Catching the Magic

Travels in New Zealand and beyond, going back to 2003!

Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Blasts from the past
  • Country Kids
  • Motherhood
  • Poetry
    • 2011 Poetry
    • 2012 Poetry
    • 2013 Poetry
    • 2014 Poetry
    • 2015 Poetry
    • 2016 Poetry
    • 2017-2018 Poetry
  • Travel
    • Auckland
    • Fiordland
    • Kapiti Coast
    • Nelson, Tasman, Marlborough & Canterbury
    • Otago, Queenstown, Wanaka & Southern Lakes
    • Taupo, Rotorua & Tongariro National Park
    • Wairarapa
    • Byron Bay and the Gold Coast (2005 and 2016)
    • Californian Adventures, 2013-14
    • Canada, Dec. 2018
    • Cook Islands
    • Copenhagen, July & August 2014
    • Japan
    • Singapore
    • Sydney
    • UK Visits from 2014 to 2022
    • England via Santa Barbara & San Francisco, 2012
    • England via San Francisco – July 2007
    • NZ to UK, with our 9 month old, 2004
  • Running
  • Special Days
Menu

It’s a first! And other proud moments

Posted on August 31, 2009November 27, 2009 by BritMumInNZ

UPDATE: Since I wrote this post I’ve added more wheel action to the video, as Sophie has really got the hang of it now (I envisage a few serious scrapes in the forthcoming weeks!).

Sophie cracked riding without stabilisers this weekend! She’s always been a fast learner, with her big sister leading the way, and when it comes to wheels and speed she loves the thrill. Her balance is awesome and at the local rec centre I’m always getting asked how old she is and how did she learn to roller blade. There’s no magic secret – just lots of visits and practice I guess. But, both the girls found it useful to have me gliding along on blades next to them for their first time. I held their hands and reminded them to lean slightly forward and keep a straight back and away they went!

Anyway, here’s a short video clip of Sophie on her bike (blink and you’ll miss it!) and roller blading with her big sis. It won’t be long before she really picks up the speed on her bike and is chasing her big sis along Lyall Bay and around the house!

And whilst Sophie, at three and a half, is wowing us all with her wheel skills, Charli, at six and a bit, is wowing us with reading and writing.

We recently went along to the half-year parent/teacher meeting and are so proud of her progress at school. She has blossomed so much in this past year and her social skills and ability to integrate with her peers has improved tremendously. She’s definitely benefited from being put in an older class and given more challenges. She’s now at the reading age of an average eight and a half year old. She also scored extremely high on her writing, spelling and maths. Her teacher is wonderful in finding new and interesting ways to keep Charli interested and challenged, without being pushed and feeling distanced from her peers. At home she is so creative and forever writing and drawing. She is such a joy.

Sophie, meanwhile, is now writing her name and some other letters and numbers. She is eager to learn and loves books. She has incredible empathy for her age and an amazing sense of right from wrong. She is such a happy soul. Her speech often has us in giggles as when she says anything starting with ‘sm’ it comes across as ‘f’… so ‘smart’ is ‘fart’; ‘smile’ is ‘file’ etc. She also doesn’t say ‘y’ at the beginning of ‘yes’, so we get ‘es’ instead. The other one is ‘th’ – so ‘the’ becomes ‘le’.

This week the girls received wonderful magazines in the mail from ‘Chicken’ Grandma and Grandad and they always have a knack of arriving on a wet day (thank you!). The girls get so much from the magazines and one of Charli’s ‘Art’ mags spurred a two hour creative session of building a village and model cars. The dining room table is often covered with work in progress, but I don’t mind. It’s wonderful to see them working together and being so creative.

I’m wondering what they’ve been getting up to whilst I’ve been writing this blog post, tucked away in the upstairs office… they are both at home today with colds – nothing bad, just in need of a bit of R&R and we don’t want to spread germs. I’d best go and find out!

Related posts

  • A spring holiday in Wanaka and Queenstown’s outdoor playgrounds!November 1, 2020 A spring holiday in Wanaka and Queenstown’s outdoor playgrounds!
  • Magic Moments from Easter Weekend, in Wellington & MartinboroughApril 1, 2016 Magic Moments from Easter Weekend, in Wellington & Martinborough
  • Family cycling & geocaching in MartinboroughApril 10, 2015 Family cycling & geocaching in Martinborough
  • July 3, 2014 Our free wheeling 11 year old!
  • Let’s Go Ride! Miss 4 & Her New Cycling AdventuresApril 6, 2014 Let’s Go Ride! Miss 4 & Her New Cycling Adventures
  • Burning some rubber with the kids on the Santa Barbara waterfront!December 6, 2013 Burning some rubber with the kids on the Santa Barbara waterfront!
Category: Charlotte Sophie

Post navigation

← Ah, there’s a heartbeat!
World Class: The Matterhorn →
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest

Archives

Recent Posts

  • A holiday in paradise – ten blissful days in Rarotonga, in the beautiful Cook Islands. August 8, 2023
  • Marlborough Food & Wine Festival Birthday Celebration August 7, 2023
  • A few running events to kick off the year & a sub-4 PB at the Rotorua Marathon! May 10, 2023
  • Auckland mid-week break away for Harry Styles! April 4, 2023
  • Celebrating a Birthday with a Meerkat Encounter! March 30, 2023
  • Summer holiday in Rotorua & Taupo March 29, 2023
  • Christmas and a Birthday in Wellington January 12, 2023
  • Summer highlights from the Wairarapa January 8, 2023
  • A long weekend with friends near Goat Island Marine Reserve January 6, 2023
  • It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas – southern hemisphere style! December 23, 2022
  • Wellington Lantern Festival – in the spring rain December 18, 2022
  • Toast Martinborough – Wine and Food Festival December 16, 2022

Things I Write About

Art (100) autumn (42) Baking (37) beach (67) Birthday (51) birthday party (31) breastfeeding (29) cafes (46) christmas (70) Country Kids (59) family (115) family time (57) featured (34) friends (38) Garden (43) holiday (36) Holidays (131) Lyall Bay (47) Lyrical Sunday (68) milestones (62) motherhood (37) New Zealand (38) parenting (36) photography (39) poem (69) poetry (92) running (57) Santa Barbara (32) school (75) school holidays (49) seasons (45) Silent Sunday (51) sisters (29) sleep (35) spring (38) summer (60) swimming (28) the gallery (62) Things I'm Loving (118) UK (30) Walks (47) weather (34) Wellington (137) winter (42) writing (50)

Poetry

Follow Sarah's board Poetry by Sarah Lee on Pinterest.
20 Of The Best Expat Blogs To Follow In 2017

Related posts

  • A spring holiday in Wanaka and Queenstown’s outdoor playgrounds!November 1, 2020 A spring holiday in Wanaka and Queenstown’s outdoor playgrounds!
  • Magic Moments from Easter Weekend, in Wellington & MartinboroughApril 1, 2016 Magic Moments from Easter Weekend, in Wellington & Martinborough
  • Family cycling & geocaching in MartinboroughApril 10, 2015 Family cycling & geocaching in Martinborough
  • July 3, 2014 Our free wheeling 11 year old!
  • Let’s Go Ride! Miss 4 & Her New Cycling AdventuresApril 6, 2014 Let’s Go Ride! Miss 4 & Her New Cycling Adventures
  • Burning some rubber with the kids on the Santa Barbara waterfront!December 6, 2013 Burning some rubber with the kids on the Santa Barbara waterfront!
© 2023 Catching the Magic | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme