LG Episode VI: Return of the Blog

Around LG's 4th birthday, it occurred to me that these 12-month retrospectives would get a little boring. After all, once she hit four years old, she wasn't going to look appreciably different over the space of 12 months. And it's true, she's not massively taller or older looking at six than she was at five. That being said, she did so many different things this year, had so many first experiences that letting go of this tradition now would be a shame.

September 2015: Monster cupcakes, I think. Our cake design skills are haphazard at best.

Fall 2015 was all about monsters. Halloween 2015 was a riff on Young Frankenstein (he said as if he actually planned it that way). At the moment, her brother is king of the monsters (self-proclaimed), but that's probably a reaction to LG's monsterrific influence.

October 2015: Detail-oriented pumpkin painting

Year five could be a lot of things, the Year of Theatre, the Year of Reading, the Year of School (I'm getting ahead of myself). But one thing it most definitely was? The Year of Keeping Hair Out of Her Face. This is an ongoing challenge, coupled as it is with Not Getting Paint in Her Hair, or Not Getting Food in Her Hair, or Not Getting Her Hair in Her Mouth.

November 2015: Tall enough to do things now

Kids are often concerned with being "big" enough. We were at Dorney Park several weeks ago, and LG's 47-inch stature is just a smidge too short to get on a lot of great rollercoasters, much to her irritation. That said, all through the year she measured her height against what she could easily grasp and climb at the various playgrounds we frequent. As the year went on, she went from being able to jump and grab hold of bars and rings, to trucking across a set of monkey bars with ease.

December 2015: Suddenly, she's 10 years old (and wearing cat ears for some reason)

Putting aside for a moment that we searched for a Christmas tree in 80-degree weather (climate change is real, ya'll), let's take in this photo for a minute. Where did my chipmunk-cheeked daughter go? Where did that graceful neck come from? I don't lament the steadfast forward march of time, but there are moments when I'd like to hit the pause button for a few days.

January 2016: Games, we play games, we play an absurd number of games

As I noted last year, the games obsession continues. We made it our mission over the summer to get her more into video games, with some success. Greater strides were made in the realm of table-top gaming. We live in a great time for table-top games for all ages, and our house is reaping the benefits. Hey, That's My Fish!, featured here, is easy to play, even if the strategy is a little bit harder to grasp. Lately, we've enjoyed Too Many Monkeys!, Draw 4: Dig for Dinos, and Ratatat-Cat.

February 2016: "It's Valentine's Day! I need a fun headband!"

Kudos to Hollie for throwing this headband together on the morning of Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, our collective craftiness has perhaps set unrealistic expectations for how quickly we can throw together a creative outfit. But every once in a while, expectations meet reality in a way that actually works out.

March 2016: Yes, this is the only face that adequately shows off her missing tooth.

Since she started school in September of last year, she's been letting us know every time a member of her class loses a tooth. I suspect part of the anticipation she experienced had less to do with the hole in her smile, and more to do with the tooth fairy about which she'd heard so much. For the record, the tooth fairy did visit, replacing her carefully illustrated envelope with a dollar coin meticulously wrapped in a dollar bill folded into a heart. At least, I hear that's what the tooth fairy did, because she had already unwrapped the money and was reveling in her newfound wealth when we got her out of bed that morning.

April 2016: Warm December, cold April. We'll just flip the seasons from here on out.

After a year or two of begging, we signed LG up for soccer this Spring. It was... fine? Honestly, between unreliable coaches and weather that kept canceling games, it was a rough first crack at the beautiful game. But she did score a goal! And that officially ties my record for number of goals scored in a soccer career.

May 2016: An important first.

The photo above represents a significant achievement, for it is the first time LG didn't grab the picture hole with both hands and shove her head through it. She almost looks natural.

June 2016: Hula day? Tropical Day? Who knows day.

We're the family that pays attention to special days on the school calendar. That means we're one of two families who regularly send their kid to school dressed up like something goofy. And LG couldn't be happier.

July 2016: Two important milestones

"Hey, Hollie, let's play that Pokemon GO I'd heard so much about. Seems like fun." And thus we never stopped chasing the dragon (whose name is Charizard, or Dragonite, and we don't have either of them). The picture on the left was taken on our very first family Pokehunt. How significant is this? Check out the picture at the bottom of this post.

Arguably more important, July marked LG's completion of her 30th chapter book. Seriously, chapter books in Kindergarten. I can't speak to how common this is, but on a scale from 1 to 10, LG's reading ability at the end of the school year was easily an 11. She continues to amaze.

August 2016: A star is born. Or maybe a ham. Yeah, it's a ham.

LG went to theatre camp this summer, and it's fair to say she loved it. Honestly, it's a program which is entirely premised on the idea that she stands in front of a large group of people who are forced to watch her sing and dance. This is literally her reason for being. I don't know if she'll stick with it, and it doesn't matter to me if she does, but the joy with which she belts out the lyrics to the lead characters' songs (rather than the ensemble of which she was a part), tells me we might be at this for a while.

September 2016: I mean, right?

So that brings us to the day before her 6th birthday, rocking a custom Charmander dress, wearing five rubber band bracelets/anklets/chokers she made herself, striking a pose in a mister at the Philadelphia Zoo. If that doesn't sum up the glory of her sixth year, I don't know what does.