I'm sure you've been wondering.
Currently it's going great!
The first day of school started out on the wrong foot. She was nervous as a wet hen and as a result piddle-dinked around and was nearly late. She cried for her first day of school picture. Tears were streaming around her little grin.
She was terrified to go. She knew her teacher quite well...our neighbor...but still was terrified. Not sure what she thought would happen.
In her class this year are four little girls. I don't envy that teacher. Four little girls who all dearly love to be in charge. Four little girls who screech and holler with the best of them.
Two of the little girls are four years old...well, one just had a birthday and is now five and the other has a birthday in December. The third little girl is down syndrome. And then there's Addie. She's six. To be seven in April.
Since when do four year olds go to kindergarten? I was floored. While we knew that Addie most definitely needed the reinforcment of another year in kindergarten, we were extremely tempted to put her in first grade anyway. Common sense won out.
She gets a little bored. She complains of not learning anything new. But I know that it's best for her. And she is learning something. She can now say the days of the week in order. She can count a little better than she could. And most importantly, she can quote all of Psalm 100 and much of Genesis 1:1-7. We're amazed.
Three years ago we had a little girl who was so overwhelmed with life that she could barely function. She didn't learn her colors until right before we started school last fall at 5 years old. She wasn't interested in something as mundane as colors. She struggled to focus on anything for longer than 3 minutes.
And now she's able to quote seven verses from the Bible? A miracle.
After the first week of school it seemed to improve. She loved her teacher. She loved the fact that she was the oldest in the classroom...I think she thought that automatically made her in charge. She loved to learn.
And then the problems began.
Every day she starts out her day with five little fish in the fishbowl on her desk. If she keeps all five of them, she earns a 'paycheck' and a 'bonus'. If she loses one she loses her bonus. If she loses them all she loses the paycheck. (They use their 'money' to buy items from the store....pretzel rods, paper, little snacky items.
Every day she would tell us that she had a super day. Every day she informed us that she was keeping every one of her fish. Every day she would tell us what she bought from the store.
And then the attitude started. The attitude that told us that not all was well. The attitude that prompted me to inform her that I was going to talk to her teacher....which was met with a very worried look and a quick "You can't!" I could and I did.
And what I found out was enough to make me want to crawl in a hole.
Not only had she been losing every single fish every single day for nearly two weeks, but she had developed a nasty habit of talking back to her teacher. The teacher would tell her recess was over, stop the swing...and she would say "No. I don't want to." The teacher would ask her to stop running in the hall and she would respond by smirking and running faster.
No wonder we were seeing an attitude. I think it could be called the Attitude of Guilt. She wasn't able to go to sleep well at night. She simply wasn't coping well with the lies she had been telling us.
Following my little chat with the teacher, her attitude shifted. She was devastated that we had found out the truth, but I think she slept better that night than she had for weeks.
She still lost every fish for several days cause bad habits are difficult to break, but now? Several weeks later? She keeps nearly every fish every day. :)
She's trying. She still struggles to keep herself under control...too much energy to sit still for that long...but she's getting there!
Her mornings go so much better now. She bounds out of bed and comes down dressed and ready to go. She chows her breakfast. Typically. She flies around getting herself ready and usually is standing by the door ready and waiting, chomping at the bit.
This week Jason has been dropping her off. Her attitude has dissolved but in it's place has come a...I don't know the word.
Yesterday when Jason was hauling her down the road in the pickup, she says...
Daddy...
What?
You don't have to get out and open the door for me this morning.
Why not?
Well, one time when Mommy brought me to school she let me go by myself and I could open it myself.
Oh. What if I want to open the door for you?
Well, Daddy. You have your boots on.
?
Daddy. It's embarrassing when you wear your boots into school.
You've got to be kidding me. When Jason told me that she was embarrassed to have him take her in because he was wearing boots, I nearly croaked. We seriously have to start the be-embarrassed-of-your-parents thing already? I thought we'd surely have a few more years before that set in.
And so go her days. She marches in that door like she owns the place. She's re-learning her letters. She's learning to respect authority. She's learning the days of the week and the months of the year and how to count to 100 and personal boundaries and how to control her emotions and....
Overall, I think kindergarten was the best choice for her. Sure, she's with girls nearly two years younger than she is, but she stays many afternoons to be with the children her age. And that, too, has been good for her. While she can get away with being queen of the classroom in kindergarten, she can't get by with it when she goes into the 1st to 6th grade classroom. She's slowly learning that big kids don't bow down to the whims of a six year old.
This year has been good. For the most part.
She's loving school and all that goes with it.
She's becoming a young lady before my eyes. Since she's only been in our family for three and a half years, I tend to think that she should be 3 1/2. She's not. And she'll let you know if you try to treat her that way.
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