Huck

Update on Huck and school- he has walked himself into class all week with no tears!  He looks forward to going to school and is talking more about what he does during the day.  His teacher, Miss Bridget, says he likes to stay near to her and often reaches up to hold her hand.  Miss Eunice commented that he is quiet but when he speaks he speaks well.  That is great to hear since I was so concerned about his speech just 6 months ago.  He insists on wearing his backpack into the classroom instead of hanging it up on his hook, but his teachers seem to be okay with that.  I hear him singing songs and saying little rhymes that he must have learned at school.  He can count to 10- sometimes- and even counted out 10 blocks the other day.  He is working on colors and gets most of them right most of the time.  Yay!  So glad he is enjoying it. 

Some cute things he has said lately:

"Me no go to school, me go play golf."

"Don't worry, Mom.  Me big boy now."

"I know, yight?"  Pretty sure he learned this one from big sis...

And to answer any question he doesn't know the answer to...  "dum dum dah dah!"

School

Back to School!  To be honest, I really wasn't quite ready for school to start again this year.  I did not reach the point of fatigue of having my kiddos around all the time.  I enjoyed to slower starts to the morning, not having to make school lunches, the freedom to decide to just pick up and go swimming, not having a deadline to have to have the laundry done by...  But I was ready to go to the grocery store without 3 kids in tow.  And the bickering started to increase the last week or so.  Regardless, August 26th arrived and the big kids were back again.

Bubba is in 3rd grade this year.  His teacher in Miss Looney.  She is a first year teacher but seems very organized and eager.  She has some creative ideas and the kids like her.  She says she has a really sweet group of kids.  I believe right now he has 19 or 20 kids in his class.  2 or 3 kids had to move to another school because there is not enough room for their younger siblings in 1st grade.  He already has 1200 minutes of reading in the first 3 weeks, thanks to the Percy Jackson series.  To put that into perspective, the school strives for each kid to have at least 600 minutes in 6 weeks.  He finished all 5 Percy Jackson books since school started.  Now we need to find another series as he really prefers to read a series of books as opposed to a single novel.  He has several of The Guardians of Ga'Hoole books so I think we will try those. I am room mom for his class again.

 

 

 He is doing ballet again and they started several weeks ago.  It is getting serious!  Last week they started learning to do pirouettes!  And they stretch with their legs up on the barre!  He has said the girls are less silly and don't goof around with him as much, which is a good thing. 

Duchess started 1st grade.  Her teacher is Mrs. Edwards and she has been teaching at Wallace for 15 years.  She really seems like she wants to meet the individual needs of each student to the best of her ability.  Duchess's class started out with 27 students!  I think they are down to 25 now and supposedly will get down to the state mandated 22.  Apparently there are tons of first graders in the Lake Highlands areas and all of the area first grades are full!  One school added an entire section of first grade and that is still not enough room.  These "overflow" students are having to go to other elementary schools in the district and the older siblings are going with them.  They are deciding who stays and who goes based on when the enrollment forms were turned in, so we are safe!  She insists that she does not have homework- that the packet of papers she brings home which are to be completed at home and returned to school is not homework.  It is just papers to do at home and take back.  Not sure why she is so resistant to calling it "homework"... 

Ballet is also going well for her.  She gets to use the barre for the first time this year, which is Very Exciting. 

Huck started Mother's Day Out at a little church just down the road.  I was not able to take him his first day because I had a meeting at work.  Daddy took him the first day.  He dutifully took lots of pictures for me.  It started out okay as you can see...

 

 

 

 

 

 

All smiles, even when he went into the classroom... 

Until he realized Daddy was leaving and he was staying...

Then the pout came out.  Then the tears. Then an escape attempt...  But his teacher reported that he calmed down and was mostly happy during the day.  His teachers are Miss Bridget and Miss Eunice.  He is going 3 days a week, Tues, Wed and Thurs, from 9-2:30.  They have rest time from 12-2 and Huck has actually slept.  He does not like being dropped off AT ALL.  He starts saying "Me no want to go school" or "No like school" or "Mommy stay with me" in a very sad voice.  I dropped him off yesterday and it was a little bit better.  We sang a Going to School song all the way there, singing about the fun things he would do at school and I think it may have helped.  He says he likes school when he is at home.  He is able to talk about what he did that day and proudly shows off his art work.  So we'll stick with it and see how he adjusts.

