Of all the things that she received for her birthday, one of her favorites was a "splat ball" from one of the mall kiosks. It's just a squishy ball that you throw to the ground and it flattens out, and then it bounces back into it's original shape. She loves kitschy little things like that, and had asked for one for ages. I hate to spend money on kitschy little things like that, but in this case it did make me smile to see how much she loved it.
Another big event that I haven't blogged about is our impending move. After being here for almost six years, we are moving cross-country for a job opportunity for Jim. It's all good, but I think the knowing about the move yet waiting for the house to sell has taken a toll on my emotional girl. She is quite good at trying to explain complex feelings though, and she told me the other night, "I just want to move right now." I reminded her that earlier in the day she had told me she DIDN'T want to move, and she explained, "I know! I don't really want to move. But I'd rather do it right now!" I agree, too. The awkward in between phase is so hard.
Natalie remains my emotional, bubbly, dramatic, fun girl. She can seem absurdly mature at times, as she waxes philosophical on something, and then the next minute she will seem adorably young. Her reading has taken off like crazy, and now she is raiding Liam's room for books. She is getting spelling lists from school, and has realized that we haven't corrected her spelling in all of her "notes" to us. I think she is a little perturbed by that. She had the word "want" on a list the other day, and she exclaimed, "But I've always spelled it w-u-n-t!" and seemed dismayed. Maybe I should have been correcting her more than I have, but I guess I took it to heart in Kinder when the teacher says not to over-correct spelling because they want to encourage them to write. Still, I feel a little bad about it because I think she is a lot like me that way, and I would not like to discover I'd been spelling things wrong.
I love Natalie's zest for life, and spunk. She is definitely trying to figure out who she wants to be, and I can't wait to find out. Gone are the days of "everything princesses," and now she considers herself more of a reader, a video gamer, a cartwheeling dancer.
She learned during a recent school fundraising Fun Run that she should be exercising an hour a day, and she has been taking it very seriously. She was out running laps around the back yard the other day for the longest time, stopping to record them with tick marks in her notebook. When she finally stopped, she had recorded 94 laps. So she and I went to the nearby track to run/walk together, and had a great time. She didn't stop talking the entire time, and pretended that we were in a Mario Kart race. Everytime her lane had a painted arrow (I'm not sure why they have those...), she would bounce back and run backward a few strides, and then start forward again. So, it wasn't the fastest run I've had. But it was fun. Then she got distracted by the sand pit that they use for the long jump. She dug all around on her hands and knees, just like she would have been she was just a toddler in a sandbox. She told me I could run a few laps without her while she dug. Is it wrong of me to wish that she will always remain this way - eager to run next to me, but not afraid to stop and play in the sand? My sweet seven year old.
