HOW can she be 8?????

Turning 8 and finished with second grade.... hard for this Mom to wrap her head around.  Funny how the passage of time unravels your memory.  All the day-to-day Avery-ness evolves so slowly that it seems hard to remember her any other way than how she is right now.  I catch my breath sometimes and wonder 'When did that happen?' 'When did that change?'  I miss reading bedtime stories to her; she wants to read them to herself.  I embarrass her when I forget myself and use nicknames from further back in her childhood, like "Baby Bear".  She will tolerate "Bear", for now.  She is a perplexing mix of noise and shyness, especially when she first meets someone.  She loves to put on a show, but is uncomfortable with being the centre of attention unexpectedly.  She feels things very deeply, but rarely says a word about what troubles her.  When she finally does, it comes racing out willy nilly.  Sometimes she wants help to deal with her troubles, sometimes she just wants to be heard and it is always a trick for this momma to figure out in an instant which one it is this time. She is deeply loyal and has a hard time when friendships change.  She is bright, but likes to rush through her work and sacrifice attention to detail and neatness for speed.  She is amazing. 

Her face and body have changed so much this past year with the introduction of glasses, ever changing gaps and she has become taller, leaner and elbowier.  I love that she loves how she is changing, that awkward phases just mean she is growing up. I habitually find little photos and videos like this on the computer and they always make me smile!  There are dozens of them; she plays with different effects, conscripts all her friends into her productions and has some very lovely ongoing stories.

What a difference a year makes!  This is Avery on her 7th birthday:

And this is Avery now:

I will shed a tear on Wednesday when she is officially 8.  It all goes too fast.