I've decided it's time for some updates on each of the kids. They change and grow so quickly I want to remember what each of them are doing right now.
First up: Sophie!
First up: Sophie!
Sophie is such a good girl. She tries hard to do what is right, and feels very bad when she doesn't! She loves her friends and her school and is such a great oldest child.
We just had a parent teacher conference a few weeks ago and her teacher told us that she gives a timed reading comprehension test that she has been giving for years (it is two pages of text with each sentence having a blank to fill in with a choice of 3 words and the kids circle the correct word). She said in all the years that she has been giving this test she's never had a student finish the whole thing, but Sophie finishes it and gets them all right. This makes sense because ever since Sophie could read she could finish a chapter book so fast that I wouldn't believe her and would quiz her on it to see if she just skipped to the end. But she could always tell me everything I asked her about the book. She's currently reading "The Secret Garden" for the 5th time, "Matilda" for the 3rd time and "To the Rescue" a biography of Thomas S. Monson (the one Brian and I are reading together. She loves to ask us what page we are on and smiles because she is so far ahead of us!) She loves to read, but she doesn't like reading anything sad or scary.
Sophie's mood determines how well the kids all play together. This is so very true. If Sophie is in a good mood and is being sweet and motherly to the other three they all play so nice together. She plays school or family with them and solves their problems and basically does my job for me! However, if she wants to be left alone she can be very disagreeable and will whine and complain about not having her own room and everybody is always touching her stuff, etc.
She can be very helpful and will put her hair in a ponytail and put on an apron and just start cleaning. Of course, I really love when she does this. Sometimes I have to remind her that she is 8 1/2 when she wants me to get her a spoon or bring her her backpack or something else she is very capable of doing. What goes around comes around, right?
No one believes me when I tell them Sophie was a fireball of a girl until about age 5. And it kinda ticks me off. Only a little. But the other day I was talking with someone who has a 5 year old and they were telling me how feisty their daughter is. And I laughed and said that Sophie was the same way. They looked at me like I was an idiot and I wanted to scream, "Listen people. Just because my daughter appears to be an angel at school and church doesn't mean she is or has always been this way!" But I just smiled. And of course I have always loved Sophie's spunky personality and feisty ways. I really wouldn't change anything about her (now that we are past those temper tantrums anyway) And I don't want her to feel like she was a pain or that I didn't still love her every moment. And I can fully admit that some of her being hard was because she was my first. But it is true that she is a very good girl at church and school.... and mostly at home too.
For Sophie right now when it rains it pours. If something goes wrong for Sophie - like stepping in a puddle at the park ;) or forgetting her homework at school, or having her book fly out the window on the highway (this happened a few months back) she is devastated and turns pessimistic and all the sudden everything in her life is wrong and she wants to go back to Michigan. We are trying to get her to look on the bright side and "roll with the punches", but she has a hard time doing that in the moment of trial. She puts up a pretty big fuss with yelling, stomping, crying, etc. and cries in her bed or closet and then later on she gets totally embarrassed about how she acted! Funny, emotional girl. I know this is just a glimpse of her teenage years.
She still says the funniest things. She is so funny without even meaning to be. Just tonight I asked her and Nora to get in the shower and she said, "Can't I please shower alone? I just feel more like a lady when I shower alone."
She is just fun to have around. I love coming across her notes or papers from school and reading what she has written. It always makes me smile. She did a small report for extra credit on a person and she chose to do it on President Monson. She didn't even tell me this and just decorated this paper with his name and wrote at the top: "Am I a MORMON {mor-men}?" YES!!!!!! It was so cute and made me so proud. She also got her teacher to ask the class not to take the Lord's name in vain. I know she has a lot of years ahead of standing up for her beliefs. I know she can do it, too!
I feel pretty darn lucky to be her mama!
