Bears On Wheels

I have read this book to Courtney maybe 3-4 times her whole 6 1/2 years of life. Tonight she picked it for her bedtime book. I asked her to read it to Megan and I. She read the entire book (she needed help with the word "none" which then we were able to discuss its definition and by the end of the book she was reading and understanding it on her own, and the word Twenty). She was amazing! I didn't even know she could read so many of her number words (one, two, three, etc). She was very proud of herself. Always exceeding my expectations that girl!

Courtney loves to ride her horses. One day we brought treats and when she was done riding we got to feed all of the horses=but this one got the most since she is the one she rode that day. Her name is Rhabana. The volunteer helping her is Susanna. Courtney loves to sing her the "Oh Susanna" song, which luckily, she thinks is super cute!

Things she has learned to do this session of riding are:
Give her horse instructions with confidence: She was a little shy about this last time, but this time she tells that horse what to do in a strong, confident voice. She tells her "Walk On" to go, "Whoa" to stop, "Trot" to trot, "Step" to step over poles, and I think she says "Right" and "Left" when she uses the reins to turn her.
2-point: She can rest her hands near the horse's mane (she rides in a saddle now) and then she stands in her stir-ups and then trots. This takes a lot of core muscle strength and balance.
Reining: She uses the reins now every time she rides. When she is instructed to, she can turn the horse left or right. She is working on remembering to put her elbows in.
Looking: She is working on looking where she wants the horse to go. This helps her focus on what she is doing and it helps the horse feel comfortable with what is going on.

She sits up so straight while she is on her horse-she is really looking quite comfortable on the horse. She always wants to put her horse and saddle away when she is done riding and she always loves to say hello to all the horses in the arena stalls. I can't wait until we will be able to do another session of lessons.

Kind Sister

Courtney is such a kind sister to Megan. They play so well together and have such a great time with each other. The other day, Megan wanted to have more macaroni and cheese (we were eating lunch). I explained that she had to eat her peach slice before she could have more. She whined and complained and begged and told me she didn't want to for about 10 minutes. I stood firm. As I got busy with other things, I watched out of the corner of my eye as Megan took the peach slice over to Courtney and asked her if she would eat it. Courtney said sure and ate the peach slice for her. Courtney had been watching and is always distraught when Megan is distraught (she has a very tender heart). I was impressed that she looked at me when Megan asked her to eat the peach and waited for my nod of approval before she ate it. I told her that she was a kind sister to do that for Megan. (And then I gave Megan more macaroni and cheese!)

Court of Honor-for Dad

Yesterday evening we went to a Court of Honor to support Courtney's Dad. He is the Scout Master in our ward and works hard to ensure that the young men in our ward have a good scout program. I was so proud of Courtney at the meeting. She sat by her grandma for the half hour presentation and payed attention so well. She watched the boys, clapped for them and even stood for the pledge to the flag. I am so grateful that I can take my little girl (who is becoming quite a young lady) to an event like this and have her behave and enjoy watching her dad.

Great Expectations

Every day Courtney gets up, gets dressed, eats her breakfast and gets her hair combed. Beyond those of most six year olds she is expected to and does several more things:
1. Takes a handful of vitamin supplements. These are about 11 pills that she is able to swallow two at a time in applesauce. She does this not only every morning, but also every afternoon (about 10 pills) and every evening (2 pills).
2. Has her glasses cleaned and then put on. She also has to have them cleaned several times a day.
3. She has a medical ID bracelet that she has to have put on.
4. She has ankle braces that she puts on after her socks and before her shoes.

I was thinking this morning as I helped her eat her pills (we call them "yummies") that she is expected to do quite a bit more in a morning than other six year olds that I know. I am so proud of her for doing these extra things every morning. They are things that we know will help her have the best day possible and we are glad that she lives up to such great expectation.

Really Reasoning

This morning Courtney said 2 funny, and yet very reasonable things to Arron this morning. It is fun to see how smart she is getting and how she is able to apply reasoning to her everyday life.
1. She woke up on her own, put her shoes and coat on (with her pajamas!) and went outside to help Arron mow the lawn. She got her little toy mower and started helping. Arron's mower bumped into hers and she said, "Don't mow me, I'm not grass growing!"
2. She saw the ladder to the attic down and asked Arron what it was. He told her it was to to attack. She asked if she can climb up. He told her no, it's too high-to which she said, "but I climb up to my bed (she has a ladder that goes up to her top bunk) every night." He thought that was a good point, but explained that it was still too high and that she can not climb up this ladder.
So smart, this little girl!

Quite the Hiker

We took Courtney on her first back-packing overnight hike. We hiked to Bassi Falls in El Dorado National Forest. She carried a backpack with her water and snacks. She hiked the one mile in. She loved it. We set up camp and slept overnight. Courtney even had to use the potty in the woods and did it just fine. The next day we hiked the mile out. She did the hike all on her own and had a great time.

We also took Courtney and our family for a day trip to Yosemite. She hiked one mile in and out to Yosemite Falls. That was flat for the most part. Then after lunch we hiked the .8 rigorous hike up to the bridge on the misty trail. She hiked that up and down all by herself. It was really hard, but the idea of pizza and ice cream for dinner kept her going.

I am so proud of her for doing hard things. She is so strong and even when it gets tough, she keeps going. She loves going on hikes with her family.