Miciah's News

8 Years Old Means...

Miciah is now 8 and she's loving it and I'm loving it and it's good for everyone.  She is generally calmer and in more control of her emotions (unless you count when she's losing a tooth, and then she's completely irrationally emotionally explosive).  She is also taking on more responsibility around the house, and she loves it.  We changed her chore list to include:
1 Making dinner once a week
2 Doing her own laundry

We're only on week 2 of these changes, so we'll see how she loves them over time.  But already she's thinking of great things to make for dinner like Clam Chowder.  I told her we'd have to work up to that one.

Letting her do her own laundry last week also meant that she didn't kick and scream about doing it.  That's semi-miraculous.  I hope it continues to be so successful even when laundry changes are coming our way (more in another update to come).

And check out these chore lists:

See the beach and tree and water?  ...  Before I left for Key West, Miciah asked if the next time I went she could come with me.  I said, "Sure," thinking that the next time I went was probably, oh, never.  But, of course, she was talking about it instantly like it was a sure thing.  Realizing that I should have answered VERY differently, I did the only thing left to do:  set about devising a way to get her to Key West.  The kids have been earning money for about a year now, $5 a week.  So we sat down and figured out prices and timelines and told them that if they saved all their money (minus $.50 for tithing), they would have enough money in a year's time.  They are now very motivated to do their chores--a nice change.  And each of them has a Key West piggy bank to make it all seem real.  We're already looking forward to our family vacation to Key West.

School Halloween Party

During her school party I caught this great shot:

She's messing with her loose tooth.  Which is good.  We used scare tactics to get to her to mess with it, since she's been letting them stay in her mouth for ages, and the dentist told us she probably shouldn't do that.  So we gave her a week's time, and the tooth was out.  Another parent caught the moment:

Another tooth will be gone within a day or so.  Hopefully the drama and trauma of last night's Loose Tooth Freak Out Session won't repeat itself.  Sheesh.  It's just a tooth!  More grow in!

School

We had Miciah's Parent Teacher Conference this week, too.  It went great.  One of the "major" concerns:  I should stop doodling on Miciah's homework.  ...  They make us sign everything and this seems tedious to me.  Maybe other parents find it wonderful.  Or maybe they're just decent enough to not give the teacher crap about it.  Me, though, I doodle.  The teacher caught on to the rebellious spirit of it all, I guess, and asked me to stop.  So there goes my fun.

Here's Miciah's school picture:

Miciah is doing well in school and is helpful and kind.  She isn't snooty when she knows stuff that other people don't.  She isn't being bossy (no "Miciah, who's the teacher?" talks).  She isn't being as bossy at home, either.  Being 8 is really good for her. 

Miciah's Party

More pictures of the girl craziness that went on:

It was fun.  The next scheduled Birthday Party is when she turns 13, I think.  I think that's the year Rob and I decided.  And it's 13 because nothing cool happens when you turn 13.  It's just a pointless year.  Might as well give it a party and make it something to look forward to.  Then a party at 16 and then we should be done with them.  Hurray!

Piano, etc.


Miciah has been doing piano lessons for several weeks now and seems to be really liking it.  It's still a novelty, so she spends half the lesson trying to make her teacher laugh.  Cause she's a goober like that.

It's fun to watch Miciah grow up and decide what she wants to do with her time.  She reads a LOT and is very interested in history and science stuff.  In fact, that's exactly what she told me the last time we went to the museum.  She said, "Mom, have you noticed that I'm more interested in the history than in playing?"  I wanted to laugh.  Good for her, though.  I told her that when we have Elijah and Teancom on board, it wasn't really the time to read stuff, and promised that we would go to the museum later, just me, Rob, and her.  It's fun that she's entering that new stage when we can enjoy more adult stuff with her.

She is also interested in fairies, just to remind us that she's still only 8.

And that's Miciah's news.  I'll make another post of her artwork and things she's done at school.