Ya’ll today is kind of an exciting day. But also a lot of bit terrifying.
This girl:
is 10 today!
Ten years ago, my sweet Honeybun made me a mommy for the first time and that means I’ve been at this parenting thing now for an entire decade! (let that sink in a moment…I’ve been a mommy for a decade!)
And while I could go on and on about parenting over the past 10 years, this isn’t about me and my journey. Today is all about her!
It has been such a joy and so much fun to get to know this girl over the past 10 years and if you haven’t met Honeybun, here are 10 things you should know about this amazing girl:
She loves dinosaurs
The first year we homeschooled, we spent almost three weeks in Colorado and I put together a huge dinosaur unit for the kids. We visited all the dinosaur attractions around Denver and Honeybun got really interested and wanted to learn more about dinosaurs when we got home. She has amassed a large collection of dinosaur dictionaries and encyclopedias and while her interest has come and gone over time, I think it has more to do with her perceived “coolness” of loving dinosaurs than her actual loss of interest.
She cares about people.
Honeybun is my kid who will cry after we pass a panhandler on the highway ramp and who gets extremely upset when other people are hurting (like when Doodle busted his lip the first time, she cried more than he did!) She cares about other people’s feelings and wants to make other people feel good. She has a huge heart and is always wanting to help others wherever she can.
She’s not a good problem solver.
She is my kid who doesn’t always get common sense things and who has trouble thinking outside the box. Pretend play was never her strong point until Sugarplum came along and even now she still has to plan things out ahead, she’s not good at making it up as she goes. Math has also been a struggle for her over the years because the concepts are not always logical to her (fractions are her nemesis) and so she has trouble holding onto things she’s learned to use later.
She’s highly emotional.
This girl can cry! She cries when she’s happy (like at the end of movies), she cries when she’s sad, she cries when she’s frustrated, she cries when she’s mad and she cries for no reason at all when she’s tired. She’s always had really big emotions and isn’t always sure what to do with them. Life with Honeybun can sometimes feel like a rollercoaster but it’s a ride we gladly take because there are so many other wonderful things about her.
She hates dresses and pink.
Yep, my first girl who lived in cute little sundresses and pink and purple flowery and sparkly things for years and years has decided she never wants to wear a dress or skirt again and won’t even look at something if it’s pink. I’m all for her developing her personal style and it’s usually not a problem for her to avoid skirts but it also makes it hard to shop for dress clothes. Hence why we spent who-knows-how-many hours shopping for a nice birthday romper while we were in Dublin!
She’s a bit obsessed with Greek Mythology.
Last year she was Artemis for Halloween (she even made her own bow, arrows and quiver!) and knows pretty much every Greek God there is to know about. Her passion began thanks to the Percy Jackson series of books and has snow-balled into an almost obsession. She’s now into the Goddess Girls series as well and wonders if she’s the only person who still believes in and prays to the Greek Gods.
She’s not always good with change.
Despite our habit of moving and having lived in 5 different places in her short 10 years of life, Honeybun still doesn’t do well with change. She struggles with saying good-bye to friends and doesn’t always feel at home in a new place until she’s established friendships. She misses everything that used to be and can’t always see the brightness of the future.
She loves the little people.
I think Honeybun is a lot like me in the fact that she loves babies and little people. She has always been very patient, kind and helpful with her little brothers and sisters. Until they grow up and out of the toddler phase. She’s also very friendly with babies out in public and always eager to help if a little one needs help on the playground or wants to play wherever we are.
She’s stuck in between.
Honeybun is a classic “tween“, stuck somewhere between childhood and teenagerness. She wants to be big and be responsible for herself. But, as mentioned above, she still lacks a lot of common sense and the desire to do the right thing all the time. I think sometimes she also struggles with having to grow up and not being able to get away with the same things her little brothers can.
She’s not sure what she wants to do in life.
When we first moved back from Dublin, I gave Honeybun the choice to try ballet, gymnastics or jazz/tap dance. She chose ballet and that was her “thing” for 5 years. Over time she added in gymnastics and tried other styles of dance including tap, jazz and fell in love with modern when we were in Colorado last fall. But she never got back into the groove when we returned to Florida and hasn’t been interested since we moved to New Jersey. And I know she feels a bit lost in life. She sees Sugarplum and Doodle excelling in gymnastics and feels like she needs something that she’s into as well. She got to do a few days of dinosaurs and mineral camp in June and is trying two weeks of ice skating camp later this summer plus there’s an awesome dance studio not too far from our new house and I’m overly hopeful that by the fall she’ll be happily into a new passion, whatever that may be!
