Kindergarten!

Today was Amanda's first day at kindergarten! We slept in a bit (6am), so got a good night's sleep. We'd picked out her clothes the night before, and as soon as she'd gotten up and went to the bathroom, she immediately went in her room and put her "school clothes" on. I'd taken the day off, so no pressing schedule. School starts at 8:45 (I think) and the before-school care starts at 6:30. We walked down about 7:20 but after we got about 4 houses down the block I stopped and realized she didn't have her backpack ("What's wrong with this picture?"). So, back for the backpack, and then she really did look like a kid heading off to school. After one block she complained that the (empty) backpack was hurting her back. Really? Well, hmmm, you'll need to get used to it. We went in to the gym, I signed her in and she started playing with the toys and that was pretty much it. I hugged her goodbye and told her I'd see her later, and she just breezily said, "Ok, Mom, bye!" I'm excited to see her after school to hear how she enjoyed her first day.

Forced smile:

This was her choice of poses, with the backpack in front, so a better smile:
I did go back after talking to a teacher and switched her flip-flops for tennis shoes. I know, Patty, we just talked about this last night! For some reason I decided to just let her wear whatever the first day, since they wouldn't have PE (do they call it PE for kindergarteners?) the first day and she plays at that playground in flip-flops all the time, but then decided to just make it shoes every day. When I came back, about 8am, she'd just sat down with her breakfast and I sat next to her. She said, "Mom!" in a sort of surprised way (nothing huge) and then said, "I got my breakfast! You sit down and wait for them to call your name, and then you go and get your breakfast. I have toast and an apple and cereal..." She was pretty happy about navigating a new routine. We swapped shoes and I said goodbye again.

I spent the day mostly at the mechanics, first getting an oil change, tire rotation and alignment, and then, when they found a problem, waiting for a part to come from the warehouse (first sent the wrong part, then sent it to the wrong shop), and waiting for the work to be done. But, I'd brought my computer along, so I'm typing this at the shop. Not an ideal way to spend my day off, but much better than trying to do it on a weekend day with Amanda. While waiting for the part, I was able to take the car and visit Verizon, where I finally was able to replace my phone with the broken hinge. I'd been babying it since last October, waiting for my 2-yr anniversary so I could get the $50 rebate toward a new phone. I ended up treating myself to a nicer phone which cost me an extra $30, plus a $12 case, but it was worth it for the value - nicer camera, keyboard for texting (not that I text much but you never know). My digital camera has really been irritating me, telling me it needs new batteries after only taking 2-3 pictures! Something is not right but I don't want to spend the $ to find out what, so maybe my new upgraded phone camera will help fill that gap, as my camcorder doesn't take pictures with very good resolution. We'll see. ***Hey, wasn't that an exciting paragraph?! Z-z-z-z-z.....****

Open house at the school was Monday night, and that was when we found out which kindergarten teacher she was assigned, and got to visit and bring her supplies to her classroom. I'd gotten a call the week prior which I didn't want to get - there was an opening in the Montessori classroom and Amanda was next on the list (put her on the list over a year ago), did I want her to go the Montessori route or traditional? At parents' night, I visited with the Montessori teachers, on the chance I'd have to make the decision, and while they were both nice, I didn't feel comfortable with either, and didn't know if Amanda would do well with the more open structure, considering how she takes a mile when given an inch. Really, it wasn't a tough decision, I think I just would have preferred not to make it, in case I regret it later. But I'm happy for her to go the traditional route. I'm more familiar, of course, and I felt comfortable with both traditional teachers. Interestingly, all 4 kids on our street are in the same classroom. I would have thought they would have been scattered a bit, although they don't spend that much time together so it's not a problem. When Conner came in the classroom at the open house, Amanda shouted his name and went over and started telling him what to do. I called Amanda back to me and told her to just let Conner and his parents talk to the teacher. Two minutes later, I saw her pulling Conner's arm to take him to the cubbies or something, and I got very irritated with her. In retrospect, I should have taken her aside, but at the time, I chastized her in front of Conner and his mom, telling her not to pull on other people and not to tell Conner what to do. She started to cry and I felt bad for embarrassing her. The more excited she is about anything, the more out of control and naughty she gets, talking back and ignoring me. Something to work on! And I need to work on being less uptight and worried that she's irritating other people. Some of it is needed, but most of it is my ingrown worry about being a bother. I did take a moment when Amanda was at the water fountain to ask her teacher if she preferred to get to know the kids' personalities for herself, or have advanced knowledge. She said I should tell her whatever would be helpful for her to know, so I told her that Amanda is smart and funny and a blast, but that she can be super naughty, so she (the teacher) needs to be strong! Show no weakness! She is a very experienced teacher, so I didn't anticipate her having problems. I just didn't want her to be too sweet and nice w/Amanda and then have a tougher road to get back to being in charge. Ms. Boidee had a tough time with Amanda at first, after she transitioned into her room from Ms. Nancy's room, and I remember her telling me that maybe she'd been too much of a "buddy" to her before she was in Ms. Boidee's room.

