Taking Pride

I think we are in the fast moving part of family life again.  Now the changes are in maturity and independence.  I welcome it.  This is what being a parent is about.

The first big step is Elizabeth rides home from Gymnastics practice.  That is 2 1/2 miles down a busy street.  Of course as her mom I told her to ride on the sidewalk and not the street.  I drop her and her bike off in the morning and 3 hours later, she rides home.  I think she was a little nervous but also looking forward to it.  I tried setting it up so she rode with some of the other girls part of the way while Elizabeth got familiar.  She told me she wanted to ride alone.  I am glad she had a group the first few days and now she has it all down and can handle it with ease.  Heck just the other day she called to ask for a ride home because she ripped her hand on the uneven bars (a normal gymnast injury) and I was working from home.  The bummer is I was on a conference call with a client and couldn't disengage right away.  So, Elizabeth decided to walk home with her bike. She had tried riding for about a mile but it was tough to grip due to where her rip was.  She waited for me but then decided it would be a better decision to start walking.  By the time I got done with the client, Elizabeth was almost home.  Tough girl and love the decision making skills.

With Ella, her and I shared a week at Girl Scout Camp.  It was a blast.  Because I volunteered, Ella got in free.  I thought I would be working with Ella's group but we had different groups.  That ended up being the best way to let Ella trust herself more and more.  She had a blast.  She was able to make butter, go kayaking and learned new songs as well as cooked lunches over the open fire with her group.  Ella also make a corn husk doll and shopped at a mercantile.  She learned more skills in finding new friends and being a great scout.  I think her team named her the most enthusiastic scout in their group.  Ella always has a positive outlet on new adventures even if she is a little nervous.  And the biggest thing she did that week was sleep overnight in a two person tent with the rest of the girls.  They had one night on sleep over and she liked the events before the sleeping part but the sleeping part was hard.  I am so proud of Ella's kindness and toughness working together to be strong.  Also we each had camp names... so if you are with us and we run into someone that calls us Butterfly or Rainbow, don't be worried.  :-)

This last week Ella went to her first half day camp at Minnehaha Academy.  This week was an American Girl camp.  At the end they were able to take a bus to the MOA to go to the AG store.  She had a blast and was so glad I signed her up.  But, on the first day she was a little nervous  she would run into girls from her old school.  So we did some play acting and Ella found the words needed just in case they were too noisy and asked why she left YA.   At first she wanted to lie about the reason we left but after talking it through she knew it was better to tell the truth but that she didn't have to say everything.  I am proud of her emerging decision skills as well.

My only ongoing concern is my girls have lost out on BFFs with the school changes.  Ella is making great strides in that area but Elizabeth hasn't had much time with her group at school.  She tries and they are nice but its not the same.  Soon though it will be highschool and everything starts over.

I also did some standing up for Elizabeth this week.  Recently there were notices on FB about a 7th grade Dad / Daughter camping thing.  I let it go on the first notice.  Then it was on the school message board so I decided to "stir the pot"  I emailed the dad that posted and asked if this event was only for girls that had dads and not for girls that were new to the school.  He replied and apologized and basically said he had asked his daughter about Elizabeth and was told there wasn't a dad so he let it drop.  He apologized for not reaching out to me and thanked me for being gracious.  I replied that it  is hard breaking in to a new group and that the kids were nice but they talk about people and things Elizabeth has not had a chance to participate in and this would have been a good chance to have a shared experience.   I hesitate to post this on the blog because Elizabeth still doesn't know about it so please don't bring it up.  I don't think she would have wanted to go as we had fun stuff planned that she wouldn't have wanted to miss but I don't want her to feel excluded.

But, yesterday Elizabeth did ask her BFF to spend the night.  The two don't get together as often as they would like since they both are now in different schools and not at YA together.  But, you can see the fun they have together and how glad they were to see each other and just hang out.  Thanks for coming over JF... we love you too.