Art Show 2018

RCS’ 2018 Art Show featured our little artist in a piece I like to call

“checking out her art work”

Lady Falcon

I signed Sophia up for Upward Basketball this season because Matthew was playing.  She originally didn't want to play at all.  Being the psuedo-tiger mom I am, I basically "forced" her to try it out for one season because she doesn't know if she likes it if she's never tried playing before.  As we are driving to her first practice:

S: I don't want to play basketball.
Me: Why not?
S: I don't know how to play.  I'm not going to know what to do.
Me: That's why they have coaches.  They will teach you.
S: But I'm not good at it.
Me: That's because you've never played before.  We'll just try it for one season and if you don't like it, then you don't have to play next year.
S: So if I don't like it tonight, I don't have to play anymore?!
Me: Uh...no.  I already paid for the entire season - you're playing the entire season.  If you don't like it, then you don't have to play next year.

After the first practice:
S: Can I play again next year??

She's the smallest/shortest on the team and is one of 2 girls that has never played before but her coaches are extremely energetic and enthusiastic and very encouraging and I think that is a huge reason why she loves playing!  Here's our Lady Falcon that's loving her first basketball season so far.

Sassy 6!

Height: 43.5in (20th percentile)

Weight: 42lb 2oz (35th percentile)

This little girl is 6 now.  Sassy in her own sense of style, sassy in the way she speaks, sassy in the way she thinks...sassy in pretty much everything she does.  She invited a few friends over for arts and crafts and pizza to celebrate her birthday.  Brooklyn and Alyssa are from her 1st grade class and Eve is a neighbor that lives down the street from us that is in a different 1st grade class at the same school.  At 6 years old, Sophia still loves to sleep, is doing great at her new school in terms of making new friends and acclimating to the new school environment, and still loves arts and crafts (pink fluffy bunnies is the "in" thing for her right now). 

1st Grader!

Comparison pictures of the first and last day of kindergarten:

Sophia has learned so much this past year – from addition and subtraction to reading and spelling.  So far, she’s been an excellent student.  I know it’s just kindergarten, but she’s exhibiting great discipline on getting her class work and homework completed on time and properly.  She usually asked me to practice her weekly spelling words with her so that she would have a better chance of getting 100%.  I’m assuming these are all signs of her caring and wanting to do a good job.  Hopefully this flows into everything she does!  Here are a few pictures from kindergarten graduation and lunch afterwards.

So now she’s done with kindergarten and will be a first grader in the fall!  I’m hoping that she will transition smoothly to the new school and make new friends and still have the confidence that she’s always had in the class room. 

At 5 1/5, she still loves her naps.  Usually during the ride home/to grandparents’ house after school, she’ll fall fast asleep.  Some days she’s happier than others when we wake her up from her slumber.  Other days, she’s just a grumpy/cranky whiny baby if you wake her up too soon.  I hope that is not a sign of what’s to come during her teenage years!

At her last dentist visit, we discovered that she had a couple of cavities.  We also confirmed the fact that she has zero pain tolerance – either that or that she easily gets overly nervous, which causes her to not be able to withstand any thought of pain.  When she had to go back to the dentist for her fillings, she was crying even before they had to start drilling.  In fact, she was already crying when they started administering the laughing gas and then she was crying so much once they did start drilling that the dentist eventually recommended that we go to a pediatric dentist to finish the job.  At the pediatric dentist (which, in Sophia’s defense, was not a very kid friendly environment at all), we had to have multiple pep talks, prayer, threats of needing shots if we have to come back again and YouTube videos of Elena of Avalor in order to get xrays and one filling.  What an ordeal it was.  I think she’ll be brushing and flossing regularly and thoroughly from now on!  This was a picture of her before trying to get the x-rays.

Another noteworthy thing to jot down so that when she reads this in the futures, she can see what she was like when she was a kid:  She is such a sore loser when it comes to playing games.  Every time a board game gets pulled out, you’ll hear this conversation:

Me: Ok, why are we playing this?
S: For fun
Me: Ok, and what happens if we lose?
S: Don’t cry
Me: Why?
S: Because it’s just a game.

