Jillian at 8

After the hustle and bustle of the last couple of weeks, I am finally sitting down to write about Jillian in honor of her 8th birthday. I took her to her 8 year well child check after school today, and was struck by her as I sat on the bench and watched her on the exam table across the room. I had vivid flashbacks of sitting in that same exam room watching Dr Valdes examine a screaming baby while I watched with bleary tired eyes and an anxious first-time-mom heart. Today I couldn't stop marveling at how truly beautiful Jillian is as she sat atop that table watching and listening intently to Dr Valdes and her instructions. She honestly looked so grown up, and I felt like I could look at her and start to see how she will look as a young woman. It was a weird moment I can't really explain, but perhaps it was just the rare gift of getting to sit quietly and observe your child as she interacts with another grown up outside of your family. I admit I felt my chest tighten as I perused the educational handout I was given for "Middle Childhood"--lots of advice in that book, including how to talk to your kids about sex, bullying, puberty, and so on. We've arrived at the time of parenting where I notice my sphere of influence gradually shrinking (because she's out in the "world" so much and soaks in everything around her), and I feel like shouting "NO!!!" It's so cliche, but time really does fly. Anyway, Jillian is officially 4 ft 4 inches (79%) tall, and weighs 54 lbs (41%). She was very concerned and inquisitive about whether Dr. Valdes found her to be healthy (she did), and whether or not Dr Valdes thought she was eating healthy enough food (yes, but still eat more vegetables).  She was incredibly relieved to learn she doesn't need anymore immunizations (outside of yearly flu shots) until middle school. Whew. Now for a few tidbits about our 8 year old....

Jillian, you are independent with a capital "I". Actually, let's make all the letters of that word capital. You will dig your heels in and fight tooth and nail to break me down and allow you to take on more responsibility in every area of your life. My challenge is to actually let go. I am not good at this and you know it. You are a "give 'em an inch and they take a mile" kind of kid, so my hesitancy is not completely unmerited. We are finding little ways to loosen the parental grip where it's fine to do so....you now wake up to an alarm clock and not me, you make your own breakfast, you style your own hair, take your own shower, I've backed off on the state of your room, and so on. These are all very little things, but they will pave the way for bigger things down the road. My biggest issue is to keep myself out of your struggles--meaning, letting you learn lessons instead of swooping in to save you. For instance, the type A perfectionist in me can't stand to let you go to school without your homework planner signed, even though you forgot to get it out and ask me to sign it (what I want you to do). I've recently become aware of things I unintentionally do to help because it would bother ME to have them undone. You love to read and devour several chapter books per week. You are especially fond of Harry Potter, The Kingdom of Fantasy series, and all of the "Who Was/Is" books. Because of the latter series, you have lots of fun facts about historical figures tucked away in your brain. You also love to read and learn about animals. This is the biggest common ground for you and your best friend, Noah. You both have passion for animal information. Writing remains a beloved activity for you, and currently, you still maintain you'd like to be an author someday. Your stories are funny and creative, and full of details. As I sit and type this, I hear you and Adrienne upstairs playing school. This might go on for hours (provided we don't have a fight break out--possible at any moment), and the depth of imagination and role playing in your play together astounds me and warms my heart. You love to ride your bike and practice dribbling the basketball in the driveway. You are excited to begin a second season of the sport, and I am excited to see you begin to develop a drive to stick with something and work to improve at it. You have questions. Boy, do you have questions. The only person as curious as you is your dad, and so I often send you straight to him with your inquiries! You love science and social studies at school and complain about math (which is funny because you are exceptionally strong at math).  While you love to listen to music, you cannot stand music class, and you do not like to speak or perform in front of people. Cheeseburgers remain your favorite thing ever, in addition to pepperoni pizza. You currently love a salami and mozzarella sandwich in your lunch, adore clementines, any form of potato, and are crazy about the chocolate oat snack bars I try to keep made for your after school enjoyment. You go through gum like mad, often chewing 3-4 pieces at a time. You order lemonade at restaurants, chocolate peanut butter ice cream at Flapdoodles, and have a strong desire to possess and operate the remote control. Your favorite shows are America's Funniest Home Videos, American Ninja Warrior, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Garfield Show, and Scooby Doo. No more princesses for you, as you've decided you are too big and grown up for them. You love to climb trees, playground equipment, and anything else that will stand still. You've lost 8 teeth, bite your fingernails off so I never have to trim them, and absolutely hate anyone else to touch your hair. Your favorite color is purple, and you really like patterns with black/white/gray in them because they look "grown up" to you. You notice absolutely everything, and overhear every conversation. We can't sneak anything past you, and as it's been since the day you were born--you are always one step ahead of us and keep us on our toes. We wouldn't have it any other way. You are the kind of kid who has it in her to be a world changer, so go get 'em girl. Your dad and I are so proud of you and love you more than you will ever know. Happy 8th--it sure IS great!

Universal Studios

On our last day, we decided to it Universal Studios for the first time. We did this mostly for Harry Potter World, but enjoyed other parts of the park, too. Universal Studios was not my favorite (nor Matt's), because most of the rides were motion simulators. These types of rides cause us to be very motion sick, and as a result, I rode most of them with my eyes closed!

