Oct. 24/11

I love her ..... increasing compassion for others

Jaymi is finally reaching an age where she is beginning to think a lot more about other people's feelings.

She has been dealing with an issue with a friend, and has been trying hard to deal with this issue in a way that doesn't hurt the friend's feelings.  It's so nice to see her putting herself in someone else's shoes.

Oct. 25/11

..... her love of simple things

We studied eyeballs (eyesight, eyes, etc.) and had a lot of fun attaching eyes to everything, including food.

Jaymi had a kiwi snack with eyes,

a pumpkin milkshake with eyes,

a stuffie eyeball,

a piece of pumpkin pie with eyes as well as a vitamin with one eye (that's when she learned a new vocabulary word - cyclops)

Oct. 27/11

..... her dedication

Oct. 28/11

..... her generosity

At a friend's baking birthday party, Jaymi made tons of cookies and set aside quite a few, including the biggest heart cookie, for me! :)

Oct. 29/11

..... her role models

The people she looks up to right now, are awesome role models.  They are mostly taekwondo black belts, who are good students, hard workers, and people with great values and determination.

Isn't that awesome?

Oct. 30/11

..... her ability to get right into a holiday

We always go to a pumpkin patch and choose pumpkins, before Halloween.

We always carve or decorate our pumpkins to have them ready on the doorstep on Halloween night.

This year, Jaymi decorated Mark's pumpkin for him, and it included 'blood-dripping fangs' and a screwdriver right in the eye!  Ack!

Oct. 31/11

..... her ability to look pretty in a hamburger costume ;)

LOL

Nov. 1/11

..... her understanding of money and how to save it

She had $20 of birthday money and decided to spend it on some new stuffies.  At Carlton Cards, she knew (from buying a friend's birthday present recently) that these big-eyed stuffies were on sale for Buy One Get One Half-Off.  So, she calculated it all out and figured out that she could buy 3 of them (and we bought one more for a future birthday present for a friend).  Of course, she decided on 3 of the same husky stuffies.

Because, of course, 3 is even better than 1, you know!

Oh, and thanks Gramma & Papa John, by the way - that was the $20 that she received from you!

Nov. 2/11

..... her love of cats

Since Jaymi was little, she has loved cats.

She has almost always had a hoodie with cat ears.

:)

Nov. 3/11

..... how I can re-show her something that we used to do, after she has forgotten it, and she loves it all over again.

We used to play this game while we were inside Tim Horton's, at the window near the drive-through.

We watch the cars driving through, and interpret the logos, trying to see if we can figure out the make and model of each vehicle.

Nov. 4/11

..... her intensity

Last weekend was Training with Black Belts weekend.

It happens twice per year at Jaymi's taekwondo school, and she loves it.

This time, she had the opportunity to train for an hour on Friday night with the black belts, then for another two hours (one of taekwondo and one of grappling) on Saturday morning, then back in the early afternoon for another hour (weapons training) with the black belts, and finally she watched for two hours while they tested for their next belts/stripes.  Arriving on Saturday at 10am and being there until 4pm, she was all upset that it was over.  She wanted to stay longer!

Nov. 5/11

..... her love of literature

For her birthday, Jaymi received play tickets to "Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the The Wardrobe" from Granna & Grandad (thanks!), which was perfect, because Jaymi has read the book.

Seeing the play was great - she loved it!

Nov. 6/11

..... her 'good feeling' when she donated to the SPCA.

For her birthday this year, Jaymi insisted on her friends NOT giving her any gifts, but instead, bringing money and an item for the SPCA.  So we finally got around to bringing everything to the SPCA.

We brought tons of old towels, leashes, collars, cat & dog toys, and $33.

Jaymi said that she wished more kids would do this, and that her present was the good feeling she would get inside, from doing this.

She also loves visiting the cats when we go to the SPCA.  If she could take them all home with her, I think she would.

