Ila at 13
I always start off writing about my kids by reading what I wrote about them last year. Sometimes it feels like they change a lot over the course of a year, other times I almost feel like I could just repost what I wrote last year. For Ila, I feel like it’s a little bit of both.
She is still a girl who loves cats more than just about anything. She adores her fluffy orange kitty, Rillian and he loves her right back. He greets her when she gets home and sleeps in her bed every night. She has been known to take twice as long walking home from school if she meets a nice cat along the way. Most of her favorite clothes have cats on them, although she’s currently in a phase where she loves long sleeved shirts and she doesn’t have any with cats on them. I guess most people call this phase winter, but she has commented to me multiple times recently how much she loves long sleeved shirts.
Looking back over the last year, I missed writing last year about Ila’s participation in Ballroom dance which took place during her last year of elementary school. She convinced her friend, Tim to sign up to be her dance partner. She was very nervous about preforming, but she enjoyed both practicing and preforming.
The biggest change for Ila is that she started Jr. High school. She was dreading leaving behind the safe and familiar elementary school experience for the scary halls of the Jr. High. Fortunately, her experience has been way better than she expected. She has actually enjoyed Jr. High and says that it’s way better than 6th grade. Ila enjoyed walking to school with her YW group and back home from school with her friend, Evie. Now that the weather has turned colder, the other girls are all riding the bus and Ila has been spoiled with a ride to school every morning, but she still choose to walk home every day with a friend.
Ila was cast as the Autumn Fairy in the Jr High school musical, Shrek. It was a fun and memorable experience, but it took over her life from the beginning of September until the first week of December. She had rehearsal for over two hours every weekday for over 3 months! She became very good friends with Evie during their many hours of rehearsal and their leisurely walks home from the school. She also learned that she isn’t a fan of fake eyelashes and prefers her no make-up look. Although she’s still firmly in the no-make-up camp, she has started to take some time to make sure her hair is well brushed and looks nice.
Ila has enjoyed playing percussion in her Jr. High Band. She says her favorite Jr. High classes are band, Science, CCA (College and Career Awareness), and history. Ironically she hasn’t had the history class yet, but she’s already designated it as a favorite because she decided last year that she really likes history. She also took drama and Spanish as electives. She has added doodling on her arms and legs during class to her list of hobbies.
Ila is still very good friends with Tim. They were both in the musical together, but since rehearsals took up so much of their time, they haven’t spent as much time together outside of school. She has improved friendships with some of the YW in her class this year, but the biggest change was when she became very good friends with Evie. They have spent every available moment together after school and on weekends for months. I have loved seeing that friendship blossom, but Ila is now feeling heartbroken as Evie moved to Texas during Christmas break.
Ila has enjoyed her second year in our church Young Woman’s organization. She started off the year as the class president and has especially enjoyed having the girls in her grade join the class in January. It was her first time ever having the girls from her school grade in the same church class and she’s not looking forward to advancing to the older class in January.
Ila continues to be a deeply caring person who doesn’t like to see anyone feel sad. She is a good friend to her brothers and sisters. They love to be together and almost never argue or fight. Thomas is a lot more confident when he has Ila by his side.
Ila still enjoys reading, and has enjoyed having access to a school library where she can check out books. She consumes books quickly and eagerly, but sometimes struggles to find a new book or a new series to read and spends significantly less time reading when she’s not in the middle of a series. She has started trying to write her own book. She says that she’s writing two at once. She is writing “a futuristic magic book” and “a book where the world is breaking because of magic.”
Ila’s food preferences haven’t changed at all this year. Salmon is still her favorite dinner. She still likes Kroger brand frozen pepperoni pizza better than any other pizza. Chicken strips are preferred to chicken nuggets and hamburgers and tacos are not ok. She still only likes one kind of potato chips (Lays Wavy Original) and is reluctant to try any new foods. She does like to bake.
In her freetime, Ila likes to hang out with friends, play computer games, pet cats, and watch shows. She says her favorite shows are Bob’s Burgers, Simpsons, and Home Movies, although admittedly she hasn’t watched a large variety of shows. She loves to spend time with family and play games. She likes to go on walks, ride scooters, and try out the electric skateboard.
Ila is a kind and loving girl and I am lucky to be her mom!