Cora is long overdue for an update post too!
Cora took gymnastics classes starting in January this year. They ended in May, and hopefully are starting up again this fall. She had a great teacher who was very encouraging with a fun personality. Cora learned so much! She learned her cartwheels, handstands, and arch-up right away. Then she had quite a spell where she didn't catch onto the next skills very quickly, and got a little frustrated. However, she kept on working and working, and she had some family visitors to class to help encourage her. She finally did her one-handed cartwheel, back bend, spiderwalk walk across the whole room, and kickover. She's a bit out of practice now, but I bet she'll catch onto them quickly again once classes start. She is a hard worker!
Cora loves to play board games, and really enjoys playing the Wii too. She likes Just Dance Kids, Mario Party, and the Brain Game. She also likes watching PBS kids (now that we don't have cable anymore!) and Strawberry Shortcake movies.
We have a collection of scripture flannel board stories that we use for most of our Family Home Evenings. Kevin or I will tell the story once, and then the girls each get a turn to tell it to us. Cora has a great memory and knows lots of scripture stories this way! She loves to answer questions in Primary, and keeps her mini set of scriptures on her nightstand to 'read' each night. She also likes to repeat verses as Kevin reads out loud during our family scripture reading at night.
When she turned 5, Cora became eligible for her very own library card. She's so proud of it! It turns out, one of the main reasons she wanted it is because you need a card to play the computer games at the library :). But I appreciate the extra holds it gives us too for our library books. Cora really enjoys our weekly trips to the library.
Cora is great at making friends, and organized playdates once a week are no longer enough for her! It's so fun that we have lots (5!) of little girls on our street to play with that she can walk to by herself to ask them over to play.
Cora is a great sleeper and a good eater too. She's finally to a stage where she'll go to sleep when she's tired with no fuss, and eat her meals without a lot of pushing (instead of eating a couple bites and being hungry 20 minutes later). She is an early riser though-- usually around 6:00am!
Cora knows all her letters and sounds and it beginning to read words. We're working through a reading book that is helpful. She also does a few pages of math, number, or letter practice workbooks each day. She thinks rhyming is so cool and she and Violet both will randomly rhyme words throughout the day.
Cora has an easy-going personality and is usually up to try anything. It's fun to take her out to do more 'big kid' things and know that she'll have a great time.
Cora is a big helper. She helps clean up, makes her bed well each day, and is eager to help fold laundry, weed, or whatever else I'm doing.
She's also a great big sister. She can be very protective (sometimes overly so!) making sure Violet and Luke are happy (most of the time!).
Cora is cheerful, loving, eager to learn, and fun. We're so happy to have her in our family!
