Ivy's #1 love right now is clogging. She really looks forward to going each week and anxiously awaits when her teacher posts the dances so she can practice along at home. I'm so glad she is enjoying something that is her very own, that it brings her so much joy, and gives her confidence. She is looking forward to, and is very anxious for, her first competition coming up! We can't wait to cheer her on.
Her second love might very well be reading. Her teacher this year has an extensive classroom library and she has each student check a book out until they have finished reading it. Then she has them do a book share with the class if it is a book they would recommend to fellow classmates. She has discovered some fun books! Over the holidays and into January, she worked her way through the three books of the Nevermoor series and she had a hard time putting them down. I checked out the audiobooks for her kindle and she has flown through those as well. As a fellow lover-of-books and reading, I love seeing this spark in her life! She flew through The Princess Academy last week, has moved onto Land of Stories and I am reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to her at night. And she is always, always listening to an audiobook.
She is doing well with piano and is almost done with a two-year program. She has enjoyed the program, she loves her teacher, and, as a piano teacher myself, I can see that she has learned a ton. It is a lot of practicing, however, with things I have to pass off each day and that has been hard to keep up with considering everything else that is going on at our house each night. But we've kept up and it has paid off. She does want to keep going with piano but thinks a traditional one-on-one lesson is what she wants to try next (currently, her class is a group class with four other kids for a full hour + 15 min; they each have their own keyboard to play and practice on).
Ivy's new love of musicals is fun. She always enjoyed them when I would show them to her...Annie, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Anastasia, etc have always been fun for her...but her love amped up after seeing Wicked and Beauty and the Beast. She also got to tag along with her friend Rocky and the Young Women to the high school play which was the youth version of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It was a much later night than she would normally be out for a school night and I thought she would be exhausted when she got home. But just the opposite-she was so energized and kept saying how amazing the play was. Brynn, on the other hand, was exhausted and kept going on and on about how long it was and she didn't think it would ever be over! Justin and I got a good laugh over the difference in sisters.
I feel like this year has been a bit of a transition year for Ivy as far as friends go. As is the case with all kids, friends change and adjust, and that is totally normal. It seems to me that Ivy doesn't spend as much time with some of her friends that she's had for so long and is spending more time with girls who have been friends but not as close. If that makes sense. So she is figuring all of that out. She has been mostly fine but a few times has had some anxieties over it, although nothing major. It is just part of life and part of growing up and, as a mom, it's hard to watch sometimes but Ivy will figure it out like my other kids have and are continuing to figure it out.
Ivy loves school. She seriously soaks it up. Mrs. Hall is incredible and her classroom is magical-they learn a ton and she is very structured but they have so much fun while doing it. Ivy loves Mrs. Hall and is going to have a very hard time at the end of the school year. She is excelling in all subjects but even more than than, her teacher says that she works hard, asks questions when she needs to, and is engaged all the time. If Ivy's going to have a hard time leaving Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Hall is going to have a hard time letting Ivy go. She seriously got teary just thinking about it last time we met for a teacher conference. She also said that, if she could, she would clone Ivy and have a whole classroom full of Ivy's.
Here's a run-down of a typical Ivy day:
7:00 am-I wake her up. I set a 5 minute timer so we can snuggle before she has to get all the way up. She plays a game on my phone which seems to help with the wake-up process-it's the only game I have on my phone other than my very grandmotherly domino game and crossword puzzle game.
She has until 8:05 to get all the morning stuff done: breakfast, get her hair combed, get dressed, brush her teeth, put her shoes and socks on. Having just her to get ready is a breeze...I comb her hair for her, pack a lunch for her, fill up a water bottle for her, and pack her homework for her. I love being able to do those things for her.
We leave for the bus at 8:05-8:07 and wait in the car until it arrives. Then she is at school until the bell rings at 3:20ish and she rides the bus home. She has to walk down our street and usually gets home around 4. (Or 3 on Monday since that is early-out day.)
Monday: Monday is her busy day. She has clogging at 3:30 (early out day, remember) but we have to leave as soon as she gets home at 3 because I only have a 30 minute break from piano with one lesson ending at 3 and another lesson starting at 3:30. So she is early but happy to wait because that is when girls go in to work on solos so she gets to watch. Clogging goes until 4:45 and piano starts at 4:45. Go figure the two things she is doing are back-to-back. But it works because she has the rest of the week open. Anyway, I grab her from clogging and take her to piano. The two places are, luckily, mere minutes away from each other. She is a few minutes late to piano but her teacher is aware of what is going on and we arranged it that way. So it's all good. She is in piano until 6 at which point I pick her up and take her home and the rest of the night proceeds as normal.
Tuesday-Friday are the same: home at 4, do whatever until 5 while I'm doing piano lessons (usually she is in her room listening to an audiobook) at which point I peek my head in her room, remind her that it is 5 and does she want to get started on any of her homework/chores to which I get an acknowledgement but she usually stays put and continues to listen. We have had lots of discussions on time management but we're still learning.
We eat dinner anytime between 6-6:30 depending on what else is going on and then she has until 8 to get all her stuff done: empty her lunchbox (if she hasn't already, she's supposed to do that right when she gets home), homework, spelling words, piano practice, a tub if it's a tub night (still her preference over a shower). If she has time to watch TV (rare), she has to have a clean room and pick a goal area to work on (physical, emotional, social, spiritual). At 8 whoever is home will gather and listen to a chapter in the Book of Mormon and try to have some discussion after which Ivy brushes her teeth, picks up her room, and gets to bed. I read 5 pages of whatever book we are reading together and she usually listens to her audiobook and reads a different book at the same time (crazy, I know!) until she zonks out.
Ivy's hair has always been long and thick and beautiful. She doesn't like me to do much with it other than to curl it. On second days I can get away with just brushing it because it keeps the curl well. She doesn't like braids or ponytails and I've just learned to be okay with that.
Ivy is a hugger and gives the best hugs and offers her hugs freely. To Mrs. Hall, piano teacher Miss Kim, clogging teacher McKenna and anytime she sees a friend or is telling a friend goodbye after playing. I've had several comments from people who tell me they love her hugs. I know she brightens a lot of peoples' days with her hugs!
Ivy's birthday interview:
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