You would think that I have been very productive with all this "free time" without kids, but not so much...  I'll get there, too, I'm sure.  Right now I am enjoying even slower mornings after drop offs are complete!




Six

Yowza!  Is it six or sixteen?  Sometimes I wonder...  First, let's hear from the girl herself.

Duchess, at what age do you think a person is a grown-up? 
probably, ummm, 21 and older

If you could be invisible for one day, what would you do? 
That's not real.  Well, I would scare Huck by sneaking up on him and screaming Boo!

What is something that makes our family special?
 That there are 5 people?  Or that there are 2 girls and 3 boys? 

Are you a good friend? and why?
 Sure, Because I let people play with me.  And I gave P something.

How would the world be different if animals could talk?
It would be funny, very funny.  What do you think they would have to say? Lions would say "I'm going to eat you."  Giraffes would say "My neck is long." 

What is the best thing about being a kid?
You don't die when you are a kid.

What is the worst thing? 
I don't know.  I fight with my brothers.

What is your favorite place in the world? 
The Beach! and the pool

If you could give one gift to every kid in the world, what would it be? 
Shoes.

Tell me 5 words that you would use to describe yourself. 
brown hair, kinda short hair, brown eyes, tan skin, don't wear earrings.  Those describe how you look.  What about words to describe your personality?  when I meet someone new I am shy, I can not do the monkey bars, kind, I like flowers, I like kites?  (clearly she doesn't quite get this concept yet...)

If you could invent something, what would it be?
a time machine!  What would you do with it? I would use it to go to William and Dillon's house again or to the beach again.

 

What is your favorite:
color: turquoise
food: soup
song: Happy Birthday
book: Princess books
activity: crafts
toy: Polly Pocket
subject at school: recess  What real subject?  Science
friend: Peyton and Vivian
animal: zebras and giraffes
TV show: Sofia and Doc
movie: Cinderella

 

What does Dad like to do? 
sleep and eat chocolate cake

What does Mom like to do?
play Candy Crush

What makes you special? 
I'm nice

What is one thing you would most like to do? 
Go to the pool

What would you like to write a book about? 
 Princess

Describe what you look like. 
See above

What are you looking forward to this year? 
 Buddy Fun Day

What did you accomplished as a 5 year-old? 
I learned that some rocks can float, (interview interrupted by Huck dragging her out of the room to help build a tent...)  I learned that you can't mix red, yellow and blue.  And I lost her to the playroom!


Duchess, my Duchess.  What a great kid you are.  I really do enjoy spending time with you, especially when we get a chance to do it one-on-one.  This has been a great year for you.  Kindergarten was fun and you learned a lot.  You made some good friends and spent time on play dates at friend's houses.  You learned to read even though sometimes you forget that you can read as well as you can!  School work was not tough for you and you always had good behavior in school.  You enjoyed art and had a piece of art displayed in a district wide art show!  You enjoy doing crafts but get frustrated when it doesn't turn out the way you'd like. 

You are a great big sister and spend lots of time playing with Huck.  He loves to play with you even if it means he has to dress up in princess dresses.  The two of you will disappear into your bedroom and not be heard from for quite some time.  You and your big brother are spending more time fighting these days... but still like to watch TV and play video games together.  For your birthday you got an American Girl doll and have had lots of fun with it.  You love to have matching outfits with her :-) 

 

At times you can be a bit dramatic and can have a very shrill screech that I understand is quite common among your peers.  There is never any doubt as to how you are feeling. 

You continued with ballet this year and did quite well.  You were not a bit nervous for your recital and you did wonderfully.  You started learning to ride a bike without training wheels and are close to mastering that.  We just need it to cool down a bit so that you can get more practice time in!  Your swimming is much improved and by the end of the summer you had braved the slide at a friend's pool- and loved it!

You got to celebrate your birthday 4 times this summer!  First in your class at school, second we opened your family presents at home before we left for the beach, 3rd at the beach with the extended family, and 4th with your friends at the American Girl doll store! 

I am looking forward to seeing what this year brings!  Look out First Grade!

*note- for some reason Blogger has decided not to let me put any more pictures up...  Maybe Sunday afternoon is not the best time to attempt as the server is probably busy.  We'll go swimming instead of me fighting with it.  I'll put up more pictures soon.