Catching Up

Please be sure to scroll all the way back to November 19. I have been working on catching up on the blog. Sorry to my Aunts and Gwei who read regularly and I haven’t posted in a while. Life gets busy. But I am still dedicated and committed to this blog.

Ally is really growing up. Not just her hair growing long, but she is growing up. It’s amazing how old 7 seems to be. But yet she is still just a girl.

This past week Becky and I met with Ally’s teachers for her Parent-Teacher conference. It was really lovely to spend 30 minutes talking with them about Ally and hearing about her academics. They had no social issues or concerns, so we really did get to talk about learning style and accomplishments. Now that Ally is in first grade we should start to help her with correct spelling in her writing. She is reading at grade level. Both teachers were thrilled that in the last month Ally has started to participate in class, raising  her hand and volunteering. They asked that we praise her for that and keep encouraging her and letting Ally know that she has “interesting things to say and they want to hear it”. Ally seems most comfortable in small groups or one on one. No surprises there. We agree that in the last month Ally seems to be blossoming – she has become more confident at school and gymnastics and a bit more vocal and opinionated and adventuresome at home as well.

The most amazing thing at the conference was learning that Ally is an ace is spelling in SPANISH. I have been a bit frustrated with helping Ally read and write in English – Ally is smart enough to realize that sounding things out in English is a bit of a gamble – its not always right (and Ally likes to be right) so she is resistant. Luckily she is good at memorizing so once she gets the word she gets it. But still it’s a challenge.

But the Spanish teacher showed us Ally’s spelling tests in Spanish and it was amazing. She got really complicated and advanced words correct. The teacher explained that they call it “decoding” and Ally is really good at decoding (breaking a word down by sounds) and in Spanish its all straight forward. There is really only one way to make each sound. So if it’s a long e (ee) sound its always an i . Becky and I were stunned at the words Ally was able to spell, and it turns out the English teacher was a bit surprised too. So this week we have been talking with Ally about the need to try the decoding in English, but conceding that English is harder than Spanish and requires a lot of memorizing. Lots of praise and encouragement for Ally to keep up the good work. She works really hard in school, listens to instructions and follows directions well. She wants to succeed and tries hard too.

We are really proud of Ally.

Reading on the couch with mama.

Gymnastics – Ally is thriving there as well. She is the youngest in her class again, and now after 2 months of classes she no longer feels intimidated. Instead she is feeling proud and excited to be working out with the older sometimes much bigger girls.  She is actually attempting a back handspring on her own now and is even getting braver on the bar. It has been great to see.

Saturday we had 3 pretty big events.

Ally and I were up early and went to a special early morning shopping event at our friend’s shop. Ally got a new hat and mittens.

1st up was ice skating. We asked Ally if she wanted to try hockey this year and she said no. But she did want to do more skating lessons. I sent a few emails out to get some friends to join us and it worked. Ally knew so many people at  the rink she was thrilled; Xela, Alina, Dean, Max, Millie, Erik,Nicky, Liem, Khai and Rivka. Friends from school, from the neighborhood and summer camp. Ally got right out on the ice and skated across the rink with Max. All the way t o the other side and spent the entire lesson in the “advanced group” she is a bit stiff on the ice. We joked that she has great posture! I spent the hour chatting with friends too. It was lots of fun.

After skating it was the drive thru for lunch and then a stop at Target. We needed a few things at home, and Ally and I were shopping for our church’s Christmas project. All week Ally and I were talking about going to the store to pick out some things for children who needed stuff their families could not afford to buy. We picked out 2 coats, hats, and underwear. All listed as “highly desirable” in the needed list. Coats were higher than toys or even gift cards.

We came home and Ally was pretty tired, so she actually took a nap! I think part of it was to avoid having to take a bath. But I guess she was really tired because she slept for over an hour and I  had to wake her up to get ready to go to the first of 2 Holiday parties.

We had fun at Mia’s house making yarn ornaments. We stopped for dinner at a local Mexican place on the way to Andy’s house for a dessert party. We brought cake pops and they were a huge hit. Ally had fun watching a movie and hanging out with her friends. Becky and I had a really nice time talking to our friends without Ally hanging on to us. (Growing up is great.)

This morning Ally was pretty cuddly and such a sweetie. She’s all hunkered down on the couch now watching a short movie.