The Fletcher Family: 12 on the 12th

Last year Abigail and I were running a few errands on her birthday and we ended up going out to lunch – just the two of us. She’s remembered that and really wanted us to go out again this year. Since her birthday was on Sunday we snuck out on Saturday night after her basketball games and enjoyed a late dinner at Red Robin. Before dinner we made a quick stop at Michaels so she could redeem a small portion of a gift card she received from a friend. It pleases me very much that she’s recorded all the gift cards she received in her ledger notebook as well as the $1.63 she spent at Michaels. Future accountant? Perhaps. Dinner was so fun. Abigail is such a great girl and I enjoyed spending the evening with her. Definitely need to do that more often.

Sunday morning came bright and early (darn that 9am church), but Justin woke up early enough to make birthday waffles anyhow. Abigail had an interview with the bishop to get her temple recommend at 8:30am so we were out of the house even earlier than normal. She’d already had her interview the week prior for her advancement from primary to the young women’s program.

She was called up to the stand and stood as tall as our bishop (we measured when we got home and she’s almost 5’ 6”). When kids graduate from primary they are asked to recite an article of faith to the congregation. Abigail chose the eighth: “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. We also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.” All the youth met together on Sunday, and there’s no weekday activity this week, so she hasn’t had a chance yet to really meet with her beehive class; however, her beehive leaders came over Tuesday night and introduced themselves and got us excited for her to be in YWs. They are going to be fantastic leaders for Abigail – I’m so excited for her.

We had the Fletcher’s over on Sunday for dinner and dessert (though Tami was home with Hallie and Hannah who were both running fevers). Since she had cake at her party, Abigail requested Oreo Madness on her birthday. Back when she couldn’t eat any egg we often had Oreo Madness for her birthday – it was a yummy throwback to years past.

Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher brought more gifts for the birthday girl.

And just so we can always remember what our eldest was like at 12, here’s a bit about Abigail:

Abigail leaves to catch the bus at 6:50am. I am so grateful Justin has been able to get up with her in the morning and drive her to the bus stop so she doesn't have to walk alone in the dark.

Abigail loves creating. She's put aside duck tape for the time being and has gotten into doodling and loom band bracelet making lately. During the past three months Abigail participated in an after school art club once a week and made lots of fun creations with glass, pottery, shrinky-dinks, rubber, etc...

Abigail has been taking piano lessons at the Chopin Academy for nearly eight months now. Her teacher has worked with her on improving her technique and playing with more dynamics. Abigail enjoys her lessons and would actually like to have longer than 30 minute lessons, but I've noticed she seems to play much less at home and she doesn't seem as passionate about it. She is so talented that it's hard to see. I hope she'll continue to want to progress and continue improving her talent.

Abigail was hired for her first babysitting job back in November and another in December. She's taken the babysitting course through the Red Cross, so she's officially certified, but we've been trying to keep her to ourselves until she was twelve. However, a few friends asked and we relented.

This last year Abigail has been growing out her hair. It's been hard for me to let her brush out her curls and put it in a ponytail day after day. She would actually love me to do her hair more often (besides curls) but for now it’s a rare treat.

Has zero interest in makeup (yeah!). I offered to put a little on for Halloween and she wasn't interested. I can't even get her to put on chapstick to keep her lips from getting dry and cracked. She's about as low maintenance as a tween could be.

She does however want permission to paint her finger nails; a pet peeve of mine.

Last year we took her to a dermatologist 2-3 times for the small dots (milia) she's had around her eyes since she was a toddler. Through creams and actual extraction (quite painful) her eyes were looking so much better, but when we took a break from going to the doctor those darn little dots came back. Abigail doesn't want to keep getting treatment so it looks like the dots are likely here to stay.

In November Abigail started mentoring at the elementary school one day a week after her school gets out. She got assigned to help, Mrs. Beck, her fourth grade teacher. Knowing how well Abigail does in math, Mrs. Beck has her helping the students with math.

Abigail is slow (like her Dad) when it comes to getting out the door. I'm glad I'm still in bed when the two of them are on their own in the mornings. When we are going somewhere as a family Justin or Abigail will be the last one in the car 95% of the time.

Abigail is well skilled in delay tactics. Whether it's making us wait sometimes hours for her to get the dishes done (and far too many parental reminders) or her sudden desire to chatter when she's supposed to be in bed.

Abigail has friends. Oodles and oodles of friends. Her personality seems to mesh well with just about anybody so she makes friends really easily. Scaling down invitees for her birthday wasn't easy.

Still doesn't like potatos (baked, mashed, or soup) however she does enjoy funeral potatos, french fries, and hash browns. Doesn't like olives, raw tomatos, raw peppers, or carbonated drinks. Overall though she’s not too picky.

Still isn’t comfortable with fire so she’s pretty reluctant to make anything on our gas range. She burned her finger removing a candle from her birthday cake so I think she’ll continue to be quite cautious. She can bake cookies completely on her own though.

Is beginning to show an interest in media – it wasn’t until this last year that the girls ventured into watching movies with actual people. Until recently anything we watched was appropriate for the entire family, which basically meant it was animated. We’re still pretty strict about what she watches and they’ve only watched a handful of movies (I think the first was Percy Jackson or the first Harry Potter), but there’s no turning back now.

Still no personal electronic devices of her own, though she’s started asking for her own cell phone. We have a spare phone and iPod that she can use with permission, but nothing of her own and no iTunes account. I thought for sure one of her friends would give her an iTunes card for her birthday, but thankfully we’ve got more time before we enter that world.

I thought it would be fun to look back at the last 12 years…