Triplets -- and the Other Sister

Six months of silence ends today.

There are four girls in M's preschool class. There are 18 kids total.

The three cuties above have been close for almost two years. 

The one on the left will be in M's kindergarten class next year, and assuming nobody moves, they will be together for the remainder of their elementary years.

The one on the right is M's little buddy and her soccer pal and I anticipate they will be friends for a while, even with them going to different schools in the fall.

They are the triplets.

The "other sister" is another little girl who, according to her teacher, often gets excluded from the fun.

At conferences last year, M's teacher told us that B really liked M and hinted that it would be nice if M took her under her wing and facilitated an integration of sorts, since it seemed that M was the bridge that joined the two parties.

D and I touched the subject with her. But after bit of discussion, we both decided that at the end of the day, she was only five, and that as long as she wasn't being mean and being obviously exclusive, which wasn't the case as we understood it, she couldn't -- nor should she have to -- shoulder the weight of the world at such a young age. 

I still stand by that; albeit not very firmly. Truth is, I wobble around quite a bit on the topic.

Yesterday M's teacher told me that she had a talking to with the girls last week because they straight up told B that she couldn't play with them. B came up to her in near tears :(  

Today, the Triplets were born....and of course the "other sister" too.

Did they realize what was going on there? Or was this their way of including her?

Really? 

Already? 

God Help Me

Today is Summer

"Today is Summer" were the first words out of M's mouth this morning. They were followed by, "we can go swimming in the pools and whatever." That we live in the Northwest has no bearing on her comments. She's out of school therefore it's summer and when it's summer, you swim.

Yesterday was her last day of school....and if you've been around a while, you know that means that there was a picture on the front porch.

There was an ice creams social at school and some posing with her buddies.

Both kids were blessed with great teachers this year.

M learned so much and J continues to thrive!

As soon as the preschool functions were complete, we headed over to Burfort Park for J's end of year picnic. Mr. H does an amazing job of putting together certificates for each kid with an adjective that describes them. His wife said this is something that starts at the beginning of the year because he really wants to make sure that he gets it right. 

J's adjective was earnest:

Resulting from or showing intense conviction

Today was J's last day of school

Actually, it was a half day, so by noon when they got off the bus, the neighborhood moms had a whole spread of junk food laid out, a bunch of water balloons, water guns, sidewalk chalk, and music.

Our neighborhood rocks.

Summer doesn't officially start for another week or so. We have an ABC's of Summer list to put together, a chore chart to be tended to, read-a-thon materials to look over, but today was a little taste of what's to come.

M had a point -- Today is Summer!

Who's Those Kids' Mother?

There's a mom that belongs to one of J's baseball teammates that any time her son does something spectacular on the field, will get up off her bottom, stand up in the bleachers, put her hands up in the air, and ask, "Who's that boy's mother?" I love it. Makes me laugh every time. She is one proud momma!

It's been a while since I've posted, but it's not for lack of having anything to say. On the contrary...we've been swamped. These last couple of months have been kept us on our toes. It seems like every night there is something. It's hectic, but it's been fun.

In mid-March J made his acting debut in Mr. Halvorson's class play, Doonots on the Amazon. I hope to write more about it in a later post. for now, here are some of the deets:

J was cast as the Prime Minister of England...as shown here with the Prime Minister of India:

And as an anteater..as shown here with his homemade costume:

They've been working on this production since January. It was a fun show and J did a great job learning his lines. 

Right around the same time, J made another debut...this time on the baseball field. No tee this time! It started out kind of shaky, but he's worked hard and has come a long way.

They made the playoffs, beat an undefeated team on the first day, another team last night; but unfortunately, they lost today. By one. Just two games away from playing in the championship. It was a good season for the Wildcats.

M continues to do ballet. She could be the cutest ballerina ever:

Her recital is coming up in a couple of weeks, but her dress is here now. And at the end of the day, that's all that really matters anyway, right?

She's also picked up a new hobby: Soccer.

It turns out little Ms. M has some futbol skills. We don't keep score or anything, or for that matter tabs, but if we did, the stats would show that the Ninjas are 4-1, and that M has contributed five goals thus far ☺. And, not to brag, but I have heard the words M and good used in the same sentence several times. 

I wonder who that girl's mother could be?

