Seven

Today is Victoria's 7th birthday and for some reason it seems really old to me. Maybe it's because she is acting so much older and is changing in so many ways. She has lost both her front teeth now, goes to school all day, is learning how to ride her bike without training wheels, and is much more helpful around the house. I can give her responsibilities now and she can do them. They are simple, like taking the garbage cans in from the street, but she can do them. She was never one for wanting to help much, she was just in her own world and couldn't care less if Mom was putting laundry in, like Austin. But she is more interested in what I do now and wants to help more.

She has taken to going to school all day very well and just loves school. To my surprise, the last two weeks she has not requested to watch a show after school and has only had her "video time" on Saturdays and Sundays, which is major for her! She used to always need that down time, but she has realized that there's not enough time in the day to play and watch a show, along with her homework and piano practice. (She started piano this year and has really enjoyed it, even though she didn't want to do it at first.) So now, instead of watching a show, she will come home and play with Tiny Town, run her own classroom with her animals and dolls and Karissa, or write and illustrate her own stories. She has always been into writing and drawing and still is. I can't count how many stories she's written and books she has made! She enjoys illustrating them as well. She's reading fairly well, though I would say she likes to write more than read for now.

Of course she is still the energetic and "full of life" person she's always been. She enjoyed the many phone calls she got on her birthday and talked every one's ear off.

This is her when she first came downstairs this morning. This look is just a look of excitement because it's her birthday, not for anything in particular. She even held it for me so I could take a picture, since the wide mouth reminds me of her mouth the second she was born, wide open! Here's her new leggings I let her open before school. She also brought her new sandwich holder to school.

After school we got to practice riding her bike without training wheels.
Here's the pillow pet that she's been wanting for a while.
She's very excited for her new leotard for dance. She also enjoyed every other card and book that she got and looked at each one with excitement and squeals of delight.

Austin had to help blow out the candles.

Happy Birthday my lively Victoria! We can't wait for your pirate party on Saturday!