I think I need to revamp my lines or something because surely enough, she’ll end up whining/on the verge of crying if she’s losing and complaining that Matthew did something that wasn’t fair or that he somehow cheated.  However, if she wins, it’s all smiles and giggles and “gaw gaw, it doesn’t matter that you lost because it’s just a game” comments. 

Anyways, despite this, she’s still our little sweetheart that still loves pink, her arts and crafts and is currently infatuated with bunnies and asking if she can have a pet bunny.

Teacher's Pet

Sophia is such a sassy little fashionista who thrives on compliments of how well behaved she was or how she was a great helper or how her handwriting is neater than her older brother’s.

She is doing great in school and was even selected to be the kindergarten student of the month back in January.  Her teacher always comments on how well behaved she is and how she's always helping other students in class, even though she's one of the youngest.  Mrs. Trexler also commented on how she’s always using Sophia’s work to show the class an example of how something should be done.  During a parent-teacher conference, I asked if Sophia gets whiny because she seems to do it a lot when she is home but her teacher said she’s never seen her whine before.  I asked Sophia about that one day when she was whining a lot – I said “Why do you have to be so whiny?  Can you save some of your whining for school so that I don’t have to hear it all the time?”  And her answer to me?  She said “NoOOoooOOo!!  I don’t want to move my name down [the behavior chart] at school!”  I guess I just need to find the right motivation for her!

She still loves arts and crafts but the strange thing is that her favorite subject at school is music and not art.  However, the school work that she brings home is so cute.  She's drawing a lot of pictures and the latest thing she does is label her drawings:  

She’s also starting to learn a lot more words and knows enough to start reading on her own now.

She still loves her sleep and can still nap anywhere and instantly if she's tired.  

She tends to have many whiny moments but when she's not whiny, she's a funny, happy, little chatterbox that loves watching Elena of Avalor.  

Here's a video of the fruits of her 6 weeks of gymnastics that she took (but didn't want to continue).  Capped off with a bit of her happy silliness!

Happy 5th Birthday

“I want to invite 5 friends and go to Airtime for my birthday because I’m turning 5.”  The girl knows what she wants!  

Weight: 38lb 4oz (42nd percentile)

Height: 3' 5.75" (37th percentile)

Kindergarten!

We have our second kindergartener now.  She was excited to have the same teacher that her brother had in kindergarten and she likes riding the bus to school.  She also loves doing homework, always asking if she can do more than what's actually assigned for the evening!  Her first friend that she made in kindergarten is Kyra, which happens to be the sister of a girl that was in Matthew's class.  Mrs. Trexler has called us to let us know what a joy it has been having Sophia in her class - so proud of our little girl!

She's been doing pretty good considering she doesn't get a nap anymore now that she's in kindergarten.  She'll have her cranky moments when she's tired, but that's pretty normal for most kids.  The good (or maybe not so good?) thing is that she can fall asleep anywhere if she's tired.  Anywhere. (L-R: grandparents couch, cafe at Universal Studios, wedding)

Since becoming a big sister, she's matured a lot in many ways, but still our little girl.  She loves being a big sister but will still be a shrieky, whiny little baby when she doesn't get her way or if she loses at a game that she's playing with her brother or if her baby sister unintentionally scratches her.  But for the most part, she loves to help out and will always ask me if she was good helper if she thinks she did something helpful.  

This summer she surprised us by swimming in the pool and by going tubing by herself.  She doesn't like swim lessons at all and makes a big fuss when the instructor tries to make her put her entire head under water.  But for some reason, when she's in the water outside of swim class, she really enjoys it!

This summer we also signed her up to "play" soccer.  She actually told me that she wanted to play, but when we would get there, she would either be very cranky because she's tire d from not wanting to nap during the day or complain that it was too hot and that she didn't want to get sweaty.  One time she even told me that she didn't want to join them for the warm up because she didn't want to run too much!  But overall, I think she enjoys kicking a soccer ball around. I have a suspicion that she's pretty athletic, but she's going to be a little lazy about it or not want to get sweaty!  Truly a little princess!!