Brooklyn: 8 Years Old – Trav and Erin + 3

Brooklyn turned EIGHT years old on February 13th. In some ways it feels like we blinked and another year has gone by. The last year has been so crazy and different…I guess Brooklyn had about 1 month of normal life as a 7 year old before the pandemic hit. Kids are so resilient, and Brooklyn continues to impress me with how well she has adjusted to pandemic life and the changes that have come as a result.

Brooklyn doesn’t go for her annual checkup until close to the end of March, but I can definitely tell she’s grown since last year. I’ll have to come back and update her stats later. Update: On March 30th, she was 49 inches tall (25th percentile) and 53.3 pounds (25th percentile). Dr. Dudley thinks she is probably getting ready for a growth spurt soon. Brooklyn is wearing mostly 7/8 or medium-sized clothes, and they are fitting really well. The only type of pants she will wear are leggings or sweatpants with elastic waistbands, but if she tried to wear jeans, I think they might be too big in the waist. Yes, she is still extremely picky about clothes and always wants to pick out what she will wear to school or church. She would live in shorts and a t-shirt all day, every day if she could. And barefoot! The first thing she does when she gets home is take off her shoes, and whenever she plays outside, she always wants to be barefoot. She is wearing a size 2.5 in tennis shoes right now…I think she may have inherited my big feet ;) Her style is definitely “casual and comfortable”…I guess I can’t blame her too much–if I had fleece-lined leggings, I might wear them every day in the winter too!

Brooklyn continues to be an excellent eater and a good example in that area for her sisters. She almost always eats whatever I fix for dinner without complaint. Some of her favorite foods are anything sweet, hot dogs, fruit, pancakes and waffles, BBQ meatballs, Mexican chicken corn chowder, breakfast bars, and spaghetti. She likes most vegetables and pretty much all fruits. She enjoys buying her lunch at school, and this year she is buying more frequently than in past years because school lunch is free for all children due to a USDA grant (pandemic-related). She has also tried some of the free breakfasts at school, and they serve cinnamon rolls every Friday for breakfast–a huge hit with Brooklyn, of course :)

Brooklyn has gotten into a new routine over the last year of staying up a little later at night. Bedtime used to be at 8 PM, but now we will typically allow her to read in bed until 8:20 or 8:30 PM. She got her own alarm clock for Christmas and has enjoyed being able to set her alarm on school nights to wake up at 6:25 AM and not have Mommy come in and wake her up ;) I think it makes her feel like a grownup! This year she has woken up happy and excited for school almost every day. (In kindergarten and 1st grade, she would wake up like a bear most mornings…so angry!). On virtual school days or the weekends, she will usually sleep in a little later, but rarely past 7 AM. She still sleeps with her blanket (“brown”) and usually a stuffed animal or two. At bedtime, we usually say a prayer together, fill out her chore chart, and occasionally she will ask me to sing her a song and rub her back. Her usual request is “Brooklyn Tiger”, a song I made up ;) I’m glad she’s not too grown for that yet!

Brooklyn absolutely LOVES 2nd grade and adores her teacher, Mrs. Borys. It’s ironic to me that this has been the craziest school year and a rollercoaster in many ways, but it has absolutely been Brooklyn’s favorite year of school so far. To me, that just proves that the old saying “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it” is true. She has just really fallen in love with Mrs. Borys and her teaching style. I hate that parents aren’t allowed in the school this year due to the pandemic because I would love to be in her classroom meeting her friends and getting to know her teacher. From what I can tell just getting to know Mrs. Borys through email and virtual meetings, she does seem amazing and truly goes above and beyond for her kids. Brooklyn can’t wait to go to school each day and has done really well academically. She only knew a couple of kids at the beginning of the year in her class, but she has made friends easily and enjoyed getting to know everyone. Mrs. Borys recently sent home a note saying how proud she was that Brooklyn always tries to make everyone feel included in the class. A few weeks ago, they got a new student from China who doesn’t speak much English at all, and Brooklyn made a point that week to play with him at recess and try to interact with him. Mrs. Borys sent me a picture of Brooklyn and the new student blowing bubbles together outside and having fun :) She just continues to have a magnetic personality, and I’m really proud that she is using that to be a good friend and a great example.

