Progression

Last year, Rachel wrote this in her journal:

OTObr 2 [October 2]

I hDA CHICN. [I had chicken.]

CAT.

HAT.

I hVU CAT. [I have a cat.]

I am RaCHEL

I am Mom

OTBOr 3 [October 3]

I WTO 

I WeNT TO SKOL. [I went to school.]

MiriAM

NANCe

BeNGUMN

ANjro

This year Rachel wrote this in her journal:

Since her letters are fairly legible I'll correct her spelling when I transcribe this time.

October 1st

I am reading Harry Potter Four! It is crazy. And fun! Very entertaining. Very...cool! Oh! and by the way I am 6, not to be crazy! It's almost my sister's birthday. It is almost Halloween. I am excited! I am going to be The Magic Treehouse! Miriam is going to be Lucy. I love Harry Potter. Do you? I do! He is smart! He is brave. I live in Durham, North Carolina. I love it. It is very pretty and very green with lots of birds. Tomorrow is October 2nd! Miriam is my sister. 

She then proceeds to count by tens to one hundred and then by hundreds up to one thousand and the by thousands up to six thousand.

I love my mom. I love my dad. I love my sister. I love my brother. They are nice to me.

October 2nd

I just woke up! I am still reading Harry Potter. But that is NOT! what I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you I love you and Boo! You give me the creeps. We just went on a bike ride. It was fun! We went to the park. It was fun. I lost the pencil I am writing with but then Miriam found it. PS. Mom's bike broke.

First of all, my bike didn't exactly break. It's just that the gear is stuck funny so it clicks. And the back tire is wobbly for some reason. And the brakes squeak. Other than that, it's all good!

Second, I think her writing has greatly improved since this time last year.

She's almost finished reading Harry Potter 4 by now and seems to be understanding it well enough. When she got to the part where Mad Eye Moody (who is her absolute favourite professor) turned Malfoy into a ferret, she came out of her room to read the passage to me and Andrew so we could all laugh about it because it was so funny. She's talking to us about new-to-her characters (ones that were introduced to her in this book) and is following the storyline well. 

Last night we accidentally let her stay up reading until midnight. We both meant (at various times in the evening) to tell her to turn out her light, but we each forgot until she wandered out of her bedroom at 11:55 PM!

"Hey, Mom!" she said cheerfully.

"What are you doing up?" I asked.

"Oh, I just need a bandaid. I picked a hangnail and...it's not bleeding but...it stings. I don't want to pick at it anymore so I'm just going to put a bandaid on it."

She was far too chipper to have just woken up. Usually when she gets up in the middle of the night she stumbles around and speaks in a slurred yet frantic manner. 

"How long have you been awake?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she said innocently.

"What do you mean, what do I mean...? Oh. Oh, dear. We forgot to tell you to go to sleep, didn't we?" I realized. 

Parents of the year we are.