Ocali Days

Katherine's Kindergarten class went on their first field trip of the year and I got to go.  The boys spent time with Bamah and Papa and I got to spend the day with our little girl who is growing so fast and beautifully.

Marion County has an event each year called Ocali Country Days.  It's a chance to experience old time music, storytellers and historical re-enactors portraying life on a late 1800's Marion County farmstead.  Mrs. H's Kindergarten class has been learning about Florida history so this was perfect.

I believe Katherine's favorite part would be buying her rock necklace or even her rock candy, but my favorite part wasn't tangible.  Anna, a classmate, rode with us.  She and Katherine chatted, giggled and showed Valley-girl tendencies for the 20 minute ride there.  I loved listening to them.  There were many times I could have interjected something Mom-like, but it was more interesting to hear how the conversation morphed.  I don't know how it happens, but 2 little girls will almost always find a way to be dramatic.  Shocker, I know.  It didn't matter if they were commenting on a benign cloud in the sky or the boring grey color of a nearby car, they found a way to dramatize it with their speech, eyes, head-tilting, neck rolling and voice inflection.

I loved watching Katherine interact with the other kids.  She's still reserved and doesn't go out of her way to expose her heart or feelings, but there are traces of independence and confidence creeping into her actions.

Here they are grinding sugar cane into a liquid.  Jim grew that sugar cane.

She's made some friends.  She is, by far, the shyest kid in class, but even the gregarious children are including her and asking for her to participate, which she does willingly.

I love that she still wants me to hold her hand in unfamiliar places.  And I don't initiate letting go, I'll let her do that.  I still enjoy holding her sweet, soft little hand in mine.

She was so careful to stay next to me the entire time.  I am still more of a safety net than the soon-to-be ball and chain that insists on coming along.

She's progressing quite well in school academically and socially.  She's eager to practice her reading and still enjoys going.  Although, during this Thanksgiving break she has commented on how much she enjoys staying at home.

All in all, it was a nice, low-key trip that gave me invaluable, precious one-on-one time to spend with my little growing girl.

Time to ourselves

Since Sister has started Kindergarten, he's had lots of time to reflect and do things by himself he hasn't had the chance to do as a middle child.  Like, doctor the dog.

  

He can be so gentle when he wants to be.

I'm gonna pretend like I don't know where that suction ball has been and let them keep playing with it.

 

Learn how to write letters in shaving cream.

  

See how many bubbles we can fill up the sink with.

 

All the while explaining that this is the car wash for his monster trucks.

It's all such important stuff, you know.  Stuff that gets put on the back burner when you have a mom that's stretched beyond recognition with just trying to stay up with wash, meals and refereeing for a family of 5.

You see, Kindergarten can be very tiring for everyone.

 

Some of my precious views in the car picking up Sister...

Grading the first week of Kindergarten

It's official! Our first week of Kindergarten was a huge success and it got an A+!

I wasn't expecting it to be horrible, but I certainly wasn't ready to be as blessed as we were.

Other than some first day jitters, the rest of the week was as if she had been going to school for years already.

Picking out clothes for the first day of school.

The 2nd day, through God's providence, we arrived super early and had to wait a long time in the hallway. Unbeknownst to me, the 25 minute wait actually allowed her to soak in all the sights and sounds on her own terms and slowly. I actually had to remind her to hug me before she walked into class. Total 180 from the day before.

Wednesday for pick-up, I surprised her by going through the car line, because Nathan was still asleep. She seemed a little surprised by it at first, but said it was okay.

Daddy helping her make her first lunch for school.

Thursday when I picked her up she was pouting because she wanted to "go back." "Go back to where, honey?" "To school" she said all mule-lipped. Can we say, music to mommy's ears? She's enjoying it. She's wanting to go back. She's making friends. As much as I miss my little girl being away, if she does have to be away, I at least want her to love it. So far it seems, we're heading that way.

Today after walking her for the last time to her classroom, me and the boys stayed around long enough to watch the K-3 through 5th graders come outside for the Pledge and Prayer. Katherine didn't know we were watching, but we were. I was touched by their innocent reverence to the flag and their remarkable quietness during the prayer.

I feel blessed beyond comprehension for the opportunity for her to go to school there.


One other hidden benefit from all this schooling is my brand new, can't-afford-to-be-the-night-owl routine. Soon after Jim's alarm goes off, mine does too. I never considered "sleeping in" until 7am to be a privilege, but now I do. I've noticed that Jim is a nicer, more talkative person in the morning, and if we can figure out how to keep the middle child asleep past when the clock starts with a 5, there actually might be something to waking up early. I will never, ever, never-ever really like waking up early, but I'm starting to see the benefits to it and a schedule.