To add to an already-chaotic Saturday, J had a musicianship exam one morning. And this is what a perfect score on the whole darn thing looks like:

THE. WHOLE. DARN. THING. 

Out of 115 students that took it, only 15 had the honor.

While we're on the subject of music, his teacher mentioned in passing to him the other day when she was being hard on him that he is one of the best elementary-aged kids she has.

Does anybody know who that boy's mother is?

Yes, that happened. 

Somewhere in between all the madness, M figured out how to ride a bike. 

This was over a month ago. Just the other day she rode about two miles. She's amazing!

It's been a busy few months around here, but M played her last soccer game of the season this morning, and in the next two weeks we'll go to two recitals...one for each of them. After that things slow down for summer.

But before signing off, I must ask:

WHO'S THOSE KIDS' MOTHER?

Grinin' from Ear to Ear

About a month ago, J was the G.R.I.N Critter in his class.

It's something that I equate to being the student of the week or month or however long goes in between G.R.I.N. assemblies.

His previous two teachers didn't participate, so this was his first time in his almost-four years at Hansen.

The class compiled a list about ways in which they noticed J was special.

 And then Mr. Halvorson condensed it into the official document to be read by his two buddies, Alec and Reese, at the school-wide assembly.

"Jacob has a wonderful positive attitude. His cheerful smile and thoughtful friendliness are like a rainbow of goodness in our classroom. Jacob is a marvelous mathematician. Jacob, you rock!"

Accolades

Last week was conference week. 

The first one of the year for J is always a small party; with his teacher, speech therapist, case manager, the special-ed head honcho, D, me, and M sit around a table and talk all things J.

Expectations are discussed, and so are goals; both academic and social.

This is also where any concerns are addressed. 

For now, J is working in his internal dialog. Basically, keeping his commentary to himself.

I'll never forget that first conference in first-grade when his teacher told us in a hushed voice that he didn't have many friends and that he played by himself most of the time. My heart sank to my stomach and it was all I could do to hold back the tears. I don't even remember what the follow-up question was that D asked, but her answer was that the other kids "tolerate" him. Tolerate him??? 

I could hardly tolerate the overwhelming feeling of nausea that I felt.

Eventually he made a buddy and hooked up with another from the previous year. Today he has one really good friend and a couple others he plays with on the playground. His social advancement is a work in progress that he works on daily. 

So imagine my surprise when at the conclusion of last week's conference his general-ed teacher had a few parting words for us that went something like this:

"J is very charismatic. I would say that if I asked the class who they enjoy being around, J would be one of the top three names on the list."

I believe the word "fun" was also thrown in there somewhere. I could not believe my ears. I was so proud! Charismatic! He called J charismatic. And all over again, I found myself doing all I could to contain my tears at one of these meetings.

We know he's charismatic. We know he's fun. We know he's funny. Could it be that everyone else is starting to see it too?

Next, special-ed head honcho commented on how handsome he is. She said that he is probably the "Most Handsome Boy in the School." 

I'm going to concur.

And then, as icing on the cake, the next day at Kumon, Andrew commented to him what a great job he's doing on focusing. You have to know Andrew to know that praise doesn't come easily from him.

It was a good week!

A couple of days later we went to the pumpkin patch.

Hey, nobody said he followed directions.

Perfect

Back in September, J declared that THIS would be the year he had perfect attendance. Without even trying, he almost got it in Kindergarten. It was a couple of weeks before the end of the year when I realized that he hadn't missed a day. As luck would have it, the week before school got out he came down with a bug of some sort and had to stay home. Even before first  grade started we planned a Thanksgiving trip to Sacramento, so it wasn't gonna happen then. But come second grade it was on.

They may have traveled to outer space, visited planets, black holes, and nebulae, but he was always back in time for the 9am bell.

At noon on June 21, after years of trying, he was triumphant!

 With the coveted Perfect Attendance award in hand, we can now tend to the business of Summer.

Perfect!

Science and Ribbons

The school science fair was last Thursday. J wanted to participate. I was kind of at a loss. Neither D nor I remember doing this at his age. We wanted to make sure that he did something age appropriate; that he understood the concept of, and that he could do himself without much assistance from us.

And, we wanted it to be fun.

He decided on a volcano. While D did lend a hand in the putting together of the structure, he was able to cause the eruption.

