Clare bear - almost 7

Clare is great. She is so sweet and great. I am always amazed at how great she is (99% of the time) and how sweet and smart she is.  She's a treat to have around.

Life for Clare is going really well. She has a lot going on.

Clare recently started 1st grade. She has a great teacher - Mrs. Patterson - she was previously Calvin's K teacher and also Uncle Dan's K teacher!!!  She is one of the best teachers in the school.  Clare's class is very boy heavy again. Must be a boy heavy birth year. There are 22 boys and 9 girls in her class.  Last year Clare was in a with tough group of girls. Her two best friends were both bossy and bullies to other girls. Clare got along with both of them but to each other they were "frenimies"  - a word they made up but I think means they were competing to be the boss of all the girls and couldn't get along all of the time. The K teacher split them all up so this year Clare has had the chance to make new friends this year.  Clare is having a good time and has indeed been making new friends.  Clare has a November birthday so she is one of the older kids in the class. School is very easy for her.  She is good at reading/writing and great at math. Last week she learned multiplication with Dave at home and studies the multiplication tables each night before bed. Dave was always a math wiz so he has been teaching her. It is a fun age so she soaks it up.   It makes the simple math at school a breeze for her.

We had an FHE lesson about being kind and including others. I told the kids I'd follow up each night at dinner and ask them what they did to help out someone else. Each night Clare told a story about how she was playing on the playground and someone wanted to join in. While other girls said, no you can't play with us now, Clare either convinced them all to let the new friend join in, or clare offered to play with the new friend at the next recess time.  I am proud of Clare for being able to stand up to the bossy bullies and for being able to get along with everyone.  I hope she doesn't let her confidence go to her head and always remembers to be kind.

Piano - Clare has been taking piano lessons for 7 months. She recently finished her first set of books. In an effort to show her that this is a big deal and we are proud of her and support her piano accomplishments we are letting her plan a family outing. We went to the mall in Mission Valley to see the Lego Store and the Disney store to window shop. At the mall there is a fun game the kids like to play -- it is projector that projects images onto the ground and the kids play games with their feet (similar to the kinds of games kids play on the ipad with their fingers).It is fun, special and free family activity.

Piano practice goes in phases for Clare. Sometimes she does it without much fuss, she concentrates and gets through her music quickly and efficiently. other times she has a huge fit and we fight over it. And then even when she does it she is pouty and ridiculous.  I am always trying to think of ways to motivate her to play and small rewards to give her for getting practice done. For example, I bought a pack of gum and told her when she practiced she could have a piece of gum...for about a week she would do her piano happily and right away just so she could get a piece of gum. Then that didn't work as well anymore.  Lately it seems to work best for her to do 1/2 of her practice before school and then finish up after school.  That way she isn't overwhelmed by having to spend a long time at the piano. She can easily do a 10-15 minute block of piano.  Things are always changing, but she is learning and improving and even though she says she doesn't want to practice I know she does like it!  She loves her teacher and loves to know that she is learning something worthwhile.

Kids Sing - Clare is in the K-3 kids sing group. She is having a great time and is so happy to have Jessica as a teacher!  

gymnastics - this year Clare decided she wanted to try gymnastics. At the end of the dance season last year, she  said she didn't want to continue. At this age, I think it is great for the kids to try different things and see what they like. Since I make her do piano I told her she could have her choice of one other activity. This was her choice.  She likes it.

I am trying to figure out where Clare's talents will be. She is not super competitive and I don't see her loving sports like soccer. She is a super fast runner. She is not amazingly coordinated for hand/eye or even for dance. She is a great swimmer. She loves to ride her bike.  I don't care if she is an Olympic anything but I want her to find something that she enjoys and can develop in the athletic area of life- for fun and for fitness. She has started coming with me on my morning walks. She is pretty amazing. She brings her scooter so I have to run to keep up with her down hill. Uphill she walks with me, but I'm always impressed she goes as far as she does. I'm excited to see what the future has in store for her in this area of her life!

Now that Clare rides her bike we try to take her pretty often. Most of her daddy daughter dates lately are riding bikes around Lake Mirimar (with a treat afterwards).

This is called the bridge. 

Clare is a great big sister.  She and Lexey are still great playmates. They really love each other and get along very well (most of the time)! Clare is also great with little Jo. She makes sure she is safe and will help her stay happy in the car since they sit next to each other.

 Clare is super organized and likes things to be just right. We were going to the temple one day with dan to pick up a few things and she got herself all ready in a nice (white) dress, a necklace and shoes. She wanted her picture taken in front of the temple.

 Clare loves sweets.  She knows how to get sweets too and will work real hard to be in just the right place at the right time so that she can get sweet things and other junk.  She cracks us up! She was eating ice cream and some dripped on her chest so she was trying to lick it off. It was quite a sight!

 Clare loves dan/elder dahlquist!

This is totally Clare. Prim and proper and totally serious. She is amazing.  She is very determined and capable. I'm looking forward to seeing what she decides to do with herself. She can do whatever she puts her mind to!

Oh. one other change for Clare- she recently moved into her own room. She has been sharing with Lexey for years. It has worked very well in the past since Lexey went to bed at 7 and then Clare would go to bed a little later. As Lexey has gotten older and gone to bed later it has been harder for the girls to share. It takes them forever to go to sleep at night and Clare likes to have her stuff organized and just so. Lexey likes to get into Clare's stuff and bounce off the walls all night.  While I realize we totally could have made it work, when Dan left I decided the time was right to move Clare.  Clare may end up sharing with Jo...I still need to get her a real room one of these days.  Bed time routine has improved a lot now that Clare can go to bed and have time to herself to read and write and do whatever else she does in her room when she's alone.