In our last birthday of the year, Bug is 7.

Bug – you are 7. Rocking 1st grade, having and making friends, playing sports, doing competition dance, and more. You love school and all that goes with it. Learning and actions and friends and all that energy!

You are a joiner. Your activity list alone makes me tired; 3 hours of dance a week, basketball, volleyball, softball, choir, girl scouts, swimming. You love to try new things and your enthusiasm makes it very hard to say no. If it were up to you, you’d do more basketball, more crossfit, more, more, more. It’s so fun to see what you’ll try next.

When asked, you volunteered to speak at the Spanish mass to introduce “Dance in the morning”. And Bug – you did great. I don’t know if the choir leader knew you enough to know that “Dance Dance Wherever you may be” is close to your tagline or not, but it’s the right choice for you! 🙂

First grade has shown no real problems for you. You were so upset the first week of school, though. You hadn’t made any friends. When we dug a little deeper, you were upset because you had friends and were playing with them, but you think you should have made more friends. I honestly don’t know anyone else who is constantly, actively looking for opportunities to make friends. You are busting right through math and now you are an all star reader! (nice job, Bug!)

Your heart is still so kind and loving. Driving you to swimming one night, I made a comment about hating something. And you said “Momma, hate is a bad word”. And I had to pause and say, “Yes, Bug, you are right. In this case, though, I don’t hate a person.” (I think I hated the roundabout!) But later someone else used ‘hate’ about a person, and you said again, “Momma, you can’t say you hate someone. I’m trying so hard, Momma, to help people not hate”. This may be your other tagline.

Bug – you are a good, kind sister, most of the time. Although you and your sisters can get into it, you really do a nice job of congratulating them, supporting them, and generally caring about them. At Peanut’s games, you make friends with other little siblings, and you are right there to tell her that she did well. When Bits had her first soccer game, you were there to tell her she was awesome.

I’m so excited to see where we go the next year.  As Leeann Womack says “I hope you dance”! I hope you keep removing hate from this world. Daddy and I are always proud of you, and can’t wait to celebrate you! (after a full day of school, mass, and 2 hours of dance!)