Here we are again, and Abigail is another year older. It’s weird to think that our baby is SEVEN. She has really grown and learned so much over the last year. It has been a lot of fun to watch her bloom!
Abigail has grown a good bit since last year. At her checkup yesterday, she was 45 3/4 inches tall (15th percentile) and weighed 41.2 lbs (10th percentile). She is still on the small side for her age, but that’s why she’s our little Peapod :) However, she’s grown almost 3 inches since last year! She is mainly wearing size 6 in clothing, although she can still wear size 5 in some things. She is wearing a size 13 in most shoes. She has lost 2 teeth now, but is still rocking that gray tooth on top ;) I have a feeling she’ll lose that one and at least one more this school year. Abigail continues to love dressing up and willingly chooses to wear dresses to school some days. Twice this school year already, she’s worn a unicorn tutu dress to school and loved it. She also got her ears pierced over the summer!! She had been asking about it for at least a year, and I kept putting it off because of sports and just not being sure if she was ready. But we finally made it happen in July. It has been a little rocky changing out her earrings because the holes are still healing up, but she is loving matching her earrings to her outfits and showing them off to her friends. She enjoys wearing her hair in braids and adding hair bows. She even taught herself how to do her own ponytail this summer. I couldn’t believe it! They say the youngest child learns to do things earlier than their big siblings, and so far that is holding true…at least in some areas!
Abigail has continued to become a better eater over the last year as well. She is eating more at each meal and is willing to try a bigger variety of foods, including meat. She still has her moments where she choose not to eat much because she doesn’t like what we are having, but for the most part, I would say she’s eating really well. She does a good job eating most fruits and vegetables, and one of her favorite foods is still cucumbers. Abigail doesn’t love cake and definitely prefers candy or fruity desserts instead, just like her dad. She is finally eating a whole sandwich for lunch most of the time instead of just half. She has gotten into chewing gum this year and would chew it all day if I let her ;)
Abigail is still an early riser, especially during the summer. When school is out, she tends to be up as early as 6 or 6:30 AM. On school mornings though, there have been many times lately that I’ve had to wake her up at 6:25. I think she is growing or just tired from our busy schedule. She still will still sometimes fall asleep in the car in the afternoon or evening if we are driving for at least 20 or 30 minutes. Something about a moving vehicle just puts her right to sleep ;) She doesn’t have a favorite stuffed animal or blanket and just sleeps with whatever is nearby…or sometimes it’s different every night. Out of all of our girls, Abigail has struggled the most with nose bleeds, and they usually happen in the middle of the night. (Of course!). They don’t happen every month, but she’ll go through phases where she’ll have several in a short time span. She will also wake me up after having the occasional bad dream, but those have gotten less frequent over the last year.
Abigail is in 1st grade this year, and we are so excited that she has the same teacher that Savannah had in 1st grade, Mrs. Pride. She has adjusted very well to the new school year and doesn’t seem phased at all that she started over with an almost entirely new group of kids. I think she knew 2 girls to start with at the beginning of the year, and she was excited that one of them (Sadie) lives in our neighborhood. We are so proud of how well Abigail is reading at this point. She has come SO far in the last year and has already read a couple of Boxcar Children chapter books. She blows us away with the big words that she has figured out how to read. I’m sure part of that has to do with being one of the oldest first graders (due to waiting an extra year to start kindergarten) and also the fact that she has big sisters who love to read, but wow. I really didn’t expect her to be reading this well so soon. Math doesn’t seem to come quite as naturally to her as reading, but she is doing fine for her age. We are most proud of how well behaved and helpful she is at school (from everything we hear). I love seeing how confidently she walks down the hall, just like she’s been in school for years ;) I guess she has been walking the halls at Mill Creek for years….it just took a while before she was actually a student there too.
Abigail is still playing soccer, and just like her sisters, is loving it and having so much fun. She has the tiniest legs, but somehow manages to kick the ball so high and hard that it soars over her coaches’ heads…haha. I love to watch her play. She’s never had the same coach twice, but you wouldn’t know it based on how smoothly she adjusts to a new team each season. She just loves to have fun, and it doesn’t seem to matter who it’s with. Abigail continues to love to draw, and she especially enjoys making cards and artwork for others. Just like her sisters did at this age, Abigail churns out an incredible amount of artwork each week. It’s so much that it’s taking over our kitchen counters and tabletops ;) She also enjoys dressing up, wearing jewelry, watching Bluey, and playing outside.
It’s really crazy to think about how many new things Abigail has learned over the last year besides just how to read. She’s also learned how to ride her bike without training wheels, take a shower all by herself, do her own ponytails, swim in the deep end of the pool (without a life jacket or float), unbuckle her car seat, and make her entire lunch for school. I am really proud of how much she’s grown and how responsible she’s becoming. She still has her moments of grumpiness and can be difficult to get along with (at least at home), but she’s definitely making great strides. She has also been doing speech therapy once a week at school since January to help her say her “s” and “z” sounds correctly. She has made some progress, but is still working toward the goal of saying those sounds correctly even without thinking about it.
Some words and phrases that describe Abigail include: fun-loving, dramatic, sensitive, persistent, and spunky. She definitely knows what she wants and doesn’t like to be told otherwise. I love to listen to her read because she’s so expressive…I feel like she would do great at theater! She plays so well with her friends, but naturally has trouble sometimes getting along with her sisters. I’d say she still gets along better with Savannah than Brooklyn, but I think part of that has to do with Abigail and Brooklyn being similar enough that they butt heads and know very well how to aggravate each other ;) Abigail definitely doesn’t want to be outdone by her sisters and makes sure to let us know if she feels like she is being mistreated…haha. I love seeing the special moments when they are all getting along though.
Abigail, we sure do love you, and we are so thankful for you! You make us proud!
