Erin is 8!

Our first baby Erin is 8 years old now!  She was happy that her birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so she could really have the whole day to do whatever she wanted.  Her birthday weekend started out with gymnastics class on Saturday morning, which she loves, and then some playtime at home the rest of the day.  She and I took Bella on a walk and got ready for her 2 friends, Olivia and Beau, to come over.  They came over around 5pm and the girls (including Anna, of course) had a super fun playdate!  They painted on little canvases, played school, ate chicken tacos with rice for dinner, had birthday cupcakes, then more playing school before Beau went home.







Then Erin, Anna, and Olivia camped out in the bonus room with a temporary TV setup thanks to Daddy and watched Frozen before bed.  They slept well, woke up at 6am (a sleepover Erin-style), and had Dunkin Donuts for breakfast.



We then met Olivia's family at church and all sat together.  The rest of Sunday, we offered Erin lots of ideas for outings, but this homebody just wanted to be at home with us.  She opened presents from us, and we had more chicken tacos for lunch and spaghetti for dinner, so she was happy.



We enjoyed the beautiful weather with lots of backyard and trampoline time, and neighbor friends Caitlin and Laney came over to play for awhile too.  I think it was all-around a great day for our Erin.  She is easy to please.

What's new with Erin?  Let's see.  She still loves playing school - that is her favorite pastime by far.  She still says that she wants to be a first grade teacher when she grows up, even though she's in second grade now.  This is the first year that her declared profession does not match the grade she's in.  Her teacher this year is very sweet, patient, and is much less of a dictator than her teacher last year was...which took some getting used to for Erin, but I think she is benefiting from her personality.  Perhaps by still playing first grade, she is subtly hinting that she liked her teacher last year more.  Either way, Erin has mellowed out slightly in the past couple of months, and I think some of that is due to this more "gentle" teacher.

Aside from playing school, Erin likes to draw, paint, color, play games, swing, jump on the trampoline, ride on her scooter, dance, play the piano, and do gymnastics.  She is our active girl, and her strength and coordination have improved a great deal this year.  She LOVES piano, and it warms our hearts to listen to her play.  We usually don't have to ask her to practice (unlike Anna).  She works so hard at school and at home, and we really could not be more proud of where she is today when we think back on how much progress she has made.  She has some good friends at school, and while I like to joke that they are the "nerdy girls", these girls are so very sweet to her and it is just adorable to volunteer in the cafeteria and see them all quietly sitting together at the end of one table while the more boisterous kids are causing a ruckus at the other end.  I cannot express how happy it makes me to see her have true friends who accept and love her despite her social awkwardness at times...because, really, aren't we all a little awkward when it comes down to it?!

She had her heart scare last month and is now taking a beta blocker - atenolol - once a day (she started out at 25mg nightly, then that was too much so we split it into 12.5mg in the morning and again at night, but based on the Holter monitor results in late September, she is now down to 12.5mg in the morning only).  She is doing well on that, and we don't see any signs of SVT at this time.  She will have another 24-hour monitor in early December to see how she's doing with the lower dosage.  I am hopeful that this condition and medication are temporary, but the cardiologists want to stick with this for now.  She will have her checkup at the pediatrician in early December as well, so we will get the stats at that time.  I fully expect another glowing report from a developmental standpoint...because Erin is such a star!  We also have her parent-teacher conference at school next Monday, so I am eager to hear what her teacher has to say about her so far this year.

Erin is wonderful, happy, more easygoing than she used to be, creative, silly, and is a true delight.  I love that she is usually in a good mood and that she likes to make us laugh.  She is an all-around great kid, and we could not be more proud of her.