The girls after the Minion Ride (made me sick!)

Watching Matt as he decided to ride this insane roller coaster. Adrienne wanted to ride, but thankfully she wasn't tall enough!

Lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. Butter Beer was DELICIOUS!

Harry Potter World was amazing. The Gringott's Ride was the best ride I've ever experienced anywhere (and I'm not a "ride" person). It really is awesome. The girls were desperate to get some wands, and we told them we'd get them one. Jillian chose Hermoine's wand, and Adrienne was drawn to the "most powerful of all wands"--Dumbledore

The awesome thing about purchasing the interactive wands is that they have several stations around Diagon Alley where the sensors of the wand work to do "magic"--turn lights on, make water shoot out of spouts, etc. Highlight of the trip for the girls, for sure.

Jillian said, "You know what, Mom? It really DOES feel like the wand chooses you!"

Trying on some wizard gowns.

Matt posing with the Back To The Future car

We sat for a bit and let the girls play in the Fievel's play area. They had play structures and a little water slide they could experience independently while we sat and rested. Matt may or may not have grabbed a nap on a  bench. Peek-a-boo, girls, we see you!

Time for a Starbucks break! Wahoo!

Jillian wasn't having this whole "stand by your sister" business. This pic makes me laugh. So typical.

We grabbed dinner at a fun restaurant at the Universal City Walk--the Cowfish. It was a burger-sushi fusion spot.

Burger bento box with rice krispy treat sushi

PBJ sushi!

My dinner--a bento box with a spicy tempura roll and a mini-burger. Best of both worlds!

Oh, but dessert. Dessert that night was the stuff my dreams are made of. We hit the newly opened Chocolate Emporium, which is just an insane restaurant that highlights chocolate and has crazy huge shakes and sundaes. We split the brownie shake and the peanut butter craze shake. I really intended to enjoy the brownie shake all by myself, while Matt and the girls shared the PB shake...but no. It was a race to see who could get the most ice cream!

Chocolate Minion at the Chocolate Emporium.

Heaven on Earth.

We flew home on Wednesday and were back in action and routine Thursday morning. Whew. Great trip!

Epcot

On Halloween, we planned to go to Epcot for the first time ever. But first, Matt had to do his conference speaking, so the girls and I had until noon. First on the agenda: sleeping in. The girls were comatose until after 8:30.

We went downstairs to the hotel cafe and had some breakfast, and we took Jillian's homework with us. I told her that this was the morning to get it done. We had time, and we weren't going to have anymore large blocks of time to get it down. It wasn't pretty. There were tears. There were eye rolls. There were numerous complaints. But we got er done.

After homework we took a walk around the resort grounds, and the girls played with the large chess set.

Adrienne requested to dress as Belle for Halloween. After getting all dressed and ready to go to Epcot, she caught wind of Jillian's last minute decision to ditch her vampire costume, and it was game over. Monkey see, monkey do. But we got one pic in the costume of our sweet little Belle.

Epcot was lots of fun. I was excited that the food was much better than at other parks, and the bonus was that it was Food and Wine Festival, so it was easy to stroll the World Showcase and sample fare from each country. We tried a lot. Too much to name. The girls were of course partial to the sweets. Chocolate baklava and donuts for the win.

Test Track was everyone's favorite experience. We got to design a car for racing. Adrienne and I designed this crazy looking car (to her specifications). It didn't look like it would perform well.

Matt and Jillian, conversely, made a very race-worthy vehicle.

But you know what??? Adrienne and I's car actually performed better in all the tests! The Green Machine is the bomb!

After waiting in line for the Frozen Ever After ride for ONE HOUR AND FORTY MINUTES, we finally made it to our dinner reservation (late) and enjoyed a nice French meal. As we were walking back through the park we noticed a concert going on. Lo and behold it was Hanson, and they were singing Mmmm Bop! Two old parents were really excited, and loved embarrassing the kids!

Catching the fireworks show at the end. Another long day...didn't get back to the room until after 11!

Magic Kingdom

We spent our first full day in Orlando at Magic Kingdom. We caught the early shuttle so that we could be at the gates of the park before they opened at 8. We couldn't get a fast pass for the ride we most wanted to ride (that has crazy long lines), so we had a plan to rush the gates and run to the back of the park and get on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

Still dark outside, but we were Disney bound!

Waiting for the park to open

Photobombed by Dad

We made it! The end of the Seven Dwarf Ride. So fun!

Another family selfie--this time on the way to Tom Sawyer's Island

After a fun day at Magic Kingdom, we decided to head to Disney Springs for a nice dinner, shopping, and some Ghiradelli Sundays to cap off the day. These girls hit it hard for over FOURTEEN hours. Rock stars.

A very tired Jillian, who had some crazy blue hands as a result of the Disney shopping bag rubbing off onto sunscreened skin.

Sleepy Adrienne snuggling in for the night with her Magic Kingdom purchases.