School Girl
Hayley has jumped enthusiastically into her first experience with school! She loves her teachers and loves all her friends. Above are pictures of a few memories from the first 2 months of Kindergarten:
- The school Jog-a-thon...Hayley wasn't really into the jogging part but we cheered for her as she held Ms. Kellogg's hand and marched around the playground smiling.
- The "self-portrait". Hayley had an assignment to do a family project making a self portrait. It ended up being one of our more successful FHE activities. Hayley and Maya both made one and had so much fun cutting fabric and gluing buttons. Mommy even got into it and had fun braiding yarn into hair.
- The treasure chest. The blue teddy bear is the product of her first trip to the classroom treasure chest. The teachers tell the kids they can build a rainbow whenever they are being good or following directions. When they get 6 colors on their rainbow they get to go choose a prize from the treasure chest. Hayley lives for it! I thought the treasure chest would be all candy but I've been impressed that its cool toys that the kids are really excited about.
- Friend of the Day:
In her class, they take turns being "Friend of the Day". When it is their turn they bring home the class "pet" for a night. It's a panther named Pattie. They (or their parents!) are responsible for bringing back a report in Pattie's journal telling the class what they did. It was sure fun to have an excuse to do a little digital scrapbooking, even if I was up against a deadline!- Learning the important things:
- In the first week of school Hayley mastered the ability to snap her fingers and click her tongue! What skill!
- We also make "pinkie-wishes" all the time (loop pinkie fingers with someone else and both make a wish...then whisper to each other what your wish was even though you pretend it's a secret...then giggle!)
- About once a week I get updated on who her best friend is. We keep talking about how we want to have lots of good friends...not just one best friend. It's amazing to me how driven she is to find a best friend (even if it's a revolving door!)
- They read a story the first week of school called "Kissing Hand". Now every morning when I drop her off I have to kiss the palms of her hand so she can put kisses on her cheeks whenever she needs them. How sweet!
- Clapping games. Aunt Tammy has been teaching her "Down by the banks of the hanky-panky..." and other fun clapping games that have brought back all sorts of memories for me. If you have any fun favorites...email them to me!
- Through all her new socializing, Hayley has figured out what a nick-name is. Our favorite story about this was a recent conversation we overheard her having with Maya.
Someone: "Bye, Tammy"
Maya: "Hey! Her name's not Tammy it's Aunt Tammy" (said indignantly!)
Hayley: "It's okay Maya, Aunt Tammy is her full name, but Tammy is her nick-name. So sometimes people call her Tammy."
Maya: "Oh." (completely trusting that her older, school-going sister
knows these important things about life!)
- Mom's report card on school...I'm so happy with the school and teachers. I stop in with Maya and Alice about once a week to eat lunch. It keeps me up to date with all the friends. I've also been able to go volunteer (when daddy was home one day to watch the other 2). I like getting in the classroom to understand better what her day is like. I am also so happy with our decision to drop her off and pick her up instead of using the bus. Not only do we avoid whatever goes on on the bus, but I feel like I get a daily parent teacher conference as I pass her teachers in the hall. Most days they have something to tell me--like she did really great on something or they give me a heads up about something that upset her. I find this so helpful and am grateful for how well it is all working out.
I'm planning the class fall harvest party this week...how fun!
Writer/Reader
I've been so impressed with how Hayley's writing is blossoming. It's so exciting to me to receive cards from her with whole messages that she wrote all by herself! I'm so proud of her for trying her best even if it's not perfect.
"Mom, You are the best mom in the world. I just wanted to [tell you] I love you. From Hayley."
Hayley's also getting so good at making her own books. She writes a story and illustrates each page. It's amazing to me how many different ideas she comes up with for story lines. She can fill a whole notebook in no time flat! Here's a sample:
Once a boy planted a garden.
It grew and grew until it was time to pick.
The food was tasty.
Hayley is a great big sister. So often, she is the one to sacrifice in order to make peace. I'm so proud of how mature she can be when dealing with her younger sisters. Maya and Alice both love to play with Hayley. Alice perks up whenever Hayley comes into the room and waits for her attention. I love my silly girls and am so glad that they have such a great big sister to look up to!Hair Salon
Hayley and I discovered this fun blog that shows you cute little-girl hair styles. She chooses one she likes and then we try it out. I love having new ideas...but I can sure spend a lot of time looking at them! If she gets up and gets herself ready quickly in the morning her reward is a "fancy" hair-do.Late Nights & Free Time
Our bedtime schedule has shifted recently. Since Maya isn't taking naps anymore she has started going to be really early. Most nights she and Alice both go to sleep around 7pm (which is so early for us!) Hayley doesn't go to bed until about 9pm (she has never needed as much sleep as we'd like her to need!)That gives us quiet, evening time with just Hayley. It seems like it's been so long since we've had this much time with just her. Mom and Dad end up bustling around for a lot of it finishing daily chores, making lunches, etc., but Hayley is getting used to finding quiet craft or journaling projects to work on. It's fun to just have her around when everything is so calm. I like to see what creative things she comes up with to make and what fun stories she writes for us.
For the longest time Maya has had no interest in letters or numbers...wouldn't even sing along with the ABC song. Then one day in September she suddenly became facinated with the alphabet and counting things. Within 2 weeks she basically learned the names of the letters, what they look like and the sound they make plus how to count things! I was amazed. A few resources that were avaiable to her that I love for teaching these basic things are:
Since I spend so much time cleaning, I really like to get kids to have fun cleaning with me. It seems like Maya's been less enthusiastic about my great idea than Hayley ever was, but recently she finally started having fun cleaning with me. Hurray! I don't feel as bad because we are spending time together and our house still gets cleaned. This particular day she spent the whole time it took me to deep-clean the kitchen, scrubbing the table and chairs. Wow! Clean table! But when I took a picture of her the deal was that she wanted to take a picture of me doing my chores too. And with my new goal to stop dodging the camera...here I am too!
Alice seems to move from one developmental stage to the next in one sudden leap. She might start doing that cool new thing slightly later than her peers but when she decides she's ready--she goes for it. Eating for example. One day she gagged on baby food if it had any small lump in it. I had to puree everything completely. The next day she was ready to dine and started eating almost everything we were eating. Cheerios, bread, lasagna, rice, beans, etc!