:)

Nov. 7/11

..... her spontaneous nature

After school one day recently, it was finally not wet outside, finally sunny, and we finally had no plans for the latter half of the day, so I decided to take Jaymi for our annual autumn photo shoot.  She was happy to do this and had lots of fun playing in the leaves.

Nov. 8/11

..... her continuing responsibility with Socks (her kitten)

Socks was neutered this week.

We allowed Jaymi to help bring Socks to the vet, and help pick him up as well.  She was fantastic with him.

Nov. 10/11

..... her new interest in piano

Jaymi has recently asked me to teach her piano.

Every time I have tried to teach her in the past, she hasn't been interested at all.

Now that she is older though, I am finding that she is picking up the basics sooo easily!

In two days, she has already learned the first three songs in the book, the C scale with both hands separately, and done a bunch of ear training perfectly and theory as well.

Hopefully, she stays interested!

Nov. 11/11

..... her age

Jaymi is 9 years old now.

Every year, I love her age and the things she can do.

I am loving 9 so far.

I wanted to start a "Pay It Forward" club with Jaymi, eventually maybe extending it to her school and making it a bigger club.

Having an only child especially, it's important to teach her to think of others, serve others, and do things for others, to make them feel good - not just ourselves.

So we had the first meeting of our very own club, at home.

We brainstormed ideas, made categories, found a bible quote to go with our club, and made a list of members.  And, of course, we made a dismissal routine too.

Three of Jaymi's favourite things - school (& friends), cats, and taekwondo!

Oct. 12/11

..... her flexibility

She is so physically flexible and energetice, and fit.  It's awesome!

Although I really hate watching all of the new things she discovers she can do on the monkey bars with her friends.  It makes me nervous!

Oct. 13/11

..... her seriousness about schoolwork (while in school, anyway)

Jaymi takes her work seriously while she is in school.  When it's time to do schoolwork, she can always be seen with her head down, pencil working away.

Oct. 14/11

..... her braveness

She is putting her hand up in taekwondo to answer questions now.

She is speaking up when she wants to ask the teacher in school a question.

That's awesome - she is getting much braver now.

Oct. 15/11

..... the effort she puts into taekwondo

They are taught at taekwondo that you should always do your best.

They are taught that you should be "happy but not satisfied" with each accomplishment.

And Jaymi gives her all in the class, for sure.

She does what she is supposed to do, quickly and with as much strength and speed as she can.

She recently entered her first taekwondo tournament.

She entered in the sparring category, the forms, and the weapons category.

She had a fantastic time, and won three medals!

Oct. 16/11

..... her decision to grow her hair this year.

Mark and I have always liked her hair longer.

But in January she wanted it short and we finally said yes.

Now she is trying her hardest to grow it...very impatiently....and it is.... slowly.

Oct. 18/11

..... her nuturing nature.

She came out of her room one night and was worried that Socks had possibly swallowed something he shouldn't have, and was in pain.  She heard him crunching something, then she said his eyes were very wide.  She worried that he was hurting.

I checked him and he was totally fine.

I love that she worries about him like that.

Oct. 19/11

..... her imagination

Jaymi has begun writing a book of her own.  She is fascinated by the Warriors series by Erin Hunter, and has read almost all of the books, and recently she decided to write her own story, using the Warriors characters and history.  I just love the vocabulary she is using and the way her imagination comes out in the story.

Oct.20/11

..... her excitement about her birthday.

Jaymi is planning her birthday.  She isn't letting me do much on my own - it's all her!

It's a Warrior Cats birthday party.

And she DOES NOT want presents (from her friends).  She wants her friends to bring a $3 donation and an item for the SPCA.  None of the money will go to her - it's all for the SPCA.

I love her idea!

So we are making sure that she has a fantastic birthday party and gets presents, of course, from family members.

And we will go to the SPCA and give in the donation, visit the animals and 'tell' them about it, and Jaymi says that will be her present - the warm fuzzy feeling she'll get from making the animals happy.