First grade blues

I don't get many calls when I'm at work (or really, ever). When I see the caller ID of the school on my phone, I can only imagine that it's bad news. Well, today I got a call from Morningside and Ms. Lisa, the secretary, put Kennedy on the phone. She was sobbing because she didn't have her lunch bag with her. It wasn't in her backpack. I could barely talk to her, she was so upset. Apparently, someone helped her get hot lunch so that she wouldn't starve, but she was still crying as we said goodbye. Oh, she is a sensitive soul.

After we hung up, I went out to look in my car. Nope, not there. I guess she must have left it at home. Now, is it my responsibility or theirs to grab the things they need for the day? I made the lunch (BBQ chicken, sweet potato, green beans, applesauce, juice box, and trail mix). I packed it. I put it by the front door, along with mine and Macy's. Now I'm wondering if Macy has her lunch. Suddenly I'm feeling like a failure! There was drama about leaving the iPad at home (Macy), a quick read-through of Kennedy's decodable books (that maybe we should have done over the weekend), a last minute shoe change, arguing over who got to take Pig (the stuffed animal, to keep Pink Hippo, Pink Kitty, and Black Kitty company in the car), and then we were out the door. Maybe I need to post a morning check list to make sure we have everything from now on.

Other updates...
Kennedy did eventually lose her two bottom teeth. The first one right after school started and the second about a week later. She asked the Tooth Fairy if she could keep her first baby tooth with this cute note, and now it is stored in a special jar along with a feather and tooth number two. The Tooth Fairy left her two dollars in quarters, which she carried around in a special bag for several days...until misplacing it somewhere around the house. She never said anything about leaving the second tooth out for the Tooth Fairy, so I haven't pressed it. Does this make me a bad mom?

Kennedy got her first spelling test back from her afternoon teacher, Mrs. Squires. She got 14 out of 10. She was disappointed that she got a smiley face and not an A+. I told her that her score couldn't have been any higher, which definitely qualified as an A+!    

We went on a family hike over the weekend. It was a beautiful day, although it turns out we picked a rather difficult trail. Rattlesnake Gulch in Millcreek Canyon is a good climb and has some tricky terrain - especially for girls with short legs and bad hiking shoes. We reached an amazing overlook of the canyon, and I asked them to think of words that described it. Kennedy came up with "Spectacular!" Macy grumbled that it was "Boring." She complained about wanting a snack, a drink, or being tired nearly the entire time. I tried telling a story on the way back down. It kept Kennedy occupied, while she slipped down the mountain, but Macy and Jake went on ahead. Why is it that she never walks that fast with me? Yes, I know that I'm the pushover.

And what about the missing lunch? When I picked Kennedy up from school, she said, "Mom, I found my lunch! It was in my backpack, but behind my book and folder!" She was very relieved, but seemed to blame me somewhat for putting it in the "wrong" place. No need to worry about Macy - she had her lunch, but her teacher Ms. Ana said that they had a talk about eating the good-for-you foods first, and saving the treats for last.

L'ecole

I love the idea of having daughters fluent in French, which will hopefully mean that I am also fluent in French. Kids absorb language so quickly. I'm struggling to remember. Already Kennedy has learned quite a bit, and her accent is very good. It obviously helps to be taught by a native speaker, rather than a mom who took classes oh so many years ago. I'm already dreaming of taking trips to France, Canada, and French Polynesia. I've even looked into a few summer camp opportunities for when they get older. I want them to get the most out of this opportunity. Learn the language, culture, and geography. Push themselves outside of their comfort zones and really experience the world, while learning valuable lessons about themselves.

Study so far:
Week 1
Building community - important school locations, rules and expectations

Oral objectives:
Identify the date and the weather; colors; name and age in a complete sentence; and animals from the book "Ours brun, dis-moi"

Reading objectives:
Read the names of colors and the names of numbers from 0 to 10

Writing objectives:
Write numbers 0 to 10; write "je m'appelle Kennedy, j'ai 6 ans"

Math objectives:
Count up to 10; identify numbers of objects from 0 to 10; match a number name with the correct numerical digit

Week 2
Started the French reading program "Gafi" which introduces new words for a ghost, the window, the chair, the table, the pencil, etc.; identify the syllable 'la'; read "Gafi, tralala, c'est moi"; Understand that a sentence starts with a capital and ends with a dot; write a sentence

Math objectives:
Recognize the number of objects in a patterned arrangement, without counting; add parts to make a sum; understand that numbers can be broken into parts of the whole in different ways; write addition expressions to find the whole, given two parts

She is also getting her first spelling test (in English) on Friday. We decided that the on level words were too easy (am, can, map, ham, hat, man, sat, fan, has, tap), so she has been working on the above level words (hand, mask, glad, spat, sand, land, task, snap, bank, scan, and bonus words Matt and paddle). Her grade will be based on both correct spelling and handwriting, which she is getting very good at. I told her that her writing is much better than some adults...like Uncle Andy. And she loved hearing that! Since he is visiting for a few weeks, she showed him some of her homework, and guess what he said, "Hey, your handwriting is better than mine!"

