Eight-year update
A few more details, now, on Avery at eight…
Personality: As mentioned in previous posts, she’s got a big one. At school she’s still mild-mannered and unlikely to get super silly outside of recess, but at home she’s always running bouncing around, dancing, talking loudly, telling jokes and – yeh – sometimes being sassy. She likes teasing people (especially me!), and she likes bathroom humor. (Under the teasing-me umbrella, one of her favorite things to do is take off her dirty socks and leave them scattered throughout the house. She knows I don’t think like it and, hence, thinks it’s hilarious.) She’s also known as our little diva: She tends to be very dramatic about things, with three phrases we hear very often – “That’s not fair!†“You’re so rude!†and “I’m hun-gry†– often said in an exaggerated or whiney voice. We also hear “Real-ly?†accompanied by an eye roll more than I like! But, still: She’s a sweet kid who is caring and compassionate. When one of her teammates got hurt during a soccer game this spring, for example, Avery was the first one to rush over to her, put her arms around the girl and start to comfort her. I got a lump in my throat when I saw that (I was much prouder than if she had made a goal!), but that’s pretty typical of her.
Interests: Like when she was seven, she loves playing pretend (as I type this she’s downstairs playing school with Zoe), as well as Barbies and Lego Friends. Though she has been lukewarm about taking a class, she really enjoys dancing and putting on performances. (I’d love to be able to show photos or videos, but more often than not she performs without clothes on – something she finds hilarious to do.) Over the past few months, she has been very into Hamilton music (as has the rest of the family), and her favorite thing to watch is H2O, a show on Netflix about mermaids. She likes reading more than she used to; in the spring she discovered the Owl Diaries and she also really likes the Heidi Hecklebeck series. She also seems very interested in computer programming; she enjoyed working with Scratch during technology class at school, and we actually signed her up for a coding camp next week.
School life: Second grade was a big success for Avery, especially since she had an amazing teacher. Though she’s likely to describe school as “just okay†(and she never gets sad about vacation days), she does seem to really enjoy it – and she considers math her favorite subject. And as for friends, she has a little crew (see her recent birthday picture) and seems happy in that department.
Other stuff: She’s 53 inches and wears a size 2 shoe. She had her first crush this year and was very open about talking about it with us; one night at bedtime I asked what she was going to think about as she tried to get to sleep and she answered, “Marrying X.” (She also talks about his hair and how cute he is on a regular basis.) Speaking of bedtime, we have a new routine over the last few months where she asks us to “check on her” every few minutes until she’s asleep. “Don’t forget!” she’ll call out in her sweet voice. (As if we could ever forget her!)
-M