Tonight, we had to do some kindergarten homework. Because, you know, my girl's in kindergarten now (!!!). It was a little bio sheet that consisted of 6 questions. One of them was "What makes me special?" to which Sophie responded, "I have a shiny heart."
My shiny-hearted girl has had one very big September so far.
First, we took a very amazing vacation to Sunriver, Oregon. We brought golf clubs, bikes and no agenda, and totally found our happy place. What would have been a great vacation was made even more magical when Sophie checked off two huge milestones in the same day: riding a bike and going underwater.
Both accomplishments were all her. Saturday morning we took a family bike ride out to the horse stables. Sophie rode with her training wheels while Mathis took a ride in the bike trailer. We passed a bunch of other bikers on the bike path (Sunriver has over 35 miles of bike paths). After lunch, I announced that I was going for a 60-minute horseback trail ride while Sophie announced that she wanted her training wheels taken off. I took the photo of Lewis holding onto her seat before I left. I took the rest an hour later when I got back (with tears of pride in my eyes)!
We took a break from bike riding to cool off at the pool. The girl who had been afraid this summer to let me help her float while wearing a life vest, all of a sudden plunged underwater. She came back up to let out an "I did it!" and then proceeded to spend all her remaining time at the pool seeing how long she could hold her breath underwater. Now she reminds me of the little girl in Mermaids at bathtime.
But, of course, the biggest deal of the big deals was her foray into the public school system. It's been a bit of a rocky transition thanks to a bad egg seated next to her, but she was beaming when I picked her up on Friday because she made a new friend.
After a week of seeing her act shy, nervous, insecure and downright scared, it was so wonderful to see her shine. I love her shine.