Isabelle at Seven

Here we are...parents of a seven year old. One more year till she's accountable. Pressure is on! :) Here are some things about Isabelle at seven:

1. She's an excellent student. Every time I talk to her teacher, she tells me what a joy Isabelle is to have in her class. On her most recent progress report, she had straight 100s. 
2. Her favorite subject is math. She loves doing math homework...well most of the time. 
3. She loves to draw. She would draw all day long if she had access to writing utensils and paper all the time. (We have to keep them up and away because her sisters and brother STILL color all over the walls, doors, dressers and beds.)
4. She does well with reading and for a few months now has reached the 1st grade reading level goals. However, I can rarely get her to read at home. I think that she just likes playing and drawing and having fun with her sisters so much and works so hard at school that she just doesn't want to read at home. 
5. She is a big helper as long as she is in a good mood. She will clean, but she definitely prefers to do the rare jobs like cleaning walls, helping with the dishes, cleaning windows, vacuuming, etc as opposed to picking up or doing her chores. Getting her to pick up is a fight...but sometimes I really understand her frustrations. She hates that she goes to school all day while the other kids make messes. Then clean up time comes and she is the one who cleans up 60% of the mess while Em and Ella each do 20%. 
6. She's definitely the oldest. She wants to do everything first. She wants to be in charge of every game they play. She wants to tell her sisters everything to make their dolls say. She wants to do the most of everything. She wants all the privileges and delegate all the work. She want to boss boss boss...
7. She whines a lot still. She nags a lot still. She is never happy with an answer of no and she lets you know it. 
8. She hangs on to stuff and pouts for a really really long time.
9. She is very very stubborn. You cannot make her do something she doesn't want to. 
10. She's very picky about her clothes. I cannot go shopping for her clothes anymore. She's passed this picky-ness down to her sisters too.
11. She loves to do her own hair. Getting her to let me do it nowadays is pretty impossible. She is getting better, but she looks like an orphan child most days.
12. She has friends, but often forgets or tells us she doesn't have friends and everyone hates her.
13. She is really really good with Ruger. He does test her patience, but she has always taken him under her wing.
14. She will hold Evalynn when I make her so I can get things done, but she doesn't like it when Evalynn starts crying. As far as Evalynn goes, Isa really hasn't taken a liking to her like she did with Ruger. 
15. She often puts her name as Izzy on her school papers.
16. She cares what people think of her and her clothes A LOT. Some kids, mainly boys I believe, have made comments about her ugly clothes and she will never wear them again. Oh the fights and struggles that have been born out of some dumb kid's comments. 
17. She still will not wear clothing with buttons.
18. She doesn't like to wear any pants or shorts that have any gap in the back when she sits down. At all. I can't say I blame her, but it is really annoying that she won't wear much of anything unless it has an elastic waist.
19. Her favorite color is still purple. 
20. More times than not she comes home from school with food on her face from lunch! She has never started to eat normal again from when she lost her first tooth just over a year ago. She puts her food in her mouth from the side to bite it without using her front teeth, so she gets food on her face all the time. She's getting slightly better about cleaning her face after eating, but oh man. Not good enough.
21. We have a lot of dinner time struggles. She likes everything I make. Everything. Yet, if I make something she didn't want or if I prepare her plate incorrectly or whatever she deems not worth of her, she will not eat it and pout and complain all of dinner. When Curt and I leave the table, she will then eat it all. Or if I make something new and she doesn't want to try it...same thing. Complains all of dinner time, but will eat it when we are not looking. That stubborn streak. I tell you. We cannot make her do anything.
22. She is incapable of putting away her shoes until we ask her at least three times. Every day. 
23. She loves Primary. 
24. She knows the scripture stories pretty well. We go over scripture stories daily and she is able to answer a lot of questions we ask. She's gotten confident enough that she's started answering them in Primary too.
25. She wants to learn how to bake and cook well because she loves watching the Kid's Baking Championship.
26. She loves loves loves to play with her cousins. Nothing is better to her. There is no one she would rather be around that Abby. She would always pick to be with Abby over anyone. However, if Abby isn't around, she's starting to favor hanging out where the adults are. This is totally how I was as a kid. She isn't as bad as me, but she's still only seven. 
27. Out of her sisters, she would pick to play with Emery over the others 100% off the time. She's even admitted and told me lately that she doesn't like Ella. It's a very real problem in our house. Within seconds of her arriving home from school, all calm has disappeared and contention fills our house because the fighting and exclusions gets so bad.
28. We have yet to figure out a punishment that she truly cares about. 
29. When she is happy, she is such a joy. During those happy times, she will talk your ear off and tell you all about her day, the people in her class, her life from her perspective, etc etc. I love those times. However, if she is not happy, she makes everyone in our house miserable. And there is not a thing we can do to pull her out of it. At least not that I know of.
30. She loves to help make dinner.
31. She likes to write stories and illustrate them.
32. She is quite proud that I've started asking her to go to the car and get things. She loves when I give her that assignment.
33. She loves Star Wars.
34. Her favorite toys are Barbies and Princesses.
35. She struggles with our small house. She already is showing signs of wanting her own room and her own space. I think she likes the companionship of her sisters at bed time because she would actually be scared in her own room, but she really hates that there isn't really anywhere in our house she can go to be alone and draw or read or play by herself. Her sisters always find her. It doesn't matter if she hides in a closet or in my bed or where ever.
36. Speaking of hiding...she is is hide and go seek champ. Her cousins even know, she is the best at the game. A lot of the time, she's never found. They either give up or it's been so long, she gives up and comes out.