ALEAH

Ahh, Aleah! When we say her name, we like to sing it to the tune of "MARIA" from the play West Side Story. "Aleah, I just met a girl named Aleah. ALEAAAAHHH".
She says she hates it, but secretly, I know she loves the attention and doesn't really mind.
Aleah is an energetic, fun, free-spirited, strong-willed, competative, sports-oriented, Tom-Girl.
We don't use the term "tom boy" because I think it's demeaning to call a girl , a boy. Not only that, but she's quite literally TOM'S GIRL, so we say she's a TOM-GIRL and we like that word much better. It just suits her well.

This summer, Tom signed Aleah up to play baseball-- on a BOY'S team. Of course there is no girl's team since they only have softball, so the boy's team was all there was. Her personality does well for an extremely high amount of competition, so for her to play baseball amongst the boys wasn't a problem for her in the least. During the regular season she quickly became the team favorite and was given at least 2 game balls. She was then voted (by the whole team) to play on the All-Stars game, and consequently got the game ball for THAT game as well, after hitting a double and getting a few kids home. A Week later we received a call from a man who wanted to recruit her for the BOY'S LITTLE LEAGUE team. We agreed, as this was a once in a lifetime chance for her and we knew she would love it. Her team won the Sectionals (I think that's what they're called) 5-0 and went on to the Regionals where they won a few games and then eventually lost in a double elimination process. I believe the team was ranked something like 12th in almost 400 teams!!! They *almost* made it to STATES! Only Aleah could do so well with all of this.
Aleah is starting 6th grade in September. She does quite well in her studies, although she would prefer to be outside playing ball or just running around. She may not be a book person, but she definitely has many things that she excels greatly in. She enjoys baseball, soccer, badmitton, swimming, miniature golf, or basically any sport that's out there. She is just like Tom and she totally excels in everything she tries.The positions she plays for baseball are shortstop, second base, third base, and pitching. She is multi-talented and does amazing in each position she tries. She's also quite the perfectionist-- wonder where she gets THAT from?
(heheehehe)She is learning to help out around the house with the laundry and dishes, and of course she is always trying to help with the little ones. She really knows how to keep the boys busy with fun games and she entertains them well. She totally has the knack of being able to get their energy level "spent", which is a talent that I greatly admire and appreciate, especially having 4 of our 5 boys being extremely active (aka TYPICAL) little boys.
I look forward to seeing what Aleah becomes as she's growing up so quickly and there are so many facets to her personality. I give fair warning to all of you-- when you are in town for a visit, don't challenge her to any sport unless you want to risk the huge chance of LOSING to an 11 yr old girl!!! If you hadn't noticed, she's a YANKEES fan! (is there any other team out there?)Woot Woot-- Go Aleah, Go Aleah