Ruthie is 7!
Ruthie turned 7 the day before yesterday. Who could believe such a thing? My little baby girl. Already I can hardly remember her babyhood, even when I go back and look through the pictures (which I like to do on each birthday).
Ruthie is an amazing kid. She wows me with her creativity all the time. She is constantly creating art with paper and markers and scissors and tape and, most recently, staples. And now Legos too. And anything else! Recently when I was going to throw away a bunch of old toothbrushes, she rescued them and repurposed/recycled them into a swingset for her Polly Pocket dolls.
She is learning to read and making great strides with that. Yesterday at our Passover seder she read several portions of the Haggadah and had almost no trouble with it.
She has a great ear for music and loves to sing. We're singing in the Science Festival Chorus (another post about that soon perhaps) for the second year, and I'm constantly impressed by how quickly she learns the music, especially considering that she can't read music (though it helps that she now is able to read the words). I guess I shouldn't be surprised; I myself am a good sight-reader and memorize music quickly, and she is my kid after all. She's also good at math and interested in science. She loves creatures of all kinds and isn't grossed out by any of them (she's currently working on a report about bats in school). She likes to pick up random sticks off the ground and bring them home to play with. Right now she's in a not-very-girly phase, eschewing her dollhouse and dresses, declaring emphatically that she "hates pink!!!!", etc. -- it really waxes and wanes, so I'm sure soon enough we'll be back to skirts every day and pink everything.
Ruthie also challenges me all the time. She's different from Isaac in many ways, and the parenting "tools" that I use that work with Isaac often don't work with her. Which is difficult, because the way I parent Isaac comes very naturally to me. Doing things differently with Ruthie takes careful thought and effort, which is hard. Our life has been stressful lately what with moving to a new home, trying to settle in, dealing with the old home, etc. and it has been hard to give Ruthie as much of my full attention as she clearly wants/needs. But I try.
Ruthie's teacher seems to love her and specifically has said that she is so "kind" and "patient" with a few particular boys in the class who are "challenging" students (learning delays and/or behavioral issues of various sorts). It is fascinating to me how Ruthie has gravitated to these particular 3 or 4 boys, at least two of whom are her closest/favorite friends right now, and despite all of their various issues, she adores them. The afterschool director commented, "what a big heart in a small body." ♥
I could go on and on, but it's late and I'm trying to do this crazy going to bed early thing that I keep hearing about ;) so that'll have to do for now. To sum up: Ruthie is awesome and I'm proud to be her mom. :)
Ruthie is an amazing kid. She wows me with her creativity all the time. She is constantly creating art with paper and markers and scissors and tape and, most recently, staples. And now Legos too. And anything else! Recently when I was going to throw away a bunch of old toothbrushes, she rescued them and repurposed/recycled them into a swingset for her Polly Pocket dolls.
She is learning to read and making great strides with that. Yesterday at our Passover seder she read several portions of the Haggadah and had almost no trouble with it.
She has a great ear for music and loves to sing. We're singing in the Science Festival Chorus (another post about that soon perhaps) for the second year, and I'm constantly impressed by how quickly she learns the music, especially considering that she can't read music (though it helps that she now is able to read the words). I guess I shouldn't be surprised; I myself am a good sight-reader and memorize music quickly, and she is my kid after all. She's also good at math and interested in science. She loves creatures of all kinds and isn't grossed out by any of them (she's currently working on a report about bats in school). She likes to pick up random sticks off the ground and bring them home to play with. Right now she's in a not-very-girly phase, eschewing her dollhouse and dresses, declaring emphatically that she "hates pink!!!!", etc. -- it really waxes and wanes, so I'm sure soon enough we'll be back to skirts every day and pink everything.
Ruthie also challenges me all the time. She's different from Isaac in many ways, and the parenting "tools" that I use that work with Isaac often don't work with her. Which is difficult, because the way I parent Isaac comes very naturally to me. Doing things differently with Ruthie takes careful thought and effort, which is hard. Our life has been stressful lately what with moving to a new home, trying to settle in, dealing with the old home, etc. and it has been hard to give Ruthie as much of my full attention as she clearly wants/needs. But I try.
Ruthie's teacher seems to love her and specifically has said that she is so "kind" and "patient" with a few particular boys in the class who are "challenging" students (learning delays and/or behavioral issues of various sorts). It is fascinating to me how Ruthie has gravitated to these particular 3 or 4 boys, at least two of whom are her closest/favorite friends right now, and despite all of their various issues, she adores them. The afterschool director commented, "what a big heart in a small body." ♥
I could go on and on, but it's late and I'm trying to do this crazy going to bed early thing that I keep hearing about ;) so that'll have to do for now. To sum up: Ruthie is awesome and I'm proud to be her mom. :)