Seven.

This girl turned seven today.
I realized, after referencing last year's post to get my interview questions, that I really need to interview her BEFORE we do whatever exciting birthday activity she has chosen. Because just as last year's post was VERY Stingray Intensive, I'll let you take a wild stab at what exciting activity Harper got to enjoy for the very first time this morning (with her dear friend Miss J):

1. Harper, at what age is a person a grown-up? "20. I think, is that about right?"

2. If you could be invisible for one day, what would you do? "Sneak up on people?" (me: That's the same thing you said last year!) AND take toys that are on the ground. To make THEM invisible."

3. What is something that makes our family special? "Getting to go ice skating with you."

4. Are you a good friend? (nods) Why? "Because I'm funny and I like to play."

5. How would the world be different if animals could talk?  "They could tell you what they wanted."

6. What is the best thing about being a kid? "Getting to ice skate."

7. The worst thing? "Schoolwork."

8. Where is your favorite place in the world?  "Kemah AND the ice skating rink."

9. If you could give one gift to every child in the world, what would it be? "a unicorn for the girls, and a baseball bat and baseball for the boys."

10. What are five adjectives that describe you? "Funny. She has curly hair, hazel eyes, lost 4 teeth, likes to play with horses. She likes to ice skate, roller skate, and do gymnastics. Is that five?"

11. If you could invent something, what would it be? "A horse park."

12. If you could make one rule that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be? "DON'T LITTER."

13. What is your favorite:
--color? pink
--smell? "Candles. Good smelling ones. And flowers. Roses and magnolias."
--food? "For breakfast, oatmeal muffins. For lunch, Amy's burritoes. For dinner, dumplings from PF Chang's. Also chocolate chip cookies."
--book? "Probably Magic Treehouse. And Pooh!"
--activity? "Ice Skating! And drawing."
--sound? "The sound of dragonflies buzzing. And Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal chipping."
--animal? "Stingray, octopus, horses, cows, cardinals, and robins."

14. What does Daddy like to do? "Watch t.v. I told you he was going to watch LOTS of t.v. all summer long!"

15. What does Mommy like to do? "Watch me ice skate and roller skate and do gymnastics. She likes to watch ME."

16. What makes you special? "I'm good at LOTS of things on my first time."

17. What do you most want to do? "Ice skate EVERY day!"

18. What would you write a book about? "Horses and unicorns."

19. What is your favorite thing to wear? "Shirts with flowers and pink ones. All my clothes. And shorts. Pretty clothes and dresses."

20. Describe what you look like: "Tall, curly hair, hazel eyes, lost 4 teeth. SEVEN."

21. What are you looking forward to this year? "Ice skating MORE and gymnastics and USING my birthday presents."

22. What is your favorite song? "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

23. What are some things you accomplished as a 6 year old? "Cartwheel. Handstand. I liked playing with my friends and doing presentations (with our Classical Conversations group)."

24. What do you hope this year brings? "ICE SKATING. Telling time, being flexible (which she means literally and not personality-wise), having fun, doing art."

So, I guess you have ascertained that Harper chose to go ice skating for the first time this morning. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, and was so pleasantly surprised that she LOVED it. She was fearless and tenacious, not minding at all the few rather painful-looking spills she took. The skating instructor was very sweet, several times sweeping her up into dramatic lifts:
This has been a year of growing confidence. A year in which the cartwheel has been mastered, and upside down has become more common than right-side up: You've become an independent reader, and a lover of books, which is, naturally, to my great delight. You and Hudson are true and abiding play-mates, and your disagreements have been few, your joys in shared adventure manifold. You are learning to be more and more patient with Helena, and I predict this is the year she will enter in as an almost-equal. You are navigating the oft-confusing world of peer relationships with equal parts enthusiasm and caution, which I think is as it should be. You like to be Alpha, and are learning, with some resistance, that it is sometimes acceptable to be Beta, or Gamma, or even Omega. You are eager to learn about birds and music and stars and horses and volcanoes and tarantulas and the physics of the hula hoop. You are insatiably curious about every detail of every single living thing. And also minerals. You wonder what other people are doing when you aren't there. You aren't keen on my going places without you, because of what you might be missing.

You are around 46 inches tall, and you weigh around 44 pounds. You wanted me to bake oatmeal muffins for breakfast, and you requested chocolate (Pioneer Woman) cupcakes, with white (Pioneer Woman) frosting, sprinkles, and pink jelly beans as your special birthday treat. You wanted to read House at Pooh Corner (which was a present from the Grandparents Pate) before bed. The one where Pooh falls into a pit and lands on poor Piglet. You giggled about poor squashed Piglet and Pooh not realizing he himself was the one doing the squashing.And then they find Small on Pooh's back.

You asked for, and received, a charm bracelet with three charms (plus a gift card for another), a tiny Peter Rabbit china tea-set, a hula hoop, some real watercolors, a red velvet pillow, a Playmobile swimming pool set, some tiny overalls for your stuffed frog Frog E. Doo, a tiny leotard for your stuffed dog Sasha, and a wonderful morning of skating with a dear friend.

Aren't we full, my sweet, sweet, dear daughter? Brimming. And thankful.