I shared Ella’s back-to-school interview on the blog yesterday, but little sister’s is just as wonderful to watch! While eight years old was a rough year for Ella, Sophie seems to be thriving. She is hilarious and so thoughtful and she has the most sensitive spirit. I think she’s been looking forward to ruling elementary school without a big sister on campus and her first few days have been wonderful.
She’s changing classes for the first time — she has three teachers this year — is separated from her best friends from last year, and has moved to the front hall, which she sees as a very big deal. She got all of her hair cut off on Sunday and after three whole days of loving it, she woke up yesterday with a much different attitude. She slept on a wet head, making it stand on end, and was furious that she couldn’t fix it on her own. It literally took me 4 minutes to straighten the back and help with her headband, but that frustration set the tone for the rest of the morning. I’m hoping that she had a much better day after she got out of the door and that her first day changing classes and doing real work, was a really good one.
You can tell by most of Sophie’s food answers that we kind of let ourselves go this summer. We noticed in the spring that when she occasionally had gluten, it wouldn’t affect her nearly as bad as it had in the past. We started introducing more wheat in her diet at the beginning of the summer and she seems to be tolerating it well. I should probably put more restraints on her now, but she’s been deprived of bread-based treats for so long, that we’ve been letting her manage things within reason. We did tell her that now that school started back, we’ll be tightening up a little and not eating so many treats and that if we notice any behavioral problems at school or home, we’ll make further adjustments. Either way, I promise it’s not all breakfast bars and Doritos over here!
I mentioned in the subtitles of the video that Sophie is very concerned about the homeless population. We’ve discussed this at length and are talking about ways we can get her more involved in her community and in ministry, in general. Given her passion and concern, Josh and I both fully expect her to take a less traditional path when it comes to her future. We have never had a “college is right for everyone” mentality, so we never correct her or steer her towards other (more lucrative and traditionally popular) options. And even if she completely changes her mind one day (she is only eight years old, after all), we will fully support her goals and aspirations, but we are certainly enjoying her tender heart and service oriented nature for as long as we can nurture it!
I will be interviewing the girls on their first day of school each year for as long as they will let me. I can’t wait to see what a difference a year (or two) makes in their answers! You can see Sophie’s previous interviews here: 2012| 2013| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017.
