Brooklyn: 6 Years Old

Another year has gone by too fast. Brooklyn is now SIX years old! I feel like every year that passes, I understand more fully why parents jokingly(?) say that they wish they could keep their kids little forever. This stage is so much fun—Brooklyn is old enough to be a helper in many ways, but she still has so many of the best qualities of a child: trust, wonder, innocence, and enthusiasm…just to name a few. She brings us so much joy!

Brooklyn doesn’t go for her annual checkup until the end of March, so hopefully I will remember to come back and update her stats then. (*Update: On March 25th, she was 45 inches tall (50th percentile) and 43.8 pounds (50th percentile). I think she weighs between 40-45 pounds, and I have no clue how tall she is. I know she is growing because the nightgown she put on the other night before bed is definitely shorter than last time I noticed her wearing it. Brooklyn is wearing mostly size 6 clothes, although I think she can still fit into some 5T stuff depending on what it is. Speaking of clothes, she is SO rough on them right now. We didn’t have this problem in the past, but this winter she has ripped holes in at least 4 or 5 pairs of jeans, a couple of pairs of leggings, and a brand new pair of tights that she’d only worn once or twice. Seriously! So much for hand-me-downs…Savannah will be getting all new pants when she gets to kindergarten ;) Brooklyn is wearing a size 13 in shoes right now. She told me last week that she HAS to learn how to tie her shoes before she goes to first grade, so we will be working on that soon I guess. So far, I’ve been lazy with the velcro straps, but I guess it’s time for her to grow up :) Brooklyn is able to get herself dressed without much help these days, including putting on tights with her dresses. She is definitely getting big!

Brooklyn is a GREAT eater. She almost always tries everything on her plate and usually will eat it all too even if it’s not her favorite. She eats cereal or oatmeal for breakfast most mornings before school. She likes to buy her lunch at school and usually does that about 3 days/week. The other days she brings lunch from home (usually a PB&J or ham sandwich, fruit, and pretzels or chips). Her favorite foods are probably fruit, pancakes, and desserts of all varieties :) Much to her dismay, we try to limit the sweets to once a day and only if she finishes her meal first. That’s a pretty big motivator for her to eat well!

Brooklyn goes to bed between 7:30 and 8 PM most nights…at least that’s our goal. I have to wake her up at 6:30 AM during the week to get ready for school, so she’s having to get up pretty early. We could tell that she was SO tired at the beginning of the school year, so we have tried to stick pretty hard to an early bedtime to get her as much sleep as possible. We usually read a Bible story, pray, and then sing some songs or read a short book before she goes to sleep. Gabby likes to be part of the bedtime routine, and she frequently sleeps on Brooklyn’s bed (sometimes even all night long!), One morning, I came in to wake Brooklyn up for school, and Gabby was laying right on top of her…haha. I love that they are little cuddle buddies :) Brooklyn’s class has a very short nap time at school that lasts about 15-20 minutes. I think for the first few weeks of school, Brooklyn would occasionally fall asleep during that time. These days, it is more of a rest time where they watch movies. Brooklyn will occasionally fall asleep if we are driving somewhere in the evenings (especially going to Bible class on Wednesday nights), but other than that, she doesn’t really nap anymore.

Brooklyn loves school and has blown us away with how much she’s learned this year. She looks forward to going every day, and I love hearing about her day when she gets home in the afternoon. She knows all 50 of her sight words and is starting to read simple sentences pretty well without much help from us. Her handwriting has improved a lot since August, although it’s interesting that she still occasionally writes some of her letters and numbers backwards. I think this is normal for kindergartners, so I’m not too concerned. She loves math and is doing great with counting, addition, and subtraction. She has made so much progress since the beginning of the year. She is also learning a little bit of Spanish and told me “gracias” the other day instead of “thank you” :) I wasn’t really worried about this, but she has also made plenty of friends at school. She is especially close with 3 little girls in her class (Victoria, Ella, and Madison). She has also made some good friends with the kids that we walk home with in the afternoons. School has definitely helped satisfy her craving for being around people!

Brooklyn continues to love drawing and coloring, and she churns out artwork faster than anyone I know. She enjoys making pictures for others, and I am loving the fact that she is starting to write notes on her drawings too. Brooklyn also enjoys pretending to be an animal—it’s one of her favorite things to do with Savannah. They are always pretending to be cats, dogs, or characters from Lion Guard. Poor Abigail always ends up being the hyena…haha! Brooklyn still enjoys playing outside; we got her a scooter for her birthday, and she has already learned how to zip around the patio pretty fast. She also enjoys having parties with her stuffed animals. She is less attached to her blanket (“brown”) these days, and she has a different favorite stuffed animal every day ;) She definitely shares the love and makes sure no one gets left out!

