My baby girl is 6 years old. 😩 I can’t handle it. She’s so big!
Isla is as full of joy and sass as ever–overflowing, really. Her favorite things these days are cats (SO MANY CATS), stuffed and/or electronic animal toys, drawing, telling stories, riding her scooter, and watering the plants. She is inquisitive and is constantly asking questions that, while they can drive us a little nuts, show her curiosity and desire to learn everything about the world around her. She also has an argumentative streak. I can thank my husband for that. (I’m sure he’ll argue when he reads this, further proving my point.)
She is always laughing and squealing and telling stories and dispensing dubious medical advice and trying to pull people into her magical little world, which is fully of jellyfish and spiders and cats and germs.
Isla graduated from preschool last spring and started kindergarten at our neighborhood school in the fall. She’s taken to kindergarten like a duck to water. She is whip smart and picked up reading and writing pretty quickly. (I may have said this in her 5 year update, but we were pretty sure last year the only reason she wasn’t reading then was sheer stubbornness, which she has in spades.) She still loves to write books, and now accompanies her pictures with lots of poorly-spelled text. We love it.
She still wants to be a scientist when she grows up. Her teacher has shared that Isla’s passion for science has not only turned into Isla giving impromptu science lessons to her classmates, but has encouraged the teacher to incorporate more science in their kinder curriculum too. She’s still obsessed with viruses and bacteria, and recently learned about computer viruses, which prompted her to ask Kellen about a million questions about how computer viruses work. The wheels in her mind are constantly turning, and we do our best to try to keep up with her insatiable search for knowing everything.
We have heard from all her teachers, the librarian, even the crossing guard that in addition to being very smart, she is a great helper and an includer, making friends with everyone and always looking for ways to share her knowledge and enthusiasm with her classmates. I’m not surprised at all, given that she’s always making friends wherever she goes, but hearing that from the people who spend all day with her and who aren’t, you know, clearly biased family members warms my heart.
She’s an amazing big sister. Yes, she occasionally torments her brother. Yes, I wish she did a better job of sharing. But most of the time, she’s sweet to him and does her best to make him laugh and show him new things. They spend a lot of time together, mostly because Isla loves having a rapt audience and Ian is mostly happy to oblige. He lights up whenever she comes into the room, and when she’s not around, he asks about her constantly. He is very lucky to have such a wonderful sissy.
Isla came into this world with personality in spades. Even as a teeny tiny newborn, she was curious and busy and charming as all get out. Her big eyes were constantly looking around, trying to take everything in, and she would watch the faces of the adults who fawned over her, returning their coos with intense eye contact and early grins. As she’s gotten older, she has only become more and more her, a floodlight of joy and inquisitiveness and love. I’m very lucky to have such an incredible baby girl.
I love you, turkey. Happy 6th birthday!
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