Has the kid gotten "in trouble" at pre-school and school before?  Yes, of course.  That's normal.  Yesterday I got a message from the teacher that actually bothered me... but even as I type that I back up and think of Sheldon on Big Bang Theory when his mother told him that it was okay to be smarter than everyone, you just can't tell them that.  Is it "being mean" if a word spoken is technically accurate?  Yes - even in a world that tell us to be blissfully accepting of being this word.  I was disappointed.  We talked.  She cried.  She isn't a mean kid, so it was hard.

First grade is going quickly... and quite well!  The first semester is already over.  Since my last post here we've gone to 100 Acres Farm for Halloween (kid friendly) activities, we saw Beetlejuice 2, we went on our Icon of the Seas cruise, we lost our beloved Saffy, catechism has started back up, she started singing lessons, and she started a trial of Jujitsu.

Actually, the school where she started offers both Jujitsu and Muay Thai.  Tonight she tries the later for the first time, but her response to Jujitsu was "I want to come here every day."  Singing didn't receive that high of praise, but she seems to enjoy it as well.  I am excited that she is finding things that she enjoys enough to explore.

Tomorrow she goes on a school field trip and for better or worse my name was drawn out of those willing to help chaperone.

7!

It was a very busy weekend. We spent most of Saturday with my sister, who helped us prepare cupcakes for Avery's party.  There was cleaning and putting out Halloween decorations on Friday afternoon and into Saturday.  Sunday was church, last minute prep, and post party cleanup.  I'm exhausted -- but the girl had a good weekend and a happy birthday, that's all that really matters.

She celebrated 7 with her neighbor friends, a few old school friends, and Nonna/Nonno.  The Halloween theme was a success.

Class Schedule

The girl jumped on that bus like a pro first day.  She was the second person picked up and I did see that she sat down with the other person on the bus.  After the fact I learned it was a Kindergarten girl -- doesn't that warm your heart ?  I'm so happy she sat down with someone who could have been pretty nervous right then.  I know if Avery came home LAST year and told me someone sat w/ her first day I would have been so grateful to that kid.  Today they adjusted the bus route a bit so there were a few other kids already on the bus.

I've been warning her that she'll start learning harder stuff each year... well here's her schedule:

• Arrival
• Morning Announcements
• Morning Meeting
• Phonics
• Reading
• Spelling
• Lunch at 11
• Handwriting
• Recess
• Bible
• Math
• Dismissal

On Mondays they also have a Library session, Tuesdays a Gym session, Wednesdays an Art session, Fridays both a Music Session and Chapel.

I am oddly excited for spelling.

Teachers and Bedtimes

We finally have a teacher's name.  We have meet the teacher on Tuesday.  I can't believe she goes back to school -- 1st grade -- on Thursday!  Avery is ready to go back, but she isn't ready to have an earlier bed time.  I've started her waking to her alarm every day and pulled it back by an hour for tomorrow; I think we'll back it up by another half an hour for the next three days.

Wish us luck!  The backpack is ready to go.

Buses and Birthdays

Two weeks for both.  New bus number this year and she will be getting on a little earlier in the morning and getting off a little earlier in the afternoon.

The girl decided she wants a Halloween themed birthday.  While I might get some odd looks from the bakery I guess I should go all in and get things in order for her to have a few friends here.  The next two weeks will be a bit of chaos, but I guess she's worth it.  1st grade... 7 years old... here we come!

Keeping July Jumpin

We had our 5th of July shin-dig with our neighbors and the girl had a blast with her hood crew.  So did I!

This week, while a few of those neighbors are leaving for vacations, the girl headed to VBS at her old pre-school's church.  This is a half-day program, but she loves it, so we were in.  To our pleasure several of her old friends were there, so she got to see some old friends again.  Next week she heads back to Camp Splash.

Today we took our first visit to the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden.  Seriously, why haven't I been there before?  What a treasure!  It was hot (as it has been for most of this summer so far) so we were there less than 2 hours, but I will totally be back.

Girl knows how to party

This past weekend was all late nights for the girl.  On Saturday we hung out with the neighbors and it turned into her first sleep over.  Honestly, I didn't think I would be okay with her doing sleepovers.  It's a different world we live in.  I would be hard pressed to get to know the family of school friends well.  My comfort with my neighbors surprises even me.

