Jessie Turned Seven!

On March 8, 2005 I was in the hospital giving birth to my first child - Jessie Petronila!  She was a month early and so tiny, but luckily she was fully developed, so she came home with me after the regular 2 days in the hospital.  Of course, I didn't know how labor or recovery would be, but the day after I came home from the hospital I went shopping!  I felt great!  But after my Mom left, the real labor began - the intense day in and day out of taking care of a newborn.  For most of her first year it felt like she was awake more than she was asleep.  Although I remember those days and how hard it was, when I see her now it seems all worth the work!

Granted, there are days/moments when I feel like I'm going to strangle her, but for the most part she is such a wonderful kid!  Perhaps it's because she's the first, or maybe because she's a mirror of my younger self, but for whatever reason we have such a connection!  There are times when she does something or is about to say something and I know already that she will do it or what she's going to say.  I often hear her say, "How did you know?"  (How do I explain to her that I would've done the same thing at that age?  Especially when it's something I don't really want her to do?)

From an early age Jessie loved people!  As soon as she could walk, she would go up to other kids and get in their face as if to say hi.  She's so good at making friends and she has such a sensitive soul.  While a sensitive kid, and prone to being so concerned about what other's think/feel, I'm always so proud of her when she stands up for herself!  And I'm especially so happy at how well she does in school!  At her age I couldn't even talk to the teachers, let alone volunteer to do anything!

She's in the French Immersion program at school and she LOVES it!  She loves speaking French and she loves knowing another language.  I love seeing how good she is at it and how quickly she's picked it up.  It's truly amazing to me.

Jessie is creative in every sense of the word.  She loves to sing, dance and act. One of her favorite things right now is to make up ballet dances with her sisters.  Even though she hasn't actually had any classes.  And she loves to draw and make things with paper.  Which is the reason why her b-day invitations were hand made this year.  She just loves to create things.

She made some for Tressa's party too.

She also has just figured out that she loves reading!  She's really into the Magic Rainbow Fairy series!  Every time she gets a new one I let her stay up to read a few chapters.  She loves magical things and she's convinced that the tooth fairy is real.  She has written her several notes and the "tooth fairy" has written back.  (How can I resist?)  For that reason I made her a fairy cake and we made a fairy craft for her party!

Here's the link, if you'd like to do it yourself!
http://ourworldwideclassroom.blogspot.com/2010/09/craft-club-pipe-cleaner-fairy.html

She's such a girlie girl and if she had her way she'd wear a dress almost every day.  She loves jewelry and dressing up!

One time when my Mom was visiting she told me how much she loves to watch Jessie because she reminds her so much of me when I was a little kid.  Since she told me that (a few years ago) I now realize why I sometimes know what she's going to do before she even realizes.  Because I know we are so much alike: I have more empathy for her when she's upset because of friends/foes at school; I know I'm fighting a loosing battle at bedtime when she stays awake for hours after she's originally tucked in, and I can pretty safely assume that anytime she's not supposed to get into something - she does it very sneakily when I'm not around!

I feel so lucky to be her mom and even though I feel sad sometimes that she's growing so fast, for the most part, I'm so glad she's 7!