeth and therefore you are very careful to
not touch them in any way. You only eat
on the side of your mouth that doesn’t have a loose tooth…you want your food
cut up small…you don’t even do a great job of brushing around the loose
ones. Because you are so careful, it
takes FOR. EV. ER for a tooth to come out so it’s a long, drawn out, battle of
whining and nerves…..and, because you are 8, as soon as you FINALLY lose one,
there is another one right behind it that is wiggly and we start the whole
drama over again. So, our new tactic is
to try and wiggle your loose teeth each night.
A little wiggle front to back and right to left and then a little tug
just to see if it’s ready. We’ll see if
that helps….because this current drama is my least favorite these days.
Height/Weight:
49 inches and 44 lbs.
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