Back to School / La Rentreé

This wraps up the first full week of school. The girls started on Wednesday the 21st, and have had some time to get adjusted to things. I am still struggling. I forget how much time it takes to make breakfast and lunches, help with outfits and hair, pack the bags, give them enough time to play or watch a show while they eat...and get myself ready, too. Plus, the commute to two schools is not fun. We have to get Macy to school by 8:45, which is the earliest she is supposed to be there. I try to make it a quick goodbye, but she isn't always cooperative. Then Kennedy and I race out to her school (in the opposite direction from my office) so she can line up with her class at 9:00. I'll get through this, but I need to get things a little more under control. I have given up on trying to exercise in the morning, and at night I have no desire to cook anything. Sadly, we are all living on a pathetic diet of kid food - pancakes, peanut butter sandwiches, bean and cheese burritos, mac and cheese. I need a salad! One thing I plan to do this long holiday weekend is some meal prep.

So, back to the first day of school...
Macy's day was pretty familiar. She's in the same class, with the same teachers, and most of the same kids. She had a couple of lessons, did some works, ate lunch, took a nap, played outside, had snack, and finished the day with circle time. She was so excited to see Caitrin, and I'm thrilled that those two seem like they are going to be buddies!

Le premier jour de classe...
At Kennedy's new school, they line the kids up outside by class, and then the teachers walk them inside. That means that I couldn't take her to her class, help her find where to hang her backpack, see her at her desk, meet the teachers, and take pictures of my big first grader. It's pretty much chaos trying to find a place to park around the school, and then when the bell rings the kids go crazy running from the playground to the appropriate line. Kennedy found her friend Claire (really more like an acquaintance from Montessori), and they played a bit before getting in line. When I picked her up, Kennedy said that she was in the English class for the morning, even though  I thought we'd arranged with the office to have her in French for the morning. I fretted about that, but we got it straightened out the next day. Her first day was learning the school rules, going on a tour, coloring, tracing letters and numbers, some introductions in French - really basic stuff. She said the most exciting thing about her day was that they got to have three recesses! It made me sad to hear that she mostly played by herself, but I told her not to worry about making new friends because she is such a sweet girl!

Since then, Kennedy has been working on uppercase and lowercase letters, some very easy reading, numbers 1-10 in French, and colors and animals in French. She has an assigned desk in each room. There are 34 kids in her class! About the same size as she had at Montessori, but there she had three teachers. I think the homework will start next week, and maybe the spelling lists, but I have no idea what to expect. Last night we spent quite a bit of time putting together her math workbook, which is all in French. I'll have to start brushing up in order to help her. Things are maybe improving with the friends. Claire wouldn't sit by her for the first few days. Kennedy thought maybe she was worried that Kennedy would try to talk to her during class. She's mentioned a few other girls, but still mainly plays by herself on the playground. She claims to like first grade so far.

Jake covered the back to school night for Kennedy. I feel like I missed out by not being there. Instead I was at Macy's school. Both meetings were scheduled for the exact same time. Grrr! I'm one of the ambassador/community builder parents for the Sequoia Class (new name), so I felt an obligation to attend. At least Kennedy does a pretty good job of filling me in on her daily activities.

Career paths

I couldn't help taking an online quiz about what career your child might have when they grow up. Some of the questions were hard to answer because I felt multiple choices fit, but here are the results:

Kennedy - Careers with Words or People
Your child enjoys anything to do with words—reading, writing, jokes, rhymes and wordplay, as well as debating. Kids with strong verbal and interpersonal skills communicate their thoughts clearly. They can also "read" other people and understand social cues. They're frequently empathetic and outgoing, and friends turn to them for support. They tend to be natural leaders and know how to work the room.

Possible Careers: Writer, journalist, news anchor, editor, blogger, speechwriter, social media expert, teacher, comedian, lawyer, politician, publicist, sales executive, clergy member, psychologist or psychiatrist.

 

Oh yes, that sure sounds like Kennedy! She is obsessed with logic puzzles right now, often doing ten or more a day (and these are at a third grade to fifth grade level.) Sometimes she can figure them out quicker than I can. Yesterday morning while we were driving to grammie and pamp's she came up with the idea to tell stories using rhyming words. She has also started telling me a series of stories about Oliver, a magician's rabbit who learns to perform his own magic tricks. Perhaps she will be an award-winning author of a series of Cat Detective books. Now that I could totally see! Maybe Macy could illustrate them because she is always drawing cats, and most of the time the two of them work and play really well together.            

