Mia turned 7 last week. I don't know what it is about her getting older, but it always shocks me a bit more than the other kids.
Here is what she had to say at 7 years old
Mia birthday interview
What is your favourite colour? umm...tealish green
What is your favourite animal? I like...hmm...cats
What is your favourite book? The faerie books
What is your favourite food? Pizza *chicken nuggets are off crying in the corner*
What is your favourite movie? Zombies
What is your favourite TV show? *she started singing some theme song and I had no clue what it was*
What do you want to be when you grow up? a ballerina, also a police officer, also a doctor, but mostly a ballerina
What are you scared of? a black monster with bumps on it, no nose and no mouth *no clue what she is talking about, but apparently she has been scared of it since she was 2...*
What is your favourite thing to do for fun? go to Disneyland
What are you most excited for about being 7? because I'm close to turning 8, also feels like I'm a grown up
***********************************************************************************
The best way to describe Mia is a mix between Princess Anna (Frozen) and Princess Mia (Princess Diaries). She trusts easily, loves hard, has a stubborn streak, is endearingly naive, and a little clumsy. She has horrible morning hair and "Wait, what?" is a common expression.
She hit a major growth spurt this past year and went from 10th to 40th percentile for height, and from 25th to 60th for weight. This amazes me considering she is still my pickiest kid and often barely eats probably half the suppers I make, but obviously her pickiness isn't stunting her growth. She loves the typical favourites-chicken nuggets, pizza, tacos, macaroni and cheese... but she also has a couple less conventional food items she loves like feta cheese and sour cream on tortillas.
She has lost two bottom teeth so far!
Mia loves a good time. She is super social and COVID has been hard on her with not being able to see her friends. She took not having a party right now really well, with the hopes that we'll be able to do a small belated one at some point. We celebrated here by having (at her request) McDonalds for dinner, doughnuts instead of cake, and presents. We watched a movie of her choice and let her stay up until 10. We also had birthday crepes for breakfast the following morning.
Mia is a great friend to others, and often comes home and tells me how she helped someone or asks how she can help someone. She has a special ability to notice those around her, and tries to fill their needs. She has a very giving heart, and has often asked me if we could buy new school supplies for her classmates or if she can give them some of her money, if she thinks they are in need. Just this last two she coloured two pictures for a couple boys in her class who have trouble being nice and making friends.
She takes her role as a big sister very seriously, and will often be the first to comfort a crying Brooklyn. She loves to read and play with her. And Brooklyn will ask about Mia when she is gone at school, and tell me she wants Mia to tickle her. Scarlett and her can be hit and miss. There are times when they get along famously, and times when they fight like cats and dogs. But if Scarlett is upset or hurt Mia will always come to the rescue (unless she was the cause of it of course). She is over the moon about having another sibling, and always hugs my tummy in the morning and before bed. She has been able to feel a couple of kicks, and is very much looking forward to having baby snuggles.
Mia is a very good student. She works very hard at her school work and has won 2 awards so far- one for demonstrating responsibility and one for demonstrating leadership in her class. As soon as she gets home from school she is asking me to do her homework. Since starting her spelling tests she will sometimes make me drill her for a good 30 minutes until she is confident she knows her words. She does her very best, often going above and beyond what is required by her teacher, and sometimes I have to remind her that things don't always have to be perfect. Her French is coming along really well as is her reading. She loves math and is always spouting off addition equations to me, or writing them down on paper. She had an absolutely stellar report card this last quarter, where she scored "exemplary" (the highest "mark") in every single subject.
Mia is a big help at home. She will often clean up messes that aren't hers if asked, and is good about doing small chores without having to be reminded. She is quite responsible and gets dressed and brushes her hair as soon as she gets up in the morning for school, without being asked.
She loves all things girly-princesses, makeup, dressup... and it's fun being able to watch some "girly movies" with her like Princess Switch, Ella Enchanted etc. When we watched The Princess Switch, during the romantic kiss, she sighed and put her head on my shoulder and said wistfully "I love romantic movies".
She likes to be active and misses gymnastics, but likes to do yoga and "superhero workouts" on YouTube. She mastered a cartwheel. Mia learned to ride her bike without training wheels this summer, and spent a very large portion of the day riding up and down the sidewalk. She also loves Just Dance videos, and she tried skating for the first time this year!
Mia always wants to know what's coming. "How many days until this?" "So that's this many days?" "So you mean the day after tomorrow and the next day and the next day?" She asks me what we're having for supper about 3 times a day as well.
