Six Years Old

This is my long, boring post about what my kids are like at certain ages.  Consider yourself warned.

As hard as it is to believe, Staley is now 6 years old.  She is 45" and 42 lbs.  She wears her size 6/6X clothes and size 10 shoes.  Staley sleeps 11-12 hours at night, going to bed between 7:30 and 8:00.  She is not a morning person and enjoys sleeping in until 8 or 8:30 on the week-ends.  Staley has lost 3 teeth and has 3 more that are loose.  She is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Doty and is participating in Rising Stars (a singing/dancing show choir group) and Stage Kids (an acting group.)

Likes:  Staley has a variety of likes.  She loves singing, dancing, and acting.  At home, she and Adelie love to play pretend together.  They often play with their stuffed animals, dolls, and figurines.  Staley also loves arts and crafts, drawing, and learning.  She loves to read and be read to.  Outside favorites include doing monkey bars at the playground, riding her bike (without training wheels), climbing trees, and swimming.  Pretend play extends to her outside play as well as she enjoys playing house, pet hospital, or building fairy houses outside.  Staley loves her American Girl doll and all her stuffed animals.  Playing games is a favorite past time with current favorites including Apples to Apples, Guess Who, Spot It, Memory, and Ticket to Ride.  She is still sensitive about scary parts in movies, but currently likes Zootopia, Ice Age, Secret Life of Pets, and DC Superhero Girls.  She also still likes Barbie movies and American Girl movies.  We don't watch much TV, but her current show of choice is The Freshbeat Band of Spies on Nick Jr.  She loves any and all books, but likes chapter books, particularly the Rainbow Fairy series.  Staley is a very good eater, eating most everything except veggies.  Chewing gum is a big treat, and she gets SO excited about it.  She has lots of friends, but she and Adelie are still the best of friends.  Staley has a number of friends at school and plays with a variety of kids in her class.  It's hard to even list them as she seems to be playing with someone different every day.  She also has friends from church (Laynie, Tenley), our neighborhood (Emmaleise, Peter, Blake, Brody), and big kid friends from her Rising Stars and Stage Kids group.  Her cousins remain some of her best friends.

Staley and Grace

Staley and her best friend

Dislikes:  Staley has definite opinions about many things.  She remains sensitive to how things feel, sound, and smell.  She does not like uncomfortable clothes, including jeans, tight elastic sleeves, itchy/stiff material, puffy coats, and flip flops.  She does not like loud sounds, but can now tolerate fireworks, sirens, and dryers without covering her ears.  Staley does not like being told what to do, preferring to make her own decisions.  She is not a fan of vegetables, waking up before she's ready, or moving quickly.  And wearing a life vest or puddle jumper to go swimming is just not going to happen.  Staley prefers to know what to expect, sometimes getting anxious about new situations.

Skills:  Staley is not the most coordinated child, but she is very persistent when she wants to master something.  She can now do all the monkey bars at her school playground, ride her bike without training wheels, and swim underwater.  Staley is getting to be a good little artist.  She loves to draw and color and create.  She writes well.  She is getting more and more independent.  She takes her own showers, gets dressed including fasteners and tying, and likes to do her own hair.  Staley also loves to help around the house.  She can make simple meals and bake with only a little help to read the recipe and manage the oven/stove.  She also helps with her siblings, cleans up, and helps with chores around the house.  Staley does very well in school.  She is reading more and more fluently, does addition and subtraction and some early multiplication, counts by ones/twos/fives/tens/hundreds,  and loves to write notes/lists/stories. 

Helping in the kitchen

My little artist

Staley is very kind-hearted, thoughtful, and loving.  She is generally very sweet to her brother and sister.  She still loves to snuggle, and is quick to give a sincere compliment.  She is a rule follower, and is quick to let us know when someone isn't following the rules.  She is quick on her feet, and will often come up with a fast excuse before getting into trouble.  She also has a mind of her own, and will have a bevy of arguments to try to convince us to see things her way.  Her days now are usually tear and drama free, but she can also dig in her heels when she has made up her mind about something.  I am so proud of the little girl she is!

My big 6 year old