Margot at 7: From Water Baby to Dolphin

Still a fish. Six was another year that showed me that Margot has my talent in the water. She wants to swim all the time. Over the summer, when we were in Thailand, she was the first kid in the pool, down the waterslide, swimming away from the beach or jumping off the boat. The girls loves water. Margot moved from Kinder to First Grade this year and while to start she was pretty comfortable. She did have some issues with a few friends. 

Girls in first grade, is when the meanness starts. We learned this our oldest. This is the year that the alphas show up on the black top and plow down the betas or simply the girls who are nice. Margot got a good dose of it this year. We had two major incidents, just like her big sis, and both had their own lessons. The lessons being, not everyone is your friend and friends should life you up and not put you down. That second lesson will sadly rear itself more and more as the year progress. Her older sister had that lesson manifest even in 6th grade. 

What was delightful to watch this year was to watch her grow greatly in education, especially in reading. Her brother took to reading back in preschool and by first grade was blossoming. In Kinder, Margot I would say was getting warmer and warmer to reading. In first grade is where she blossomed. The twins were still in separate classes this year and Margot was lucky to get Paley’s first grade teacher. There are two reasons why Paley and Margot just blossomed in First Grade. Neither had nothing to with me other than advocating their use of the LEXIA reading program app, which is the first reason. Then there is Mrs. T., no not Mr. T, from the A-Teams wife. (Does he have a wife?) Mrs. T was Paley’s teacher as well, and I think the environment she creates in her classroom allows her kids to grow. I saw the same progress with Margot as with Paley in the first few months of first grade. 

Margot was completely in AWW during our trip to Japan and Thailand. Sadly she caught the bug Paley developed in Japan over in Thailand. She seemed to beat it pretty quickly but it didn’t slow her down. She had one day she was running on empty pretty quick. She loved the food and all the sites. Especially the interactive light rooms that were at TeamLab Borderless. And riding in the boat she was like a little girl in a candy shop. 

We continued with soccer again this year and the perk was playing with a few of her friends. She really wants to join a swim team and I was so tempted this year. All three kids have been doing private swim lesson with an amazing teacher over at Bay Club. I have the twins together in the lesson because Margot pushes loch father in the lesson. Our plan is to continue this year with the same lessons and I am entertaining the ideas of swimming summer league. I could just drop her in the pool but I still think its way to early. I started summer league when I was 6 and I moved to year round right before I turned 8.

I am alarmed about the kids being pushed to hard at a young age. I am already hearing stories of my oldest friends being pushed to hard already. My goal is give my kids a normal childhood through all this pressure to get them into sports or pile on the academics so they are ready for college. We dabbled under this pressure for 7 years already and I’ve learned to navigate it, just like most parents. Swimming I am pretty outspoken when it comes, when is the right time. 

Margot may be ready, but learning technique can happen at any age really. Focus and passion breed it. Right watching Margot  explore her imagination and find the things that interest her is the best part. From games, to unicorns and even figuring out she’s not a big fan of dolls. She does however love speed and water and those are things we certainly plan to see more interest in her daily life. Oh, and she is wiz just like her brother on a bike. With 7 we hope to see Margot continue to grow and her personality to blossom more and more. She certainly has moments of breaking out in a character to make things more fun. I love this side of her as I had the same streak at her age.