Ryann turned six on March 29th. SIX! If I've got a six-year-old I think I should feel more like an adult. Does that ever happen? When do you truly feel like an adult? Not the point. Back to my big (but still very much little right?) six-year-old. Describing Ryann at this age is so incredibly difficult. She is of course absolutely amazing. Learning things at an unbelievable rate, becoming more and more and more independent. Gravitating more towards the tween end of things than the toddler side. She is strong willed 100%, and she also feels every emotion 100%. When she is happy she can't contain herself, the energy coursing through every last inch of her body. But when she is mad, my word, you better watch your back. She is also quite sensitive, she gets embarrassed easily and that feeling is rather suffocating for her. It is hard for her to take criticism or make mistakes.
But I think her kindergarten teacher described her best at our first parent-teacher conference. Ryann is just downright kooky. She is silly, bubbly, and says the most ridiculous things. She absolutely loves to make people laugh and enjoys being crazy. She loves unicorns and glitter as much as she loves bugs and getting dirty.
Speaking of school, Ryann is killing it in the reading department. I can't believe how far she has come since the beginning of the year. As far as I can tell, she is reading at a third grade level, and with little trouble. I think she could maybe possibly read harder books, but her interest and attention span just isn't there yet. She tells me chapter books are too long with not enough pictures. She seems to be grasping all of her math concepts well, and loves to tell me about different artists she has learned about through art class.
Miss Ryann is still an incredibly picky eater. We are trying so hard to get her at least willing to try other foods, but dinner is a battle almost every night. Her favorite things to eat remain chicken nuggets, pizza, mac & cheese and peanut butter & jelly. She also loves summer sausage and pepperonis. Her favorite fruits are pears, strawberries, cantaloupe and plums. She won't eat blueberries, bananas or mango. The only vegetables she'll willingly eat are raw baby carrots and raw bell pepper. Every other vegetable pretty much has to be forced on her. She'll choose salty and sour over sweet 90% of the time. She doesn't really like cake or cupcakes, but brownies and ice cream get two thumbs up.
Her favorite activity is gymnastics. She looks forward to it every week. She is killing my dreams and doesn't like dance, and can't wait for the recital to be over so she can quit. Looks like I'm going to have to persuade Elsie and Thea to keep that dream alive. Ryann also enjoys Girl Scouts, but I think mostly for the crafts and snacks, naturally. However I think she has had some really great experiences with Girl Scouts and if there is a troop for her next year I think she'd like to continue. This summer we're going to give soccer a try, though I can't imagine her enjoying running too much. We shall see! At home Ryann's favorite thing to do, besides torment her sisters, is draw. And color. With the right guidance that girl is going to be an outstanding artist. I could definitely see her illustrating children's books one day. Or who knows what else, but she is WAY better than I am at drawing things.
And let's throw in a little recap of her actual birthday... Ryann requested pancake muffins for breakfast like Elsie had. With a candle. I think she would have enjoyed regular pancakes or donuts or something, but she seems to prefer that things are the same with her and Elsie, so I just went with it. We had also blown up a bunch of balloons and put them in the hallway to her room. We let her open one gift before she left for school, some Littlest Pet Shop toys.
Ryann has pretty much been asking me to bring her McDonalds for lunch since the beginning of the year, but I haven't ever done it. So Christopher took the day off work so we could surprise her. We put her lunch box in her back pack as usual, but it was empty. When we got to the school we waited out in the hallway while they were finishing up some activities, then her teacher had them go line up and grab their lunch if they had one. The sweet girl, I wish I had recorded her desperate little voice as she exclaimed "My daddy forgot to pack my lunch!" Her teacher asked her to check the hallway and she found us. And immediately proclaimed "BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!" I'm so glad we were both able to go have lunch with her. She was giddy and you could tell she felt so special to get to sit with us at a separate table with her McDonalds.
Since Chris was home for the day, he picked Ryann up after school instead of having her ride the bus. Then we let her open the rest of her presents. A journal, some craft kits, a couple of board games and a scooter. My parents also gave her a gift, a couple of gymnastics mats and a floor beam. Elsie has probably gotten more use out of them than Ry has, but they are being well loved nonetheless! Then Ryann was off to dance.
Chris wrapped one of her presents in an oatmeal box :)
When she got back home we had her favorite, cheese pizza, waiting for her. My parents joined us for the little pizza party. We had intended to take her out for ice cream after we put the other two to bed, but lets just say all of my little friends were making the evening a touch difficult, and it just didn't seem like a good idea. We had some leftover chocolate cake from Easter, combined it with some ice cream and toppings, and we had a happy girl on our hands.
Miss Ryann, I can't believe you're six. Love you lots, more than you'll ever know.
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