Oh sweet girl. It seems just impossible that you are now 13. You remain the coolest little human. I truly enjoy hanging out with you and love to hear how you think.
Twelve was another really, really good year. You finished sixth grade strong and are wrapping up your last year of middle school.
Academically, you’ve continued to enjoy your classes. Your teachers report you’re a “joy” to have in class. We are proud that they notice that you’re a strong advocate for yourself and that you’re always willing to ask questions or talk with them about things you need clarified. While you received academic achievement certificates and awards last spring, we are most proud of your strong empathy, your witty sense of humor, and that you are never afraid to ask questions. You have grown tremendously in your ability in your ability to tolerate uncertainty and frustration.
I worry some about what the transition to junior high will be like as you almost never have homework and still do not study but have somehow managed to keep an average grade above 99%. Next year you’re adding advanced history to your load alongside advanced ELA and algebra. You just weren’t interested in taking advanced science. While I had to bite my tongue at this choice (& your science teacher also expressed displeasure at this!), I realize the history component might be more interesting for you as well as more relevant if you remain interested in law and politics. Along these lines, you’ve been reading a lot on WW2 and have been sharing all your learning with us in the evenings alongside the notebook full of facts and maps. You also applied for a Civics Camp this summer. While we suspect you won’t be selected for the camp, it was good to see you so motivated to achieve something and it has got you thinking about experiences you would like to have that also would strengthen a future application. This year also saw a lot of growth in your interest in and skills as a clarinet player. You were thrilled to have made it into honor band and that experience seemed really transformative. You continued to love art this year and also really enjoyed your video game design class.
You are continuing to work on your willingness to make mistakes and attempt things you might not get on the first try. However, you decided that you truly were done with softball and volleyball so this has been a much less hectic year in terms of evening schedules. You’ve been taking clarinet lessons and also requested a few crochet classes. Crocheting has been another great opportunity to watch you grow while you also work through perfectionistic tendencies and self efficacy issues.
Although still an occasional struggle, we are quite happy to have maintained a balance with your attention and appetite. Your asthma has also been well controlled, which we have been very grateful for this year. You’ve grown a couple of inches, finally reaching tall enough to sit in the passenger seat on trips around town, which was a very exciting milestone for you.
You’ve grown a lot in your interests this year, discovering a ton of music, new tv shows, and working on a number of creative outlets. You’ve rearranged your bedroom a few times and even change the whole aesthetic this spring, with some serious painting help from a friend. You have a lot of opinions and this is something I (generally) love.
Social relationships have sometimes been a challenge this year. You have learned a lot about having different levels of friendship as well as navigating close friends who have closer friends than you. This is something you’ll likely continue to grow in over the next few years. You also are working on reaching out to develop acquaintances into friendships. As someone who tends to be pretty sensitive to rejection, you’ve shown a lot of progress in this area. At 13, with a lot of trepidation on my part, we finally decided you were old enough and responsible enough for a cell phone. I haven't seen you this excited about a gift since the Frozen jeep you got for Christmas almost a decade ago.
Finally, we love how much you enjoy time with your family and with the dogs (including even an unsuccessful dog training class with Mochi last spring). You’re getting easier to get out of the house, with lots of potential motivators (namely makeup, matcha or chai lattes, or yummy snacks), but you also are a girl who loves her downtime at home. We love that you still cuddle and give the best hugs. I hope that continues throughout the teen and adult years because it really is my favorite thing. I have a lot of trepidation as we enter this next stage of development but I also am loving most every day these days.