She can have quite a fiery temper, but she often regrets things she has said in anger, and is quick to apologize.
She can be super distracted, which is funny looking back on things she's done, but sometimes it drives me to the brink of insanity. Example- ask her to go brush her teeth, 5 mins later go in the bathroom and not only has she not brushed, but she is giving herself a mani pedi over the toilet. Finally she is in pjs and has brushed, ask her to go downstairs and say goodnight to dad. 5 mins later she is still down there watching him play a computer game. Tell her to go to bed. She comes back downstairs (even though she sleeps upstairs), and is waving deodorant at me-I have no clue why. I send her back upstairs and ask her to fill her water bottle and go to bed. I hear her filling her water bottle and climbing into bed. I go to tuck her in and she says "oops I forgot my water bottle on the counter". At this point I just shake my head and walk away...
Sometimes I honestly wonder about the workings of her mind. Some of the things she does I just stare at her blankly like I'm not sure what planet she arrived from haha. Don't get me wrong-I love her to absolute bits, but some of the things she does I'm like "just walk away Morgan, just walk away".
For example(s)
I couldn't figure out why all my shampoo was disappearing so quickly. One evening when Mia was showering I kept hearing the lids of the bottles open and close so I snuck in the bathroom to see why. Turns out Mia was giving the barbies a little salon day, complete with a hair wash. She had also been using my shampoo as body wash...
She has a childlike innocence that is rare in today's world. It's a fundamental part of who she is, and one of my favourite things about her. She wears whatever she feels like wearing in whatever combination, even if it's an "ugly sweater" her mom or aunts wore in the 90s. One time when we were playing a family game, she made a move that blocked her brother. She was mortified that her father congratulated her on trying to make her brother lose. She vehemently told him she wasn't trying to make him lose-not understanding he would have to lose so she could win.
She always makes us laugh with her off the cuff remarks and her frank questions. Here are some of the funnies I've managed to log away in some form.
She asked me the other day if babies were born through your stomach, and when I told her what the normal delivery process was, her eyes popped out of her head and she just stared at me for a good 30 seconds-I think waiting to see if I was going to tell her I was kidding. For the record, I have told her "where babies come from" before, but this might have been the first time that it actually sank in haha.
When we finished our nativity play at Christmas, and we all took a bow (even though it was just us and the phone), she chimed in "Wait was that a practice?"
She was looking at pictures of herself as a baby, and she came across one at a few weeks old sleeping in a laundry basket (we were at my parents and Isaac was using their playpen). She was quite insulted and says "Who raises a child like that?!"
We recorded our kids singing We Wish you a Merry Christmas for a church Christmas program. After making sure everyone knew the song, we start recording and give them the signal to go and Mia starts belting out "O Christmas Tree". It took us 3 takes, before she actually started singing the right song.
One unfortunate afternoon, I got stuck in the bathroom as I realized there was no toilet paper. I called for Mia to go grab some rolls from the storage room in the basement. She brought up a 6 pack of paper towel. So I tried a different tack and asked her to just grab me some from the basement bathroom (thinking she could just rip a few squares off the roll down there). Well she didn't return and I had to negotiate with B the use of my phone in exchange for her going on the toilet paper hunt. B finally brought me back on square of toilet paper (which she ripped in half before she proudly gave it to me). When I managed to get out of the bathroom, and asked me why she didn't come up with toilet paper from the basement bathroom, she innocently said "Mom I couldn't figure out how to get the roll off the holder, so then I just played with Scarlett."
She told me her favourite story about Jesus was "the 10 leopard prints". I was like "huh?" She says "You know, the 10 cheetahs...the 10 leopards". Then I finally clued in she as talking about the 10 LEPERS. Also her favourite Book of Mormon story was the "stripping warriors" (for reference- it's the stripling warriors).
Mia had to get swabbed for COVID at the beginning of the school year. Before we went she asked me "Are they going to drink my blood?"
She wanted a hamster for a while, and so I showed her a video about hamster care for her to learn about it. After she said "Mom, I don't want a hamster anymore. I want a horse." Me "where would we put a horse?" Mia "Dad can just build a fence in the backyard."...
Mia asked me to tell her the story of how Gordon and I met. I told her that after a few dates we decided to just be friends. Mia asks "So you went on playdates?"
She gave me a kiss goodnight, then said candidly on her way to bed "I like the smell of your face!".
*************
Mia is such a blessing. I have so many high hopes for her, and know her determination, compassion, and confidence will carry her far this year, and in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment