Dancing it out every morning

My apologies to my neighbors.  I'm not a good dancer or singer.  But each morning after we head outside to wait for the bus we turn on iHeartRadio's 80's station and start spinning and dancing.  There's something about JCM's Little Pink Houses that gets me going at 7:30am.

The day will come when she doesn't want me to even look outside, much less walk outside, when the bus comes.  When she won't dance with me.  When she'll be too heavy or too mature for me to spin.  Until then, we dance.

Awesome Progress

The very next day (after my previous post) Avery came home bounding off of the bus and telling me she made a friend!  There is now a girl that she turns back and waves to saying "I'll see you tomorrow!" every day.  My heart is happy to see her happy.

She seems to be doing quite well at school.  We had one day with a bit of "trouble" where she got a yellow star vs green, blue, or purple.  I can see the improvement in her handwriting.  Her reading too - we read Green Eggs and Ham tonight and she did a good bit of reading with some encouragement.

They just sent out an email looking for kids that want to do their 8-week robotics after school activity.  She didn't seem interested at first, but when I showed her the bee-bot videos the school posted last year she was into it.  Of course, she doesn't want to not ride the bus, but it's only 1 day a week for 8 weeks and a good excuse for me to cut out early to go pick her up.

Making Friends is Hard

It happens to all of us, and I knew it was coming for me, but I am so ill prepared to see my baby crying because of friends.  She came home tonight a bit tired, so that didn't help.  Before bed she told me that she didn't have anyone to sit with on the bus.  She said she asked a girl to sit with her but she ignored Avery.  I suspect that Avery whispered it and the girl didn't hear her, but still.  The tears came and she was so sad.

I did my best to tell her that she doesn't remember when she started at her previous school knowing no one.  Then we counted off all of her friends there that would scream her name excitedly to see her -- because they got to know her and how wonderful she is

Otherwise, school seems to be going well.  Lord help me to help her little aching heart.

Kindergarten.

And just like that summer is over!  Our vacation at the end of July was amazing.  Avery and I had a blast at the beach -- literally, as we got to see a SpaceX launch from the beach.  We also loved our pre-cruise hotel and made many a circles around their lazy river.  The cruise itself was also fantastic, particularly getting to go to both Labadee and Cococay, but we also loved the port area in the Dominican Republic too.  I am very grateful for that quality time with her before the chaos that is school years commenced.

Speaking of school - we wrapped up at Up with Kids back on the 17th leaving a few days off where she got to sleep in, veg in front of the TV, and hit a few doctor appointments (dentist, chiro, and eye doctor).  We also had kindergarten orientation to attend.

The first day of school went well. To my surprise and her extreme pleasure she actually got a bus and not a van.  Did I cry?  Yep, you bet I did. I even cried the second day.  She did so well and popped on that bus looking confident.  She had green and blue stars for her first two days, so it looks like we're off to a good start.  She bought school lunch the first day (and came home excited that she got to pick between chocolate and regular millk) and packed the second day.

Getting things in order

After a few appointments not only is Avery's back looking better, but she's feeling better.

In the past few weeks we've been busy.  There was a Thursday trip to Kennywood w/ her bestie.  She had a blast!  She is also quite brave and was willing to ride everything that she was able to ride.

Last week she attended vacation bible school at the church where her daycare is.  She has talked about last year's VBS ever since, so I knew it was a win.  She again had a blast.  This week she is at summer fun week at our church.  I'm hoping they make it fun, but I suspect she isn't going to be impressed.  Let's put it this way:  1).  We pulled into the parking lot and she said "wait, it's at the church I don't like?"  2).  They do mass right at 8am.  The good news is this week is all day (from 8am-4pm) rather than half day like last week.

I tried to capitalize on the time w/ her last week in the afternoons.  We went to the pool a couple of times, where she got to play with some friends.  We also got her hair cut and had our nails done in prep for upcoming vacations.  Yesterday we capped off by hitting the pool again with her bestie.

She's crooked I tell you.

Her back that is.  I was washing Avery's back; she was leaning forward with her head bent down.  I could see the bones in her back and straight they were not.  I freaked out inside, I'm not going to lie.

Fortunately, our chiropractor got us in, even though neither of us have been there in prb 2 years.  No need for xrays etc, but they did adjust her.  She's was a wee bit sore last night and this morning.  We do go back again next week to make sure she's staying in place.  She did say she felt better ... and here I was not knowing that her back even bothered her!

Super duper officially a kindergartener

Today Avery had her graduation ceremony from Pre-K2.  She has the certificate, cap, gown, photos, balloons, and flowers to show for it.  Aunt Jackie is in visiting, which was perfect timing to be here for the big event.  Aunt Susanne and cousin Katie also came in for a few days, and Nonna and Nonno made the drive to participate.

All of the kids did a great job singing.  They also had a blast running around at the reception that followed.  Avery got photos with most of her friends.

So there you have it, she's ready to start kindergarten - and if you ask her she's ready to go tomorrow.  Slow down kid.