Brooklyn is SO full of personality! She makes friends wherever we go and will talk to just about anyone. She informed the mailman last week that it was her birthday, and I think she told just about everyone at church that she lost a tooth “during the singing” on Sunday night. She has an enthusiasm about life that is so fun and contagious. It makes me excited to see her get excited about an activity we have planned. Sometimes her excitement overwhelms her, and she gets into a rush instead of taking her time. Travis is always telling her to “slow down and take care of things the right way” rather than leave a trail of destruction behind her. She is just a big ball of energy and tends to leave a big mess for others to clean up ;) We are working on that. She loves to be silly (like all kindergartners do, I think), and she is always ready to do something fun. She has gotten really interested in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy this year and is very inquisitive about how they do what they do ;) She is getting better about following instructions with a good attitude, although she still has her moments where she melts down because she doesn’t want to do what we are asking. Sometimes she blows me away with how helpful she is, and other days she acts like more of a baby than Savannah. Basically, Brooklyn puts just as much energy into her outbursts of frustration as she does into her outbursts of joy and excitement. We frequently remind her about the example that she is setting for her younger sisters, and I think that helps her remember the importance of obeying. We are proud of the progress that our big girl is making!

Speaking of her sisters, Brooklyn’s relationship with Savannah has come a long way in the last year. They still fuss and fight and have plenty of moments of disagreement, but they are really turning into great playmates and best friends. Savannah is getting more assertive, and, as a result, Brooklyn isn’t quite as bossy with her as she used to be. Brooklyn loves Abigail too, but Abigail isn’t quite old enough to really play with them just yet. (She is mainly in the “annoying” stage right now where she just messes up everything they are trying to play with). Brooklyn enjoys tickling Abigail, making her laugh, and getting her to repeat words like “EWWW!” and “Achooo!”, but other than that, she tries to keep Abigail at a distance so she doesn’t get in the way ;) I’m sure they will grow closer as Abigail gets older!

Other things about Brooklyn at age 6: She is a huge pack rat! This is nothing new, but it is amazing how much junk she accumulates in her room and her closet because she doesn’t want to throw ANYTHING away. She loves to call other people “cuckoo bomb”—I think she picked this phrase up at school :) She lost her first tooth in December and her second tooth on Sunday. She had a possible allergic reaction to Amoxicillin over Christmas break, and we are going for allergy testing next week. (Wish us luck!). Brooklyn does a pretty good job bathing herself and washing her hair, although she still needs some supervision to make sure she rinses her hair well enough. She has been asking for a while when she can play soccer again, so we have signed her up for soccer starting next Monday. Should be fun and exciting!

She asked me to get a picture of her wiggling her loose tooth :) 

Last but not least, here are her answers to her birthday quiz:

1. What is your name? Brooklyn
2. If you could go anywhere, where would you go? To the zoo!
3. What are you going to be when you grow up? A scientist
4. Who do you think you’ll marry one day? Kayson (who sits beside her in Mrs. Patterson’s class)
5. Who are your friends? Nathan, Miles, Nathan, Natalie, Ellie, Macy, Lincoln, Ella, Mrs. Patterson, Ms. Wilson (student teacher at school last fall), Mr. Wilson (assistant principal), Ms. Buchanan (principal), Lillian
6.  What do you like to do with your friends? Play tag, “and I like Lillian teaching me how to draw stuff.”
7. What is your favorite food? “My healthiest favorite food is watermelon.”
8. What do you like to do with Mommy? Play games and draw
9.  What do you like to do with Daddy? read bedtime stories
10. What is your favorite color? red and pink
11. What is your favorite movie? The Grinch
12. What is your favorite song? Pete the Cat rocket song (When I told her I didn’t know that one and asked if she learned it at school, she replied, “No, I just imagined that there’s a Pete the Cat song like that.” :)
13. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my scooter
14. What are you really good at doing? Drawing and math
15. What do you like to sleep with at night? My new Grinch and Max stuffed animals
16. What’s the best thing about being a big sister? “I get to teach my sisters new things.”
17. What is your favorite book? Pete the Cat books
18.  What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries
19. What is your favorite drink? Pink lemonade
20. What is your favorite restaurant? IHOP
21. What is your favorite dessert? birthday cake!
22. What do you hope to do before your next birthday? “ride my new scooter and my new bike every day, fly my kite, and play with my new presents”

We love you, Brooklyn, and are so thankful to be your parents! You are so fun and always keep us on our toes. Can’t wait to see what the next year brings!