Brooklyn: 6 years old

 Miss Brooklyn is 6. She is a fireball to be reckoned with, a far departure from her laid back, easy going, good natured baby/toddlerhood. It was nice to have one kid that wasn't dramatic while it lasted. 

We did her birthday party a month early so that she could invite some friends who were moving to Calgary after school was out. She wanted a spy themed birthday...actually she specified "spy cat party". I had no idea what this meant but since we did a spy themed party for Scarlett last year, I just duplicated that. It was a little trickier with younger kids, but we made it work and she had fun.  For her actual birthday we actually spent the first of our 3 days at Silverwood Theme Park in Idaho, driving down from BC that morning. We had opened presents and had birthday ice cream the night before. It was a scorcher of a day in the mid 30s and full sun and we spent the day riding all the rides and trying to beat the heat. It was fun to celebrate with Grandma, Grandpa, and cousins.

                                                        

After we got home she went bowling and to McDonalds for her birthday date with her dad.  

Brooklyn birthday interview:

Favourite colour: "it's too many... gold, silver, purple, blue, pink, teal, rainbow, hot pink" If you ask her to choose one colour of any item though she will always go purple

Favourite animal: "kittens, koalas, baby puppies, flamingos (??), and racoons, and unicorns? And also I like fishies"

Favourite food: taco salad, pizza, noodles, chicken pasta (she could eat her weight in taco salad)

                                   

Favourite movie: Despicable Me 4

Favourite show: Superhero Girls

Favourite book: my body book ( cute Usborne book about how your body works)

If you were an animal what would you be: "a kitten because they can do whatever they want"

What are you scared of: Pennywise

What would your superpower be: "all the powers in the world"

What do you want to be when you grow up: a zoo person

What did you love about being 5: that I keep getting bigger

What are you most excited about being 6: "that I keep getting bigger so I can be a mom. I'm gonna be the nicest mom in the world and if my kids want stuff I will just get it for them." 

Not sure if this was a well placed dig at me hahahah

I struggle to find a good word to describe Brooklyn. Maybe that's because she can be unpredictable. She can be sweet and loving, goofy and mischievous, and on the flipside sulky, sharp tongued, and quite tempestuous. She has so much sass and sarcasm, it could be dripping off her when she's in a mood, and zero filter. Sometimes this girl requires nerves of absolute steel, and there are moments when I just say "I love you Brooklyn" and leave it at that, because no amount of logic/reasoning/cajoling/bribing will make any difference. I have been working through Dr Becky Kennedy's "deeply feeling kids" workshop and I'm hopeful that it will help the two of us a lot.

Brooklyn had the most wonderful kindergarten teacher and made some good friends at school this year. Almost every school day she would tell me "Mom it was the best day of my life". It was either the best or the worst, there was no in between with her. I'm a little nervous about how she will do with all day school 5 days a week. She did not enjoy the weeks she had to go three full days vs just two. She does well in French and understands a lot, even though she pretends not to at home.

 

This year she participated in swimming lessons and gymnastics and has expressed interest in starting judo with Gordon in September. We finally got her off her tiny little balance bike and on to her "big girl bike" with training wheels. Took a bit of encouragement but I think we might be able to take the training wheels off soon.

Brooklyn is incredibly strong willed. There are many things I choose not to battle her about. Clothing choice is generally one of them. So many mornings she went to school in a combo of pjs and regular clothes, or pjs and fancy clothes, or wearing bunny ears. And most of the time nutella covering half her face. She wears what she wants to wear and is especially sensitive to socks. We would have so many school morning meltdowns related to her socks "feeling right". So finally I bought seamless socks for her and they instantly squashed anymore sock fights.

 

She can have wild unruly hair that makes it look she's a feral child who is raised by stray cats. It's quite curly underneath and straight on top. She really only tolerates ponytails, and only for school or church, but if she is fresh out of the shower I can usually manage to sneak in a braid. She did makes things spicy by deciding to trim her own bangs shortly before the last day of school. Thankfully her hair is normally so wild you barely notice.

She loves our kitten Luna, and is often found snuggling with her.

She loves playing in the water and just being out where she can explore and invent her own games. She is often in her own little world, having conversations with herself and her toys.

Brooklyn is very creative. She is amazing at making up songs on the spot, and can be heard singing to herself in her room, in the car, on a walk... really anywhere. She likes to draw and paint, and probably gave her friend Sullivan 100 pictures over the course of the school year. He bought her a sketchpad for her birthday "because you like to draw so many pictures".

She is the queen of selfies. I had to remove the camera shortcut from my phone's lock screen because Brooklyn was always taking off it with it for her photography pursuits. I would have multiple video recordings of her nostrils, or 20 selfies in various poses.

                                               

If she's in the mood, she can be quite adventurous and fearless. Key phrase is "in the mood".

Here's to a girl who knows her own mind and isn't afraid to speak it, who has a sense of justice, but who is also full of generosity and tender feelings. We love you B.

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