We just had a parent teacher conference a few weeks ago and her teacher told us that she gives a timed reading comprehension test that she has been giving for years (it is two pages of text with each sentence having a blank to fill in with a choice of 3 words and the kids circle the correct word). She said in all the years that she has been giving this test she's never had a student finish the whole thing, but Sophie finishes it and gets them all right. This makes sense because ever since Sophie could read she could finish a chapter book so fast that I wouldn't believe her and would quiz her on it to see if she just skipped to the end. But she could always tell me everything I asked her about the book. She's currently reading "The Secret Garden" for the 5th time, "Matilda" for the 3rd time and "To the Rescue" a biography of Thomas S. Monson (the one Brian and I are reading together. She loves to ask us what page we are on and smiles because she is so far ahead of us!) She loves to read, but she doesn't like reading anything sad or scary.
Sophie's mood determines how well the kids all play together. This is so very true. If Sophie is in a good mood and is being sweet and motherly to the other three they all play so nice together. She plays school or family with them and solves their problems and basically does my job for me! However, if she wants to be left alone she can be very disagreeable and will whine and complain about not having her own room and everybody is always touching her stuff, etc.
She can be very helpful and will put her hair in a ponytail and put on an apron and just start cleaning. Of course, I really love when she does this. Sometimes I have to remind her that she is 8 1/2 when she wants me to get her a spoon or bring her her backpack or something else she is very capable of doing. What goes around comes around, right?
No one believes me when I tell them Sophie was a fireball of a girl until about age 5. And it kinda ticks me off. Only a little. But the other day I was talking with someone who has a 5 year old and they were telling me how feisty their daughter is. And I laughed and said that Sophie was the same way. They looked at me like I was an idiot and I wanted to scream, "Listen people. Just because my daughter appears to be an angel at school and church doesn't mean she is or has always been this way!" But I just smiled. And of course I have always loved Sophie's spunky personality and feisty ways. I really wouldn't change anything about her (now that we are past those temper tantrums anyway) And I don't want her to feel like she was a pain or that I didn't still love her every moment. And I can fully admit that some of her being hard was because she was my first. But it is true that she is a very good girl at church and school.... and mostly at home too.
For Sophie right now when it rains it pours. If something goes wrong for Sophie - like stepping in a puddle at the park ;) or forgetting her homework at school, or having her book fly out the window on the highway (this happened a few months back) she is devastated and turns pessimistic and all the sudden everything in her life is wrong and she wants to go back to Michigan. We are trying to get her to look on the bright side and "roll with the punches", but she has a hard time doing that in the moment of trial. She puts up a pretty big fuss with yelling, stomping, crying, etc. and cries in her bed or closet and then later on she gets totally embarrassed about how she acted! Funny, emotional girl. I know this is just a glimpse of her teenage years.
She still says the funniest things. She is so funny without even meaning to be. Just tonight I asked her and Nora to get in the shower and she said, "Can't I please shower alone? I just feel more like a lady when I shower alone."
She is just fun to have around. I love coming across her notes or papers from school and reading what she has written. It always makes me smile. She did a small report for extra credit on a person and she chose to do it on President Monson. She didn't even tell me this and just decorated this paper with his name and wrote at the top: "Am I a MORMON {mor-men}?" YES!!!!!! It was so cute and made me so proud. She also got her teacher to ask the class not to take the Lord's name in vain. I know she has a lot of years ahead of standing up for her beliefs. I know she can do it, too!
I feel pretty darn lucky to be her mama!
4 comments:
Wow Such an amazing girl I love her so much! And she definitely did get some spunk in her. She might have received that from her mother :)
The last time I saw Sophie was when she was around 2, I think, so this was fun to get to know your girl more. You are a lucky mama to have her. What a sweetie.
What a fantastic post about an even more fantastic girl :)
Chad said just the other day that he hopes Cora is like Sophie when she grows up. ( He may have been referring to her being a pill now and that she will grow up to be an angel) :)
We love you Soph!
This is a great idea to do updates. I really should do it! What a cute girl! P.S. Jannika has the same shirt Sophie is wearing in that picture:)
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