Bad weather= no hiking/camping trip!

Well, I'm disappointed to report that Mother Nature didn't cooperate with our camping/hiking plans for the weekend.  We have had to postpone our trip and are feeling pretty disappointed.

Soph is working on her next post, so stay tuned!  She has been busy this last week at gymnastics camp.  We had a big discussion about attention seeking behaviors when she came home with her wrist wrapped with pre wrap for...a BLISTER!  My husband and I were both pleased with her behavior as we talked to her about all the experiences we have had with students who always "liked" to be injured.  Do you remember being 10 and wanting to get attention for injuries?  Fake injuries?  I do.  And I really hope my kid finds other ways to get attention.  Or did you avoid attention?  Any advice on handling this well?

While Soph is away at gymnastics camp and I pack for our second annual hike up Mt. Katadin I wanted to share this photo of the two of us at the top of Baxter Peak, the end of the Appalachian Trail, one year ago.  I can't put into words how special this day was to the two of us.  It was a hike that took 12 hours to complete and was classified on the State Park's website as "very strenuous".  It was such a bonding experience and we are taking it to a whole new level this summer.  We have invited my husband along and we will camp for 3 nights at Baxter State Park.  Wish us luck and check out the trails.  We plan to hike up Helon Taylor, across the Knife's Edge and down Abol to where our camper and a home cooked meal will be waiting.  I just can't wait!

Before Soph posts her next blog entry, I wanted to help paint the picture of who you are dealing with here.  She is not typical.  She is extraordinary.  She will do amazing and beautiful things with this world.  This Mother's Day Card illustrates just how deep and profound my kid is.  I love that she still asks for my opinion when struggling with a social issue at school and that she actually takes my advice.  We have a connection, one that I hope holds strong through the next few years as she shuffles her way through puberty and increased independence.

I am going to use this blog not only as an outlet for her writing but also to capture just how unique of a girl she is.  I will write those posts and add pictures when possible.  Thanks for your interest and support as she shares her "voice".  I just loved reading her replies to each of you...she just cracks me up!

The Maiden Post

Ok, so here it is!  Her very first writing that was intended for the blogosphere!  I have left it unedited so you can see her stream of conscious and so that we can measure growth.  Both she and I would be thrilled to have feedback and I think she would love ideas for future topics.  Also note that even though she has a techie for a mom, she rarely finds herself in front of a screen so this amount of typing was pretty significant and pretty clean considering.  So proud of my girl.  Thanks for supporting both of us!  Without further adieu...

Hi! My name is Sophie,

I am going to tell you a little bit about my self, then about what I have been doing throughout the corse of my summer...At least all of the very interesting parts of it.So the first thing about me is,that I absolutely L-O-V-E (love) chickens , and yes I know you are chuckling and thinking (what 10 year old girl would love chickens .Because at school every body would call me the chicken girl and other things like that but I AM a chicken girl and to me there is NOTHING wrong with that.Any way the next thing that is important (but sort of funny) about me is that I am very very clumsy ask my friends at school because I at least fall every 3 hours for example in stead of walking gracefully out of bed I fell out if bed and woke the whole family up.And the last thing about me is I have the best family in the whole entire world because they love me they take me camping and they feed me warm delicious food well most of the time some times they give me fried worms (okay fine all the time they feed me good food.

Next, like I told you in the beginning of my Blog was the interesting parts of my summer, so I am going to talk about the first day of camping at Rangeley lake state park witch is today any way the first thing that I did (after I fell out of bed) I took my little brother for a ride in the wagon for about a 3^rd of a mile down to the lake then we came back (another 3^rd of a mile then we did that about 5 more times.Then because we all were sweaty we took showers but sadly when my 3 year old brother Sully split his chin and his lip so he is going to have a tough week camping.and now as I am typing my friends just got here so ...TYPE TO YOU LATER!

SOPHIE  

Good idea then...why not now?

Oh my gosh!!! You guys!! I just logged into Blogger to create a new blog and I found I already had an account!! Not just an account...but an existing blog! Three years ago, I started a blog and never published it but it was the BEST.IDEA.EVER! I am going to go with it as I love the vision and think it is even more important now. Here is the draft post that I had started back in 2010:

My idea is this…get my seven year old daughter a blog. I read the terms and conditions and found this is not acceptable use. Therefore, I (much older than 13) will manage the site and ask her to write the posts. I may find out that this too is unacceptable and if so…see you in six years.

She has a gift. The gift of wit and humor. She also loves to write but has limited opportunity outside of school. I LOVE blogs but am not confident enough to start my own. Hence, I will pawn it off on her. It will also encourage her to journal her life experiences, help to share with family, those life experiences and build her confidence in her own writing so at to not be like me!
*****
I’m obsessed with blogs with witty names and think I hit it out of the park with my name…bloggerinthemaking! How creative…right?

So, I will feature my now 10 year old’s writings, musings and creations and possibly begin to add my three year old son’s beginning adventures as a writer and a maker.

I’m so eager to hear what you think. I can’t wait to remind my daughter of this project that we started so long ago. I think it will be a great summer project and one that may take root and last for quite some time.

Stay tuned for her maiden blog post!