Amelia at five

Things to remember about Amelia at age five:

-- She is just learning to spell and sound out very simple words (cat, hat, bat, etc).  She can't wait to learn to read!

-- She has gotten quite good at writing (in all caps) and keeping her letters a more uniform size. She is incredibly resistant to use lowercase. I'll leave that to the Kindergarten teachers!

-- She loves nature, animals, insects (but not bees or spiders in the wild), science, space and photography.

-- She wants to be a vet when she grows up.

-- She wants to have two kids when she's a mom: either two girls or a boy and a girl. :)

-- She is still a rule-follower and is showing signs of following in her mother's and grandmother's footsteps with her perfectionistic tendencies. She sometimes doesn't want to try something if she's not sure she'll do it exactly right, and she's gotten in the habit of asking me (or Luke or a grandma) which color crayon/food choice/outfit/etc we would choose instead of deciding for herself. We will be working on this!

-- She helps around the house by getting the newspaper from the bottom of the driveway, making her own bed and clearing her spot at the table after meals. And of course helping with the daily toy clean-up.

-- She is generally very cooperative, adaptable, optimistic and happy.

-- She went from not wanting to get her face wet in June to being a full-on, face-in-the-water, side(ish)-breathing swimmer. She really loves the water and even swam freestyle out in the ocean this year. She also discovered the fun of playing in the breakers this year.

-- She is very ticklish and is a big giggler in general.

-- She doesn't particularly like baths anymore. And while she has taken (and generally enjoyed) showers a handful of times this summer, she doesn't really love those either.

-- She loves fairies, princesses, ponies and Calico Critters. Her favorite colors are pink and purple. She is definitely a girl.

-- She still doesn't like anything "scary" (defined as suspenseful music, suspenseful situations or any kind of conflict, in addition to things that are legitimately scary) and doesn't like movies because they might be scary. We did convince her to see Mr. Popper's Penguins and the Winnie the Pooh movie in the theatre this spring/summer. Despite these movies' total non-scariness, she is still resistant to watching a movie on TV at home. TV shows though? Bring it on.

-- Favorite TV shows: Phineas & Ferb (weird), Dora and Diego shows, Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

-- The only shoes she ever wants to wear are her purple Classic Crocs. In general, she likes her clothes and shoes comfy, just like her mom does. Her favorite dress is the dark purple dress with floral embroidery that her Grandma and Granddaddy got her in Mexico (seen here).

-- Her favorite books are the Ramona series, the Flower Fairies Friends chapter book series and the Magic Treehouse books (we are on book #5).