This of course means she was up late.  We woke early the next morning for church and she refused to nap later that day (unlike me) which is why she crashed on the drive home on Sunday night.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch up with two old college friends, as one was driving this way to pick his son up from the airport.  It's such a weird dynamic to be with your friends from when you were 20 in the presence of your 6 year old.

Summering

Here we are, a month into Avery's first official summer break.  She spent the first two weeks staying up late and sleeping in even later followed by tv time and playing outside with her neighborhood friends.  Yes, I made her do a bit of "school work" each day, it wasn't 100% work-free.

From there we headed out on our first cruise for 2024, a 9 nighter out of Baltimore  The weather wasn't pristine, but we still had a great time.  She loved the kids club and made a friend there.  She also killed it on the rock wall, conquering two of the six paths available.  I don't know how she had the energy but she was running every step of the way in Cococay looping around on the free water slides.

Now that we're back home she is spending this week at Camp Splash, a swim camp at our local public pool.  Here too she made a friend, and my advice to repeat the person's name seemed to help her remember another new friend's name!

Next week we have some activities planned for the 4th and subsequent weeks will take her back to Camp Splash and two Vacation Bible Schools.  She does have a "gap" the few weeks before school starts back up.  At this point I plan to revert to the chill strategy we had as the summer started.

Fellow Grads

Last night Avery got to hang out with our neighbors a few doors down.  The eldest is also a K grad.  Today she got to go hang with her bestie.  Summer is off to a good start.  Doubt I can keep up that pace of action packed fun for her, but I am sure she will have a great summer.

First Grade Here We Come!

Just like that, Kindergarten is over.  Today we celebrated with Avery's graduation ceremony.  It was nicely done and the kids did a great job.  Her answer to what she wants to be when she grows up... "Work on my computer from home" got a pretty good chuckle from me.  We went for a post-ceremony breakfast and later went to meet her bestie at the trampoline house.  It was a good day.

This means that she will now be here at the house while I work.  Time to come up with a schedule to keep her learning and engaging her brain rather than sitting like a log in front of the tv.

I can stick my tongue through!

I was right - one week later and another tooth came out (bottom left front).  She loves sticking the top of her tongue through.  I can see the buds of the first tooth coming back up through.  Nothing else is notably loose at this point.

We had a great weekend.  Friday we hunt out with the neighborhood crew in mass and had a blast.  Saturday Avery had her friend from Pre-K, Tucker, come over to play.  We also scheduled play dates for subsequent weeks to hang out with other friends.

This week and next we have swim lessons once again.  Time to get ready for the summer!

I lost a tooof

It happened! She walked into my room first thing this morning (before my alarm even much less hers) with a huge smile on her face and carrying a tooth (bottom right front).  I bet the other bottom front tooth goes within a week.

Easter Preparations

We love our neighborhood - and our neighborhood friends!  Yesterday Avery got to participate in a 4 house Easter egg hunt with our neighbors.  Each house had a ton of eggs out and we had a blast.  We also survived the long mass for palm Sunday this weekend.  I think this is the first year where Avery is really understanding what we're celebrating.

Last night she had a rare bad dream that had her up and quite distraught shortly after going to bed.  How do parents of kids with frequent nightmares or night terrors do it?  It breaks my heart to see her so upset.

Also, the teeth are still hanging tight.

Loosey Toothy

Not one, but two.  Finally, she's so excited - the bottom two front teeth are both wiggling.  Her expectations of her tooth fairy are pretty high given how friends have scored with their tooth fairies.  We'll see how that goes.

We are very much in the routine of school and the weekends blasting by.  Homework gets completed and every chance we get we head outside to play.  Fortunately there has been some pretty unseasonably pleasant weather lately, so we've had opportunities to hang out with our neighbor friends.

It also seems to be birthday season.  We've attended two parties in the past month and a half and have another two coming up in the next few weeks.

We did a spur of the moment event earlier this week when I spotted a Bubble Show going on at the fairgrounds.  The price was reasonable enough so I bought us tickets while she was at school and announced we had somewhere to go when she got home.  It was ok in my book.  She dug it, that's all that matters.  My expectations for these types of things have definitely been elevated thanks to cruising.

Snow Day

An actual snow day!  Friday was off too and eventually the snow came.  Avery got to play with neighbor friends throwing snow and doing some light sledding.  We love our neighbors.

Slop Day

I can't call it a snow day.  This morning there was wind, sleet, and messiness.  School was closed!  We cracked open her Blizzard bag and completed her at home activities and she watched a ton of tv.  *shrug*  If there was at least snow we could have gone out to play for a bit.