Leila is 7

The brilliant, the dazzling, the one and only:

The girl is 7. We can hardly believe it. She actually is growing, despite being able to fit into the same clothes she's worn for 3 years, she is heavier and taller.

Finger-knitting

And more capable.  Reading quite well too now.  She has enjoyed finger-knitting during Bethany's piano lesson time.  I the above picture she wouldn't stop after the lesson, and when I went to buy light globes, she found a perch, sat, and just kept on knitting.

Out for birthday dinner at Hog's Breath Cafe

Happy creating

Leila's cake was a point of contention for a while, because she kept changing her mind, or coming up with ideas that I wasn't so keen on.  It wasn't helped by the fact that Hannah had already chosen her own cake theme, and Leila was a bit jealous.  She wanted an angry dragon cake at one point.  Her darling Mother (me) put her foot down and made the cake SHE wanted to make, based on Leila's favourite toy.

I did the icing 3 times before I was happy with it.  I ended up using pre-made fondant, whilst the fondant I made with marshmallows ended up in the bin.  We were all happy with the end result however.  I refuse to make a novelty birthday cake that I am not happy with.

While we are on the topic of Leila getting older, check out what I found when picking up after my girls recently: a spontaneous "to do" list that Leila had made herself.  This filled me with delight, because I feel that I must be actually getting somewhere in my parenting efforts.  She actually works very well with written lists that I give her, but it is SO MUCH BETTER seeing her self directing.

 

Plus the spelling is adorable.