Ava is 9 and a
Ava turned 9 and a half in January and I am going to try to sum up how Ava has changed in the past 6 months. I cannot believe she will be double digits in just a few short months! She is growing up way too fast.
Ava is getting so tall these days. She is 4 ft 7.25 in tall! She is really going to catch up to me soon, I think. She is still wearing size 10/12 clothes but her size 10 jeans are starting to look a little short. We are ready for warmer weather so she can put away the high water jeans, ha. She needs the bigger sizes for length but not for her waist so finding clothes that fit is a little challenging sometimes. She’s also already outgrowing some of her fall/winter shoes. She is into size 4 for the next season. The crazy part of how shoes fit is that she can actually wear some womens shoes if they are small enough! How that’s already possible I have no clue!
The past 6 months brought on some new changes for Ava. Back in the fall, she graduated from Occupational Therapy! That was a big deal since she had been in it for 6 years. We were so proud of all she accomplished and how much she grew in OT. She also stopped tutoring in the fall because her tutor took a full time job at the school. She loved working with Mrs. Tessmann, who was her 2nd grade teacher (long-term sub, turned teacher) and was a long-term sub in 3rd grade when her teacher was out for surgery. Mrs. Tessmann helped so much during our e-learning days and helped Ava understand the new math concepts that are taught so differently than DJ and I learned. We are so thankful for all the time she spent with Ava!
Ava also started some new activities. She played on her very first team sport, playing basketball. She got to play for our pastor’s wife and with a few girls from our church as well as some girls from the church they played for. Ava learned so much about basketball and playing on a team. She made some sweet friends and loved playing basketball. Their team won the league championship game, finishing off an undefeated season! Ava scored during their last 2 games of the season, which was so fun to see! Ava also started dance in January (right before her half birthday). She is taking jazz at the same studio that Zoe goes to and she is loving it. We love the studio because they have beginner level classes for all the dance classes/ages so an older kid like Ava can start and not feel super behind. Ava’s class is a sweet group of girls and she really likes her teacher, Miss Iris. They just started working on their recital dance, which they will perform in June. It has been fun to watch Ava take on these new things and do really well with them!
Ava is really enjoying 4th grade! It has been nice to have a slightly more normal year this year, without the e-learning days (except for when we all had COVID and the snow). Ava has a great teacher this year and her class also has a teaching intern from Clemson, who is super sweet. Ava’s made a couple new friends this year as well. This school year has been a shift in being a little more challenging and the teachers expecting a lot more out of the students, so that has been an adjustment but she is doing so well and maintaining A’s and B’s on her report cards. She loves social studies but is not a fan of math. She also loves eating lunch at school and we love that the free lunch benefit from COVID has stuck around. Her favorite days are the nacho bar and the breakfast bar days.
Ava is still a pretty picky eater. Her favorites though are still pizza, chicken pot pie, any breakfast for supper meal, black bean and potato tacos, chicken tacos, and lasagna soup. Chick-fil-A and Mexican are still her favorite places to eat out.
Ava’s favorite things to play with these days are her Barbie style Disney Princess dolls. She recently said she doesn't’ like playing with her American Girl doll or her baby dolls anymore. She is growing up so fast! Her favorite thing to do when she has down time is any sort of drawing/craft. She still loves that type of entertainment. And she is still an avid reader and loves books. She and DJ have gone to a bookstore a couple of times to spend Christmas/Birthday money and picking out new books is probably one of her favorite things to do.
Ava still loves music and sings all the time. Her favorite music (and movies) is from Descendents. She sings those songs all the time. Encanto is also a big favorite in our house these days. Ava’s favorite song from Encanto is Surface Pressure, and we hear it all the time and it stays stuck in everyone’s heads. Finding movies/tv shows to watch is a little challenging these days because the things Ava likes are too much for Zoe. But they can usually agree on things like Elena of Avalor, Disney kids bake-off, Trolls, and Pup Academy. If Ava has time to watch something on her own, she likes Descendents, Carmen Sandiego, Hannah Montana and Izzy’s Koala World.
Like I said, it does not seem possible to me that Ava is almost 10. She is growing up to be such a special young lady. She is definitely hitting those pre-teen times but we can also see her sweet, caring heart through the hormones. She cares so much about her friends and never wants to do anything to hurt them. She is a big feeler and is very empathetic. She loves big and we are so blessed to watch her grow into the young lady God has planned for her to be. We have the front row seat to watch that, a privilege we never take lightly.
