As much as I am yearning for time to fly by or at least these next 4 weeks, I am finding myself yearning for it to stop just the same. Our girls are growing up too quickly, becoming more and more independent everyday and as their ever proud Momma, I love it yet hate it. This post is going to be somewhat random, but I feel I need to capture some of these moments for posterity's sake. Before we know it, this blog will be consumed by all things "Pedro."
Claire has been learning responsibility. We are encouraging a study routine (never thought I'd be implementing this in 1st grade) with homework being done at the kitchen table. She completes her weekly math packet on her own, then Chris and I check it over and review what needs reviewing. Claire has a reading packet that is completed every Sunday afternoon even though it is not due until Tuesday. We are trying to teach her timeliness and how to avoid procrastination, even though I am a pretty successful procrastinator. Again, she completes this on her own. This weekend she had to answer a question using a chart. She surprised me by saying, "I think I am going to use a T-Chart. Do you think that is a good idea?" Goodness. She is certainly learning alot this year. I am so proud of our little sponge. I find myself saying things like, "I never learned how to spell "friends" until 3rd grade or so, or I never knew what a T-chart was until I was in middle school." Education has definitely changed and seeing it unfold through the eyes of my child is far more encouraging than even as an educator. Claire is doing very well in school. She is reading at the end of 2nd grade, beginning of 3rd grade level. She actually completed the SRI test along with 3 others so that her teacher could begin to expose her to more challenging curriculum. This test is typically given to all 2nd graders and no 1st graders. She is strengthening her math skills every day, moving from the middle of 1st grade math group to the higher group. Knowing that her math skills are not as strong as her reading, we've really tried to focus more on math at home, pointing out how math plays a role in our everyday life and encouraging her to problem solve and think about numbers in a variety of ways. The girl rocks spelling. She really needs to study very little to earn a perfect score every week. I typically review the words with her in the morning when we arrive at school, but she is a great speller.
Claire LOVES to put on shows--singing, playing piano, dancing, and gymnastics are her go to's. She enjoys drawing, writing cute notes to us, loves swimming and working on her soccer skills. She also loves to ride bike and help me cook. Claire is certainly a people pleaser. She often regurgitates things we've said or reasons why a decision is the right one or why certain things are better than others. Claire is the sweetest little thing. She shows concern for others and wants to help all. Each month the students in her class vote on STAR students--Studious, Thoughtful, Astonishing & Respectful. Nearly every month, she earns at least one award. It makes me even more proud to know these are voted on by peers. That being said, she is also at the stage where she thinks she needs to enforce rules or tattle. Needless to say, we've had a lot of conversations regarding "minding our own business" as of late. Claire can be the sweetest big sister EVER to Mya, but then there are times where she simply needs her space. Mya doesn't always understand this.
Mya has been moving through a few transitions recently. Today is her first swimming lesson in the lap pool with the older children. She passed her preschool lessons through a special assessment and was deemed ready to move on. Swimming is a life skill for our kids and a non-optional sport. Thankfully they both LOVE to swim and would go to the pool everyday if we allowed them. We broke down and bought a family pass, since it is a fun, healthy family activity. Chris has been helping Mya to learn how to tread water. She can finally tread for 20 seconds or so, which is pretty amazing for a tiny thing. It is doubtful that she'll pass Level 2 swimming lessons for sometime as she needs to build endurance more than she needs to work on skill refinement at this point. She'll be the youngest kiddo in her class by nearly 3 years, so we're certainly proud of her and totally fine with her staying in this group for awhile. She is also working on riding a bike without training wheels. She can do it for a few seconds, but as soon as she realizes she is on her own, the little bugger gets excited and stops pedaling. Mya is doing great in school. She can count by 5's, is reading--finally decoding/blending much more quickly, writes words that we say to her, and has grasped quantities up to 20. It is amazing what she learns daily. She knows the continents, talks about China, Presidents by name, Martin Luther King and why he is important, and on and on.We are so pleased with her progress. Looking at where Claire was when she began kindergarten and knowing where she ended kindergarten, which was far beyond kindergarten expectations, we fear that Mya may not get alot out of kindergarten. We are actually considering leaving Mya in her current school for another year, knowing that she'll continue to be pushed at her own level and she'll learn concepts far beyond what will be tackled in a public school. Time will tell how this plays out as alot of it rides on Chris' retirement and acquisition of a GS position (Government Civilian). The schedule isn't convenient and of course, we'll be paying tuition again, but we think it would be the best for her at this point. We shall see.
Mya LOVES all things baby. Three boxes of diapers arrived in the mail last week. Mya insisted I open them so she could see how small they were and what character was on the front. She then worked her magic to convince me to give her 2 for her babies. Now that "Pedro's" bed is all set up, she loves to use it as her baby bed. She constantly talks about what she is going to do for him, how she is going to sing to him, how she is going to push him in the green stroller and how she is going to help him. I have no doubt in my mind that she is going to love him with all her might. She is such a sweet girl. She is the perfect combination of sweetness and spunk, even though the combination of the two can be totally exhausting :) My parents sent the girls a Valentine's Day card with money, so Mya wanted to tell my Mom "thank you." She gets on the phone and begins her conversation with some made up Knock-knock joke. What 4 year old does that???! She is something else! Mya loves to dance, sing along with songs on the radio, and socialize. The girl knows and remembers EVERYONE! It is slightly frustrating as I am often in a hurry to get them out of the pool and Mya sees someone she knows, so has to run over and say "hi" or she'll see a baby in the dressing room and want to watch it or tell the Mom how cute their baby is. Totally sweet, but frustrating ;)
Both girls are the most precious gifts. We love them more than they will ever know. They keep us in check and remind us of what is important in life. Both Chris and I work hard to spend time with them, to show them how important they are to us and to make them feel special each day. They need not appreciate our efforts now, but hopefully when they are older, they will remember the amazing things we did, the fun we shared doing the ordinary and the pride we possessed.
