Holy Moly! Samantha is 6!

 

Sam is 6!  I'd like to say this last year getting Sam to her 6th birthday has been easy, but it's been anything but easy.  She is more spirited, precoucious, sassy and fiercely determined than ever before.  With another year of age, has come another year of her getting stronger -- good and bad.  Sam is as loving and wonderful to be around as she is explosive and unpredictable.

This year Sam started elementary school.  Her kindergarten class was made up of 22 other children she didn't know.  I didn't realize how intensely shy Sam was until that first week of school when Sam refused to go.  It was a rocky road those first few weeks until Sam got more comfortable.  Sam made a few really good friends and that helped her adjustment.  Once Sam was okay with the concept of going to school, she really excelled! Her teachers called her a model student many times. What a nice compliment to hear. The plan is for all kindergartners to learn 100 sight words by the last day of school.  Sight words are sent home in batches of 10.  Your child has as much time as they need to learn these 10 words.  When they are ready, the 10 words go back to school and another set of 10 is sent home, until eventually, all 100 words are learned.  When Samantha realized what the plan was, her level of motivation to learn all 100 words skyrocketed.  Sam used her powers for good and learned all 100 words by December 31st.  It was incredibly exciting and Sam has been working on her reading almost daily.  It has been truly a pleasure to work with her on this.  I love hearing her sound out words and try to read everything that comes in front of her.  There is no stopping Sam when she sets her mind to it.

First day of Kindergarten.  Not happy about it.  Not one bit.

 

The other area that Sam truly has flourished in is helping me in the kitchen.  She absolutely loves to cook, whether its dinner or baking some kind of tasty treat.  She puts on her apron, takes her step stool to wherever I am standing and makes herself useful.  She loves to be a part of it. 

Samantha enjoys drawing pictures of all kinds of things, from hearts, butterflies, rainbows, to drawings of us.  She never lets a free moment of time get away from her without sitting at the table and drawing a picture.  She loves to make Jeff and I notes and put them on our pillows to find later.  She is very methodical in her drawing and every color has to be just the right shade.

Her love of fashion has not diminished this past year.  Sam still changes her outfits about 4 times a day.  She has embraced wearing jeans (something she refused to put on in the past) and I have to say, she looks so flippin cute wearing a pair.  Sam is also ok with wearing shorts now.  Another type of clothing that was self-imposed off-limits to her.  Sam most definitely has her own ideas of what tops and bottoms should match.  It's interesting (and entertaining!) to get her take on what goes together.  This is where I pick my battles and have given in much more than I ever thought I would when it comes to getting out the door in time for wherever we need to be.

Her determination working for good here. 
Sam refused to give up until she could do the monkey bars all on her own.

Sam is truly brilliant.  She demonstrates out of the box thinking all the time.  One of the best examples I have of this is when she knew she wasn't allowed out of her room after Jeff or I put her down to bed at night.  Rather than break the rules, Sam used the phone in her room to call our cell phones and tell us what she needed; which of course, was a stalling tactic to actually going to sleep.  I was impressed with her creativity and blown away with her ability to come up with another way to reach us.   Sam's mind is razor sharp and her memory is a limitless bucket able to store everything. 

While Sam and I butt heads constantly, I know these qualities will get her far in life.  She is going to be a force to be reckon with.  She is loyal, helpful, funny, quirky, deep, loving and full of energy.  She is also loud, expressive, incredibly verbal and a bit on the demanding side. 

My little girl is growing up!  I love her so much and hope that this coming year is one of leaving temper tantrums behind, giggling more, whining less and above all full of hugs and kisses!