 

Macy - Careers with Creativity, Art, or Music

Creative kids with visual and spatial skills love to draw, paint, sculpt, and build. They may want to draw on their bedroom walls or choose their own outfits. They respond to colors and recognize patterns. They sing well, pick up musical instruments, respond to melodies and harmonies, and are sensitive to noise. They may also have an ear for foreign languages.

Possible Careers: Artist, graphic designer, illustrator, architect, clothing or interior designer, museum curator, photographer, filmmaker, musician, conductor, songwriter, sound engineer, foreign language translator.

 

Sometimes I forget just how creative Macy is. She really does have an ear for music and loves to do all kinds of art. Her teachers say that she has a knack for Spanish, and she also seems very interested in learning French. She is the one who usually picks out the French apps on the iPad and knows all the songs in the "Princesses Learn French" series. Maybe she will move to Paris and become a famous painter of cats, or travel the world as a musician. Guess it might be time to sign her up for art classes and piano lessons - or the trumpet, which she says is her favorite instrument. Macy is also very skilled at holding her breath underwater. I'm amazed at how long she can swim without coming up for air! Could prove useful for a trumpet player. Although, some field in the movie industry is a strong possibility because boy, oh boy, does that girl love to watch movies! But, perhaps not. She claims that she wants to be a super hero when she grows up.

Reading this makes me wonder what my future career path might have looked like based on my personality at four to six years old. Clearly, I'm more of a words person, like Kennedy. Could she be destined to be a third generation fundraiser?

 

           

Shark teeth

Kennedy finally has a loose tooth, two in fact! She's been dying over the wait since all her friends have lost several already - seven in one case. The two bottom teeth have been a bit wiggly for at lease a month now. Kennedy works at them and patiently lets me check them every day. When we first noticed, I told her that maybe she'd be starting first grade with a big hole in her smile. Well, probably not going to happen because school starts next week! Last night, Kennedy did her best to help the process along by accidentally falling off the couch face first into the coffee table. Now one is really loose and kind of snaggle tooth looking, which goes nicely with the scrapes on her chin from the fall.

Even if one or both teeth manage to come out before the first day of school (I'm betting on at least one), she's already got the two new teeth coming in. It's funny to see two rows of teeth when she opens her mouth, just like a shark. And, she loves that comparison. This summer she has been obsessed with learning about animals and watches the PBS show "Wild Kratts" everyday. Sometimes she even takes notes!

Maybe she can be the marine biologist I always dreamed about becoming when I was a kid. I was in heaven at the Baltimore Aquarium when we visited last week during my research conference. I could watch all those fish swim around for hours - just as long as I'm not underwater with them.

Lately her list of potential career choices has been: cat detective, actress, or choreographer. Seeing her friend Amelia in a children's production of "Romeo and Juliet" while Jake and I were gone has really sparked the acting bug in Kennedy. I have literally had nightmares about acting, but I'll completely support her if she wants to try it out!

She is all registered for her new school, and we were able to switch her classroom so she will be learning French in the morning and be with two girls she knows (Claire from Montessori and Ava from dance class.) I'm so glad to know that she already has a couple of friends. Amelia joined Kennedy's dance class this summer and they will be in the same class again for fall. We'll see Mairead (MaeMae) at soccer, and hopefully find a way to stay in touch with Lucy, too. Kennedy is so excited for all these changes first grade will bring, especially to start learning French. Moi aussi. It's been a long time, and I hope it comes back quickly!

Drama Queen

Macy has a couple of new sayings lately when things aren't going her way. She's become Miss Dramatic with things like, "my life is just ruined!" or "I don't know if there is anything that can make me happy!" Oh boy, I think I see trouble in our future. She has also been breaking down in despair when things don't go quite the way she envisions them, like when she draws pictures of cats. If the head isn't round enough, the whiskers are too long, or the ears aren't close to the same size...well, the entire picture is completely ruined! I try to help her see that part of making something creative is that it doesn't always turn out the way you plan. Sometimes I try to help correct what see sees as errors - see, Macy, if we make this line a little thicker or color this bit in or turn that circle into a cloud instead of the sun (which she always draws as a cat's face with a lion's mane)...how's that? Sometimes that seems to satisfy her, but other times the tears won't stop and the whole project is abandoned. She has no problem drawing cats with 10+ legs, eyelashes, or long hair, so it's not about the realism. I hope this is just a phase!

