Back on a schedule because...

Smelling Like...Febreze?

Katelyn has the option of wearing a crew-neck cotton sweatshirt or a fleece pull-over. Usually, the fleece wins because it has pockets and what 6-year old cannot live without pockets? What would they do with all of those treasures that they find throughout their day? How would they make sure that their chap-stick gets washes and dried, as it is securely tucked into the zipped pocket? How would they be able to dispose of their snack trash, because apparently there are no trash cans at school? And of course, their hands might just fall off from being so FROZEN without the ability to put them into the toasty warm pocket!

A few days ago, Katelyn was DETERMINED that she was going to wear her fleece to school. Because the other one just wouldn't do. However I had been a little slow on laundry and it was sitting at the bottom of the dirty clothes pile. Since my laundry seems to reproduce on its own, the fleece was sitting under a pretty large pile of stinky clothes. Without regards to potentially offending her classmates or teachers, she dug through the pile and came out victorious. I had decided not to fight this battle - if she wanted to dig through the mound and wear a dirty sweater, it was her choice...after all, she was the one wearing it, not me.

Now here is where my excellent parenting skills comes into play...just to make sure that no one thinks I never wash my children's clothes, I gave her a few sprays of Febreze as she walked out the door. We were laughing as I was doing it, but hey, at least she smelt cleaned!

Kindergarten, Here We Come!

Katelyn is officially a Kindergartner and I feel officially old! She has looked forward to this day throughout this entire school year, but more so over the last few weeks as the excitement of graduation day loomed near. There is something magical about making the transition from Preschool to Kindergarten. In Kindergarten, there is responsibility like homework, wearing a uniform, packing a lunch. There is the excitement of making new friends and surviving the adjustment to all day school. Kindergarten is going to bring a lot of changes to our lives – good ones and exciting ones, but with a level of uncertainty. What will happen to our old friends? Will the playground be as fun as it was in Preschool? What will homework be like? How will packing and bring lunch go? Perhaps these are more my fears than Katelyn’s, as children sometimes just go without so much worry as adults, which is a very good benefit to childhood innocence.

This year in Preschool, Katelyn has matured and it is evident in how she carries herself and in her relationships with her friends. She has always had friends at school, but this was the first year that she truly has a strong relationship with another little girl and throughout the year, they’ve become really good friends. When I ask what she did at school, her response is always the same, “Played with Avery.” Of course, her teachers make sure she does her jobs too, usually with the art jobs being her favorite. Katelyn hasn’t mastered reading yet, but is getting really good at letter sounds and rhyming, all pre-reader skills. She has been learning to write lower case letters, in addition to perfecting her upper case. She is confident in her ability at school and very social.

It has been wonderful watching her thrive this year in Preschool and I pray that her enjoyment in school continues for years to come.

A huge accomplishment for her

Vanessa graduated from Early Preschool this morning. That fact that she made it through the entire year was an amazing feat in itself. And honestly, that is why we enrolled her in school. Last Fall, when we were looking at the transition from Early Start to being three years old and not qualifying for school services, we felt the need to put her into a structured program to see how she would adjust and transition, plus to keep working on all of those things that we had been improving on prior, like speech and language and separation. We knew that if she couldn't handle a typical classroom setting, then we’d have more reason to fight our public school. However, school proved to be a wonderful addition in her life. No, she did not look forward to it every time she went, and still has her challenging days, but slowly, we worked through it together. School provided her the opportunity to blossom into the funny little girl she is, to build her creative imagination, to find her logical reasoning ability, to work on relationships, and to have fun. It is still extremely challenging for her to tell me what she did at school, but I know she enjoyed her time there and I hope it continues to be a positive aspect of her life.

With Ms Tiffany, her teacher

Happy Graduation!

We'll be eating them for the next week

It was Katelyn’s turn to bring snack to share with her class. And along with the responsibility of bringing snack, the child gets to be “soap monitor” when it is hand washing time before they eat. For those without a four-year old, this is a HUGE privilege; one that makes her feel special, like she is the center of the universe, even if only for a few hours while at school. And when everyone sits down to eat, the class says “Thank You Katelyn” all together, adding to her already exploding pride.

When she woke up, she reminded me that this was “her” day for snack. She promptly informed me that she wanted to bring heart-shaped PB&J sandwiches, carrots and dip and water. Sure, no problem…the sandwiches might take awhile to make, but since she had her heart set on bring this meal, I decided that we could do this. We were not informed that any of these items were off limits, so assumed we were a “go”.

When I picked her up from school, I asked for my serving tray. I was informed that it was in the office, along with all fifty-thousand heart-shaped sandwiches. They decided not to serve them to the children because there is one little girl who is allergic. And because she is, the entire class only had carrots and water.

OK, so here is my issue…why should the entire class have to suffer because one child cannot eat the snack? If we were informed beforehand of items we could not bring, I would have never brought all of these sandwiches, nor spent the time making them. The school has a list of allergies in each class – they have had this information for almost three weeks now – so they cannot say they didn’t have the proper information to inform the parents before the snack schedule got underway. And what would be the difference if my child had an allergy to water…should none of the children be allowed to drink water throughout the day? Please don’t take me wrong, I am not against a child who has some special needs – whether food or physical or mental - heck, I have a child of needs myself. But, my frustration comes making the entire class suffer because of one. Perhaps this child could bring her own snack so she always has something to eat. Or perhaps a list of “do not bring” food items should have been sent out weeks ago.

What I am most saddened by is how this entire incident made Katelyn feel. She felt as if she had done something wrong, and that is why they didn’t serve her entire meal. They did tell her the true reason, but does that really make sense to a young child? Can they comprehend the entire class’ suffering because of one person? It goes back to the “It’s not fair” scenario, where one sibling doesn’t get to have that extra treat because their sibling didn’t follow the rules. They feel just as punished as their sibling, even though he/she was not at fault. Katelyn told me she had a not-so-good day when I picked her up, and subsequently found out why. What a way to stomp on the parade and let out all the excitement of this four-year-old.

Next snack opportunity, we’ll be bringing water…only.