Claire has been learning responsibility. We are encouraging a study routine (never thought I'd be implementing this in 1st grade) with homework being done at the kitchen table. She completes her weekly math packet on her own, then Chris and I check it over and review what needs reviewing. Claire has a reading packet that is completed every Sunday afternoon even though it is not due until Tuesday. We are trying to teach her timeliness and how to avoid procrastination, even though I am a pretty successful procrastinator. Again, she completes this on her own. This weekend she had to answer a question using a chart. She surprised me by saying, "I think I am going to use a T-Chart. Do you think that is a good idea?" Goodness. She is certainly learning alot this year. I am so proud of our little sponge. I find myself saying things like, "I never learned how to spell "friends" until 3rd grade or so, or I never knew what a T-chart was until I was in middle school." Education has definitely changed and seeing it unfold through the eyes of my child is far more encouraging than even as an educator. Claire is doing very well in school. She is reading at the end of 2nd grade, beginning of 3rd grade level. She actually completed the SRI test along with 3 others so that her teacher could begin to expose her to more challenging curriculum. This test is typically given to all 2nd graders and no 1st graders. She is strengthening her math skills every day, moving from the middle of 1st grade math group to the higher group. Knowing that her math skills are not as strong as her reading, we've really tried to focus more on math at home, pointing out how math plays a role in our everyday life and encouraging her to problem solve and think about numbers in a variety of ways. The girl rocks spelling. She really needs to study very little to earn a perfect score every week. I typically review the words with her in the morning when we arrive at school, but she is a great speller.
Claire LOVES to put on shows--singing, playing piano, dancing, and gymnastics are her go to's. She enjoys drawing, writing cute notes to us, loves swimming and working on her soccer skills. She also loves to ride bike and help me cook. Claire is certainly a people pleaser. She often regurgitates things we've said or reasons why a decision is the right one or why certain things are better than others. Claire is the sweetest little thing. She shows concern for others and wants to help all. Each month the students in her class vote on STAR students--Studious, Thoughtful, Astonishing & Respectful. Nearly every month, she earns at least one award. It makes me even more proud to know these are voted on by peers. That being said, she is also at the stage where she thinks she needs to enforce rules or tattle. Needless to say, we've had a lot of conversations regarding "minding our own business" as of late. Claire can be the sweetest big sister EVER to Mya, but then there are times where she simply needs her space. Mya doesn't always understand this.
Mya has been moving through a few transitions recently. Today is her first swimming lesson in the lap pool with the older children. She passed her preschool lessons through a special assessment and was deemed ready to move on. Swimming is a life skill for our kids and a non-optional sport. Thankfully they both LOVE to swim and would go to the pool everyday if we allowed them. We broke down and bought a family pass, since it is a fun, healthy family activity. Chris has been helping Mya to learn how to tread water. She can finally tread for 20 seconds or so, which is pretty amazing for a tiny thing. It is doubtful that she'll pass Level 2 swimming lessons for sometime as she needs to build endurance more than she needs to work on skill refinement at this point. She'll be the youngest kiddo in her class by nearly 3 years, so we're certainly proud of her and totally fine with her staying in this group for awhile. She is also working on riding a bike without training wheels. She can do it for a few seconds, but as soon as she realizes she is on her own, the little bugger gets excited and stops pedaling. Mya is doing great in school. She can count by 5's, is reading--finally decoding/blending much more quickly, writes words that we say to her, and has grasped quantities up to 20. It is amazing what she learns daily. She knows the continents, talks about China, Presidents by name, Martin Luther King and why he is important, and on and on.We are so pleased with her progress. Looking at where Claire was when she began kindergarten and knowing where she ended kindergarten, which was far beyond kindergarten expectations, we fear that Mya may not get alot out of kindergarten. We are actually considering leaving Mya in her current school for another year, knowing that she'll continue to be pushed at her own level and she'll learn concepts far beyond what will be tackled in a public school. Time will tell how this plays out as alot of it rides on Chris' retirement and acquisition of a GS position (Government Civilian). The schedule isn't convenient and of course, we'll be paying tuition again, but we think it would be the best for her at this point. We shall see.
Mya LOVES all things baby. Three boxes of diapers arrived in the mail last week. Mya insisted I open them so she could see how small they were and what character was on the front. She then worked her magic to convince me to give her 2 for her babies. Now that "Pedro's" bed is all set up, she loves to use it as her baby bed. She constantly talks about what she is going to do for him, how she is going to sing to him, how she is going to push him in the green stroller and how she is going to help him. I have no doubt in my mind that she is going to love him with all her might. She is such a sweet girl. She is the perfect combination of sweetness and spunk, even though the combination of the two can be totally exhausting :) My parents sent the girls a Valentine's Day card with money, so Mya wanted to tell my Mom "thank you." She gets on the phone and begins her conversation with some made up Knock-knock joke. What 4 year old does that???! She is something else! Mya loves to dance, sing along with songs on the radio, and socialize. The girl knows and remembers EVERYONE! It is slightly frustrating as I am often in a hurry to get them out of the pool and Mya sees someone she knows, so has to run over and say "hi" or she'll see a baby in the dressing room and want to watch it or tell the Mom how cute their baby is. Totally sweet, but frustrating ;)
Both girls are the most precious gifts. We love them more than they will ever know. They keep us in check and remind us of what is important in life. Both Chris and I work hard to spend time with them, to show them how important they are to us and to make them feel special each day. They need not appreciate our efforts now, but hopefully when they are older, they will remember the amazing things we did, the fun we shared doing the ordinary and the pride we possessed.
Comments
I can't wait to see Pedro!