Winter's Play

Wristbanding with sleepover guests

Standing up to sing along with Frozen

Snowboarding at Timberline

New Desk for your Birthday

Birthday Gift-Sewing Kit

Your love note to Garrett?

High Green Belt winner with Master Kim

Hi Sidra,

Since the last post you've been pretty busy.  You turned 7, some teeth grew in, you had a boyfriend, ice skated, roller skated, snowboarded, learned a new bike technique, spelled a lot of words, learned more piano, passed a Tae Kwan Do belt test and more. 

First, the saucy news.  A boyfriend.  Well, sort of.  You were giving a lot of attention to one of the boys in your class, Garrett.  We found the drawing shown above that was part of that attention.  It turns out that the poor kid was a little overwhelmed by your advances and your teacher had to ask you to refrain.  Probably the way a lot of 7 year old romances come to an end.  Anyway, that was a few months ago and everyone involved was able to move on without incident.

On our Sunriver trip during winter break you got to do some snowboarding and ice skating.  You really enjoyed the skating and after the first session really didn't hang on the wall too much.  You can be seen in the video doing a bit of a twirl, sort of trying to be a figure skater. On the mountain you had fun, but were still only turning to one side then. On our recent trip to Timberline last Sunday you were getting pretty good at making a toe side turn.  Your mom did a good job of coaching you that day and it paid off.  However, I didn't get any decent video of you doing that.

Another activity you took part in at Sunriver was the climbing wall at the sports club.  It was not your first time but you did very well as can be seen in the video. 

It was also your 7th birthday while we were in Sunriver.  You are opening a sewing kit gift in one of the photos here.  You have a stuffed doll kit that could be finished if we get a sewing machine.  We meant to but haven't done so yet.

Your friend Esa got you interested in a weekly rollerskating class.  It's at Gresham Skate World.  You get to have a lesson for about 45 minutes then skate for about an hour before the general skate session starts.  It's nice because you get to skate for a couple hours and parents can skate free then too.  So I've been correcting papers while you're having your lesson and then I can skate with you after that and the rink is not crowded.

You have recently begun to sleep without a pullup.  Some readers may think that isn't a big deal but I was a bed wetter until about age 14 so I am so psyched that you conquered that at half the age it took me.  It's most certainly because of me that you had to deal with it this long.

That was a major hurdle to get over in order for you to enjoy sleepovers.  You are still entertaining one of your overnight guests from last night as I write this.  It has been the big thing for you this spring break.  We didn't have a trip of any kind during the week so the sleepover is the highlight.  Lily and Melia were the guests and you watched Frozen, sang the soundtrack, and had waffles for breakfast- your favorite.  You were the only one who stood up to sing along with the movie, though. 

Recently you had a belt test in Tae Kwan Do.  I was able to make it time to see it, which is unusual because of how far I have to come from work.  But this day I was in Portland for a conference and was able to get there sooner.  I was very impressed with how sharp your form was and you were one of the only testers to break a board on the first try.

At your new desk is where you practice your math and spelling.  You've been having spelling tests for the whole school year and I think that you may have missed only two words so far on all your spelling tests.  We are pretty proud of that.  Each week since Winter break you've had a math facts test.  Each week has been a focus on adding a certain digit and then eventually adding 10.  This week you have a mix up of addition. So you can't simply apply a specific strategy to complete each exercise.  It is really bogging you down.  You were able to complete the focused sheets in a few minutes.  On the mixed review it is taking you over a half hour to finish.

Expressing yourself in song is one of your favorite things.  You love to sing and are anxiously waiting until your piano teacher will give you voice lessons.  She thinks you need to be a little older before she can train  you.  You've performed at couple of your mom's open mic nights. I wanted to include the video of you singing Katy Perry's "Roar" on the blog but I've had trouble so I will try to make it available another way.  I also have a video of you on the I pad singing "Let it Go" from Frozen.   You're planning to sing that in costume at the talent show at this summer's mountain festival.  I've suggested a couple of other songs and you like singing them, too.  Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" is one you like and a newer one is "Demons" by Imagine Dragons.

I have been left behind in piano playing.  You have gone way ahead of me.  You can now play chords and are working on more sophisticated version of "Driedel" for your next recital.  It sounds really good and I will have to do a lot of practice to tag along with you.  Even though you're ahead of me I enjoy asking you about how to read the harder music and how you play it.

Finally, you've done some practice on a cool bike move.  In cyclocross you have to dismount your bike and carry it over barriers or up 'run ups.'  Done properly, the cyclist swings one leg over to the same side as the other and slips the free leg in between the pedal and saddle.  Then you step off the other pedal and onto the ground with the free leg.  It should be done without  completely slowing down.  That's what  you are doing in the bike video. 

Until next time,

Love, Aba