Kennedy is also very dramatic, but more in a theatrical way. She loves to act out plays or put on shows. She uses lots of range of voice and gestures, makes up songs and dance numbers, and is completely annoyed if people don't pay attention to her performances. During our girls' week, she wanted to be our dance teacher and choreograph a number for us to learn. Kennedy has no problem when Macy asks her to pretend to be daddy cat or grandpa cat or brother cat, but she prefers to be a girl when they play. Lately they have been playing lots of "Pirates!" with Kennedy as the captain and Macy as some sort of pirate cat. I tried to get her into a children's theater camp for the summer, but we just couldn't make it work with her dance class. 

Dance has been going really well, and she loves her two-hour intensive class, especially since her friend Amelia has joined it. Kennedy reports that jazz and lyrical are her favorite styles, ballet is getting much harder, and she's not so sure about hip hop. I think the whole concept of "attitude" as part of the dance style is confusing to her, and it doesn't sound like the teacher did much to explain other than saying to have it (she was a sub, and apparently that part of class has gotten better now that Miss Lisa is back.) Sometimes when she's being moody or sassy at home we say, "attitude, Kennedy" to her - like, adjust it now. I told her we can do Hip Hop Abs at home together to work on our moves.

Soccer is over for the season. The Burgundy Bombers turned out to be a great team. Kennedy and MaeMae were the only two girls, but they held their own. A boy from Macy's Blue class, Alex, was also on the team and it was fun to get to know his mom a bit better. Jake and Christiaan are getting the hang of this coaching thing, and really interact well with the kids. Kennedy played her best game ever, scoring two goals and really keeping after the ball, but unfortunately it was the one night that Jake skipped for his softball league.

Macy sure has made her summer easy by deciding not to do anything. No dance. No soccer. Just playing...and watching movies. That was pretty much her request, so we honored it.

Book Love

Macy was so happy yesterday to find that Kennedy and I had picked up a huge stack of books about cats while she was at dance. We had to stop and get some cat food after her class, but she refused to come in the store with us. She insisted on waiting in the car so that she could read through them all. Since the shop is in a tiny strip mall and it wasn't too hot outside, I had no problem with this. One of Macy's favorite cat books is "Mrs. Crump's Cat" by Linda Smith. One other recent library book (suprisingly not about cats) that I had to read over and over was "I Had a Favorite Dress" by Boni Ashburn; I think Julia Denos might be my favorite children's book illustrator.

Books make Kennedy happy, too. We just finished "Babe: The Gallant Pig" by Dick King-Smith, which she loved and I can't wait to watch the movie with her. It's always been one of my favorites! Next we started on "The Racketty-Packetty House" by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I didn't realize that it's over 100 years old, but she loves it and says that my old dollhouse is just like the racketty-packetty one in the book. Kennedy has big plans to work on fixing it up this summer. She already has a project list in her mind: paint, carpet, wallpaper, repair and install the stairs, fix the broken furniture, glue the porch railings back on, maybe lighting...we'll see. For now the dollhouse gets lots of play, just the way it is. We had to take book eight from the Sisters Grimm series back before we could get through it, but that will be on our list again soon. Part of the storyline takes place in Oz, which is a nice tie-in to the dance concert and the old Wizard of Oz VHS I found at my parents' house, which we also will have to get to.

I found an adorable book at the library with embroidery patterns for dogs and cats. I think I may have to try to make something for Andrew and Toshiko's baby who will be born next month. We can't wait to meet her! If it works out, I imagine I'll be ordering the book on Amazon and will have to make something for Kennedy and Macy, too. I'm going to sign up for a sewing class. The idea was somewhat inspired by the "I Had a Favorite Dress Book" but it's also something I've wanted to learn for a while. The few lessons I had in my junior high home economics class did not stick at all. Then I can start checking out books on sewing patterns.

In my book group, we read "The Man Who Loves Books Too Much" by Allison Hoover Bartlett. I don't think I will ever be drawn to collecting rare books like the guy in the story, but I do love books. Novels, non-fiction, and short stories I enjoy in the moment, but tend to forget much too quickly. I have way too many cookbooks, but looking through them makes me happy. In fact, I love books that make me feel like I have untapped talents (and who knows, maybe I do) waiting to emerge if only I had more time and energy to pursue them. I can spend hours flipping through books (with pictures!) on home improvement, gardening, decorating, fashion, sewing, stitching, cleaning and organizing, etc. It's my low-tech version of Pinterest. I'm not looking forward to the day when the girls don't want me to read with them anymore. Cuddling together in their bed and reading bedtimes stories is one of the best parts of my day! Even if I'm tired or cranky, it's so easy to get lost in the magic of the stories, especially seeing it through the eyes of my children - even when they constantly interrupt, argue over who is sleeping where or with which stuffed animal, or demand the same book over and over and over.