Some of Brooklyn’s favorite activities are drawing, writing, reading, wrestling with Savannah, playing with stuffed animals, and being outside. She did weekly art classes at Artis Studio from August through January and really enjoyed them. The main reason she decided to stop was so that she can play soccer this spring (we told her she could only do one activity at a time for now). She still enjoys making cards for others and made homemade valentines for all her classmates and family again this year. One thing that has changed since last year is that she is no longer quite as much of a pack rat as she used to be. She has really gotten into organizing her things, and although it’s not organized the way I would do it, it’s neat to see her take pride in arranging everything in her room the way she likes. Brooklyn has really gotten into reading this school year and can zip through a chapter book now in no time at all. Her favorite book series are Boxcar Children, Puppy Place, Zoey and Sassafras, The Last Dogs, and Mercy Watson. She has amassed quite a collection of books, and we are starting to run out of room for all of them!

Brooklyn has such a fun personality, and I love her enthusiasm over even the smallest things. She is so fun to surprise, although if she knows a surprise is coming, she will do her absolute best to try to figure it out before it happens. She is very persistent and is always coming up with ways to negotiate for what she wants. I frequently have to remind her, “I already gave you an answer.” Or “My answer is ______” because she likes to keep asking and asking to see if I will change my mind. She loves being around people and will play with Savannah basically all day long on days they are home. I think she appreciates the days spent at school this year with her friends even more than usual because of how many days she’s spent doing virtual school at home. She just really thrives off being around others. Brooklyn is always in a hurry to get to the next activity and we frequently have to remind her to slow down and take her time when writing or doing schoolwork. Ex. she will leave out obvious letters when spelling a simple word or spell the same word two different ways on the same page because she is rushing to get through.

Brooklyn has really enjoyed playing on our new swingset in the backyard and is proud that she has finally figured out how to hang upside down from the trapeze bar. She also loves swimming, going to the greenway, and riding her scooter when the weather is nice. One of Brooklyn’s love languages definitely seems to be “words of affirmation”. She just lights up whenever I give her a compliment or tell her how proud I am of her. She definitely seems to respond best to positive reinforcement–if we make a point to praise her for making good choices, she is more apt to choose well again.

Brooklyn works hard to be a good big sister, and although she sometimes gets aggravated by her sisters (especially Abigail!), she loves them both and tries to set a good example. A few days ago, Brooklyn volunteered to pull Abigail and our neighbor’s 2 year old little girl around the driveway in our wagon. Stuff like that makes me smile. I was also so proud of Brooklyn for taking Savannah under her wing when they started school in person in September. She walked Savannah to her classroom for several weeks even though it was really out of her way. She has also helped Savannah carry things to Mrs. Curry’s classroom if it’s something heavy or bulky. She also waves and hugs Savannah when she sees her at school. Brooklyn and Savannah love playing with each other and get along really well most of the time. Poor Abigail gets treated like a third wheel sometimes, and she and Brooklyn tend to butt heads because they both want to be in charge. The times when they all get along are so sweet though. I love seeing Brooklyn step up to help Abigail with things like making lunch for her or helping her go to the bathroom at church. It’s nice that Brooklyn is finally getting old enough to be a big help in many ways, although I hate that time is flying by so fast. It’s bittersweet watching her grow!

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

If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Disney World
What are you going to be when you grow up? an artist or a scientist
Who do you think you’ll marry one day? “I do not know.”
Who are your friends? Avery, Carter, Madison, Logan, and Sydney
What do you like to do with your friends? “I like to play and talk with them.”
What is your favorite food? peach dumplings
What do you like to do with Mommy? “I like to read with her.”
What do you like to do with Daddy? play tickle monster
What is your favorite color? red
What is your favorite movie? How to Train Your Dragon
What is your favorite song? “Brooklyn Tiger”
What is your favorite thing to do outside? I love to play on our swingset.
What are you really good at doing? drawing
What do you like to sleep with at night? My Toothless stuffed animal and Spots (stuffed animal cheetah)
What’s the best thing about being a big sister? “No one can boss me”
What is your favorite book? Boxcar Children and Puppy Place series
What is your favorite fruit? watermelon
What is your favorite drink? apple juice
What is your favorite restaurant? IHOP
What is your favorite dessert? donuts
What do you hope to do before your next birthday? learn lots of new things