I have to admit that at first I thought it was a little too easy. I had a big display board and not enough info to cover it. (Disclosure: I did the whole board, but that was the one area where the school had asked for volunteers to come in and help other students.) Once we walked into his classroom and I saw how impressed his classmates were with his model, however, I knew this was perfect for him.

There were plenty of other projects to ooh and ahh about, mostly by the 5th graders who are required to turn one in. Even some of the underclassmen had amazing boards; whether or not they had "extra" help is not my business. I was happy with J's effort and so was he!

The weather put a crimp in the judgement of the K-4 kids. There was a two-hour frost delay which caused that part of it to be canceled. By the time I got there in the afternoon, J had already done his presentation and my neighbor said he did an amazing job. She said he had a huge crowd and explained the chemical reaction like "a teacher."

Though I wish I had been there to see him, maybe it's better that I wasn't. A lot of times, when we're around, he looks over and it's as if he's talking only to us. I'm proud just knowing that he did so well.

In my previous post, I talked about our special Lenten Prayers. On Thursday night J said,

"Dear God, thank you for Science. I had fun today. Thank you for ribbons. I got one. I don't know if you made science and ribbons, but I want to thank you anyway."

God had a hand in Science; probably one in ribbons too. And most certainly in one of his greatest creations: Our wonderful, wonderful J!

Dafun

I got up in the morning and went for a walk;

I rode the elevator;

played with new friends;



and listened intently.




I may be small compared to the others,




But I'm potty trained and I'm ready to go.

It was my very first ever

First Day of School!

Yes, it's hard to believe, even for me.

I couldn't wait for my brother to get home so I could tell him I went to school,

and to utter my now-famous line:

"Dafun."

When did I become such a big girl?

One of Two

Two out-of-town visits

Two sets of cousins played with

Two week-long summer camps

Two camping trips

Two milestone-birthday celebrations

That's what summer vacation was all about!

Today, however, it was back to business.

It's the first day of second gradeI somehow get the feeling that these yearly photo sessions are getting old

That's unfortunate.

For him, since he has ten years until he's a senior.

But time flies.

It doesn't seem like two years have passed since the bus fiasco I wrote about here.



This morning he got on without incidence. When we got there I heard him say,

"Yay, it's the first day of school!"


Yes, it is, my man...have a great year!



Never one to be left out, M got in on the fun herself.

Going Batty

I don't know about you, but I don't remember having to write a report in first grade. I don't remember exactly when it was, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't this early on. I asked D and he said the same.

Nevertheless, J had his first report due last Thursday. They are studying bats in his science segment and each kid chose a bat they were interested in and wrote a little bit about it. J chose a bat by the name of The Little Brown Bat. He had to turn in some preliminary findings and then the actual report would be written at school.

His teacher was kind enough to send us the grading scale, and I was really surprised to see how much detail she wanted in addition to the writing elements: Full sentences, neat writing, several facts. It seemed a little advanced for six year olds, and I have to admit I was a little concerned to see what J would come up with.

In addition to the report, the kids were also to turn in a visual of their bat. Again, the grading scale was extensive: distinctive features, several colors, habitat. All with one caveat: she wanted the kids' work -- not the parents.

That's all great and wonderful, except that my kid wasn't really that interested in doing much more than a picture, which would have been fine, but you only got one point for that -- if it was a good hand-drawn picture. A computer picture wasn't acceptable. J is good at many things but art isn't one of them so going that route, even one point was going to be hard to attain.

And, to be honest, I really wanted him to reach for more than the easy way out. A model could yield five points and I knew if I did the legwork I could get him excited about doing a project. I was right.

He glued cutout bats, he water colored the background, cut up some felt, and glued the eyes and fangs on. Anything that required the glue gun I did.

He was really happy with the finished product.

He presented to the class two days ago. I was amazed when I saw his scores. He did so well! In addition to his teacher he was also graded by some of his peers. He got the highest marks in almost every category.

The next day was the "Bat Gallery." Families were invited to come in and see all the wonderful work the kids did. This was the first time we got to take a peek at J's report. Turns out I had nothing to worry about, because it was great. There were full sentences, decent writing, and lots of information.

And not just J's was amazing. As surprised as I was at the expectations for these kids, I was even more surprised at how easily they exceeded them.

He looked so proud of his work,

and I love that he's enjoying learning so much!