Alyssa at 7

Alyssa has always had a unique personality and as she's getting older, her personality has changed a little but at her core these personality traits stand out: stubbornness, tenacity (although aren't those really synonyms, one with a positive connotation and one with a negative one?), shyness around strangers and not liking attention drawn to her.  Here are some other traits and interests about Alyssa:

• She hasn't lost any baby teeth yet.  She has two loose ones on the bottom that she never wiggles.  I don't think she cares if her baby teeth stay in or out!

• She loves her brother and sister to pieces.  She plays a lot with Abby.  They love to play Barbies, American Girl dolls and WWE.  The other day, Alyssa said to me that she wished there was another girl in the family who was Abby's age so that when Abby was gone, she would  have another sister to play with.  Such a cute sentiment!  I didn't point out to her that if Abby had a sister Abby's age, then Abby would be a twin and the twin girls would probably play together and Alyssa would be excluded so actually it was probably to Alyssa's advantage that there be only one 10 year old in the family!

• Alyssa is pretty athletic and I would call her a tomboy.  Hanging around a non tomboy sister tends to reign in her tomboyness somewhat, but at the end of the day, she is aggressive, fast and loves to move and compete.

• Her handwriting is shockingly poor.  She doesn't use punctuation when she writes.  She colors outside the lines.  Nevertheless, she likes school!  She is a good reader. 

• She is lucky she has so many friends!  There are a ton of kids in the neighborhood and she's been friends with many of them her whole life.  These include James, Jacob and Avery (and their siblings).  She also has made several friends at school including Claudia, Elsa, Haley and Danielle. 

• She plays soccer for Cincinnati United.  She loved having Donnie as her coach in the fall.  We're hoping he gets to coach her team in the spring.  She plays basketball but is only lukewarmish about it.  She is in Intermediate Tumbling at Hand 2 Hand Gymnastics.  She can do a round off back handspring.  She claims she will not learn to do a back tuck when that skill is introduced.  She said that about her back handspring, too and was pretty intent on not doing that.  A gifted instructor at Hand 2 Hand convinced her to the do her back handspring without a spot.  Hopefully someone can convince her to do her back tuck when the time comes...

Lyss loves candy...

...her daddy,

...Her Bubby

Love YOU Lyss!