Nathan has benefited greatly from Katherine being away at school also. Our potty-training struggles seem to be lessening. There's more time for me to commit to him and our plight towards a diaper-less house. I purposely dedicated time to playing with him every day this week so he would experience some positive reinforcements while she was gone. And he's proving to be a totally different kid. He's the Big Cheese from 8-3, and I'm pretty sure he likes it.

Night before school starts, he didn't understand all the attention and wanted Daddy to quit taking his picture.

Like I said before, this week got an A+. I thank God for the obvious benefits of this new schedule and new school and for the hidden ones yet to be discovered.

Our Kindergartener

Today was a BIG day in our house. Just like the other thousands of students in our little town, but this year, it just happened to be happening to us.

For the first time we experienced one of those rite of passages we call: Kindergarten.

Our baby, who somehow over the last couple of days or so, turned 5 earlier this year and all of a sudden got big enough to go to school. What? Shut-up!

I'm not going to fill this space with stories about me. I tend to do that often on this blog, but not today. This one is about Her. Our Kindergartener.

Her new school requires uniforms. She was hesitant at first about wearing them, but after a really cool shopping trip with mommy and her brother that doesn't talk back yet, she was stoked about wearing the special clothes she had picked out. There were no twirly dresses, but I'm starting to get the feeling that we might be growing out of them.

She really liked the idea of picking out new shoes.

She already knew where her classroom was, because she's sat in there every Sunday for Children's Church.

She's familiar with the playground and campus for the same reason.

She was a trooper when practicing getting up early last week and getting dressed and ready.

She enjoyed practicing the car line route last week and me explaining how she'd eventually get out on her own without me walking in with her.

She was excited about packing a lunch last night with Daddy's help.

She shyly answered 'Yes' to people's questions about being excited or ready to start school.

She was preoccupied with Daddy's IPad on the way there this morning.
She confidently got out of the car with her whole family there supporting her on her big day.

She walked up to the building, through the doors, down the hallway and up to the classroom with no incident. No hesitation, tears or quivering lips.

She helped me put her bag inside her cubby and we admired how her teacher had prepared her pencil box with just the right items in it.

She coyly waved to a church friend who's in her class.

Then I encouraged her to sit down in her chair, the spot in the room labeled just for her, and that wasn't what was right in her world. The reality of what was about to happen started to settle in her mind. I had done everything I could have possibly done to prepare her for this day, except the one thing I couldn't have done. The actual leaving part was one we couldn't ever practice. It had to be unrehearsed and fresh.

She got hugged and kissed and reassured and had her cheeks stroked and reassured and then had her arms gently pried from around her mother's neck. Forcefully prying her arms away from mama just made it worse, as learned from previous attempts. So, when the teacher and teacher's assistant didn't respond because they were busy with 17 other students and their families, mama turned for daddy and asked for help.

I'm not exactly sure what he said to her or her teacher, because I was in the hallway hoping she wouldn't see me, but it worked. We were the last to leave the empty hallway and the last image I have of her was one of the teacher gently placing her hands on Katherine's shoulders, pointing to the paper for her to color.

We remembered her through the day by keeping up with her schedule posted on our bulletin board. When she had reading group, her lunch time, her rest time, etc.

We loaded back up, her personal entourage for the day, made the trek back to school and parked the car. The boys stayed in the car while Mama patiently waited outside under the covered walkway for our big girl to be released.

One by one by one, children from K3-4th grade were released.

And Mama patiently waited. Anxiously waited. Proudly waited.

And there she came, carrying her Hello Kitty bag. A bag almost big enough for her to fit in.

She walked very controlled and lady like up to Mama, who was on one knee, ready to hug our sweet baby girl. Mama had to be careful not to squeeze too tight. It was a real concern.

Then Mama whispered in her ear, "Did you have fun today, baby?"

She said, "Yes."

Then mama whispered, "Would you like to come back tomorrow?"

And she said, "Yes."

Mama's heart all of a sudden weighed about 10 pounds lighter.

We almost skipped back to the car, like a bunch of schoolgirls. Mama and Dada did the best we could to listen to her tell us about her day over the Atomic Fart app her brother was playing with on the IPad.

We decided to celebrate by going out to eat supper @ Moe's with our neighbors, Mr. J and Mrs. P.

Congratulations Katherine. Your daddy and I could NOT be more proud of you, our beautiful, big, smart, kind, gentle and tender girl. Our Kindergartener.

1.5 weeks

3.5 months
11 months
18 months
2.5
First day of school at 3.5
First day of homeschooling at 4.5
Our Kindergartener