birthdays and butterflies

So this happened:

Happy Birthday!

Sophia turned five years old last week.  She had a fairly quiet day as far as it goes, as we were only back from her checkup in Saskatoon the night before.  We spent the early part of the day baking her birthday cake: zebra cake with vanilla icing, by request.  Michael came home early from work, we had lunch, and then it was time to open presents  

This is easier to make than it looks

The Spirograph has been fun...I'll use it to make her party invitations

Clothes!

She was excited about all her gifts, but the standouts were a My Little Pony playset from some friends in Calgary, and Dad's special gift: a new bike.  A two-wheeler!  She tried it out right away and has ridden it pretty much every day since.  "I've been practicing!!" she says with a big smile.  

That's better than the outgrown tricycle!

We will have her birthday party on the May long weekend, when her friends are available.  

The other new thing this week is that Sophia started soccer.  She's played in the South Regina Community Soccer League for the past two years, and enjoyed it, but this year she's been particularly excited.  This league is a non-competitive/no-cut league; I was so unhappy in Phys. Ed. classes and team sports in general that my goals are just for her to have fun and not be intimidated by sports like I was.  So far it seems to be working, because despite not always being the team star she seems to have fun.  

The teams are split into all-girl and all-boy at her age level; Sophia was ecstatic to find that her team is called the Butterflies!  She plays twice a week.  So far she has been more successful at kicking the ball on the field (as opposed to just running back and forth chasing the other players), and she told me that tonight she scored a goal--her first!

Ballerina bun and butterfly tshirt

Ready to play!

It's funny how she seems to have suddenly grown up so much...

kindergarten meet-and-greet

Sophia will be starting school in September, and the school had its first "Kindergarten Meet-and-Greet" Tuesday afternoon so the parents and prospective students could get to know each other.

School sign with bonus little girl head.  I didn't even see the stain/mark on the sign until after I got home and reviewed the photo.

The school is quite close to us so it will be an easy walk.  Well, except for the fact that winter walking conditions are often quite hazardous due to lack of walk clearing and the water settling in the inevitable troughs and valleys in our street.  Even now some of the sidewalks are under water.  I have the feeling that the strap-on boot spikes that my father-in-law bought me a while back will be getting a good workout next year.

The front door of the school

Grant Road School has been open since 1959; apparently at one point it was one of three neighbourhood schools.  The others have since closed.  Unlike Alberta, Elementary School in Saskatchewan runs from K-8, so every age from preschool to teenager attends class here).  Everyone I know on our street who has an opinion on the school, from a family who moved her last year to a couple whose now-grown children went there decades ago, has had nothing but good things to say about it.  So we are optimistic about Sophia attending.

The "big kids'" playground and transition to the field/park beside the school.

We have been inside the school once before, when we dropped off our application.  The principal was busy but she still took the time to give us a short tour of the school library, gymnasium and Kindergarten room.  Sophia was excited to finally see inside after coming to play at the playgrounds and adjoining park for the past couple years.  So excited that it was hard to get her to leave the building!  She has been talking ever since about going to school and learning new things.  

For the Meet-and-Greet session, the kids actually spent the hour on their own in the Kindergarten classroom while the adults had coffee in the staff room.  Sophia can often be shy with adults and get upset when they pay attention to her or talk to her, but she ran right into the room and interacted with the teacher without as much as a glance back at us as we said goodbye.  It was kind of a happy-cry moment for me...after so many years where she clung to me and was hesitant about many new experiences I always feel so proud when I see her be brave and independent.  

In lieu of a photo of Sophia running inside the room, please accept this photo of her playing on the playground equipment with other school children.

We ran into quite a few parents in the staff room who live quite near to us: the people we never see because they are at work and their kids are always in daycare, etc. while Sophia and I are at home.  Hopefully now they are actually going to school together they will have the chance to make friends and run in between each others' houses and do all those things that were normal to us as children but seem to be out of the norm now (yes, it's a little surreal to be talking to a mom about her arranging "playdates" with kids that live around the corner).  Most of the children at the event today were actually girls, so her class may end up pretty girl-dominated.  We'll have to see.

Heading back home 

As for what they did in the classroom for that hour...we've been informed by our daughter that it's a secret so we don't know.   The teacher did make a comment about everyone being ready and eager to learn, though, so it sounds like it went well for them in there.

Five more months...