The Chuck E Cheese birthday party last Saturday went pretty well. Only 3 kids came, 4 if you count a brother who came along, but that just meant more tokens for them to use. I ordered a pizza and when it came, had the kids come to the table and have a piece. Then lit the candles, sang Happy Birthday, and had her open the few presents. Both of her teachers came - Ms. Boidee and Dani - and she was very happy about that. Ms. Boidee gave her a fancy pair of flip-flops - clear plastic with butterflies, flowers, and little ladybugs where her toes were, and with a slight heel that lit up. So cute! The kids gave her school clothes (2 shirts, 2 pants - too generous of a gift from Samantha!), a Barbie doll, and a bead/necklace kit. I ordered a cake from Hy-vee with a picture of a unicorn that was really pretty, and the kids mostly stayed until about 5pm when we all left. My friend's teenager came along to help and she took the kids over to play and then helped them redeem their coupons for prizes when they were done. She was worth her weight in gold, but didn't want me to pay her for her time, saying she likes little kids and would have been bored if she'd just been at home. It was awesome having her along for the party!

Birthday girl! (The crown was my idea):
She had her pre-kindergarten check-up at the pediatrician Monday, and got two shots. She struggled and hollered, but didn't cry, and to hear her tell about it later, it didn't hurt at all. So the more time passed after the shots were over, the braver she got. She was pretty good about it, though. She weighs 36 lbs and is 41.5 inches. She's been really gaining in height but not putting on the pounds. She's in the 30th percentile on height, which I was happy about as that's my main concern for her, and only the 5th percentile on weight. She's pretty much in a 5T for clothes. I got her a XS 4-5 skirt at Target and it was a little big, so I'll have to take in the waist a bit, but a 5T skirt I got at Walmart fit fine. Hard to figure.

Yesterday, we said good-bye to everyone at her preschool. Ms. Boidee gave us a bunch of pictures from various field trips, and she also gave Amanda a little stuffed pink poodle and told Amanda the poodle's name was Ms. Boidee, so she should call the poodle that and remember her teacher. So sweet! She gave us her phone number for Amanda to call "anytime she wants". We've really been blessed to have such a wonderful teacher who helped get Amanda ready for school, both academically and (most importantly) behaviorally! I videotaped Amanda in her classroom as we were saying goodbye, and I asked Ms. Boidee to describe Amanda as a student. "Pretend you're talking to Amanda at 30 years old and tell her what she was like for you." She took Amanda's hands, got down on her knees and said things like, "Oh, Amanda, what you put me through! Do you have any idea? Oh my goodness." Nothing specific, but communicating that Amanda was a handful! (Which calls to mind my first blog title after getting Amanda from the baby home - "How do you say 'she's a handful' in Russian?"). That morning, when I'd dropped her off and we mentioned to Ms. Nancy that it was Amanda's day, she said, "It's going to be a lot quieter around here!" When Ms. Boidee gave her a last hug goodbye, she got choked up and started tearing up, and of course the kids all started asking, "Ms. Boidee, are you crying?" It was an emotional goodbye for Ms. Boidee and me, but Amanda was just excited about being the center of attention, and at the thought of a new school and new adventures.

Funny story:
I read "Little Red Riding Hood" to her the other night, which she'd never heard before (as far as I know). It's interesting to read some of these classic tales and wonder what a 5-yr-old is thinking about it. After the wolf ate grandma and put on her clothes, after "what big ears, what big eyes..", the storybook we had took a bit of a bit of a turn from what I expected. At that point the wolf leapt up and ate LRRH as well, and was so full and contented that he fell asleep. A hunter passing by thought granny was snoring quite loudly and came in to investigate, and was going to kill the wolf but thought, maybe granny is inside. So he opens the stomach of the sleeping wolf a bit and LRRH comes out, saying, "Thanks, it was dark in there." He opened the stomach a bit more and granny came out. Before they closed the stomach, LRRH went out and got some stones, which they stitched inside the wolf's stomach. When the wolf woke up (because of course, having his stomach cut open didn't wake him up at all), he was so heavy he couldn't move and he died. Oooookay then. The last line was something like, "And LRRH said that next time she would listen to her mother when she said to stay on the path and not go into the woods". As I closed the book, Amanda said, "Amen, sister!" I burst out laughing, it was so funny and took me so by surprise, and I didn't stop for about a minute. At first, Amanda just looked at me, then she started to smile, then she said, "Mom, when are you going to stop?!" I just told her that it was really funny and it was fun to laugh about it. =) Amen, sister!!!

Addendum to my last post: I stupidly forgot to mention that Aunt Cindy had watched Amanda the weekend of July 18-19, making it possible for me to attend the foster/adopt conference! It seems if I don't take a picture of something, I forget to blog about it. She and Aunt Barb took Amanda to the Farmer's market Saturday, and Amanda got to hear Amber sing at church Sunday morning. Cindy and Keith have also been helpful in coming up to help me with projects around the house. The latest was earlier in July when they came up on a Saturday morning. Keith put in the new storm windows I'd ordered for the kitchen windows (love them!!!) and Cindy took Amanda to the park so I could help Keith (sort of), and then she and Amanda picked up the disaster area that was Amanda's basement playroom. My family is all so wonderful and supportive - I am blessed. This weekend I'm headed back home for my 25th high school reunion and Amanda will be spending time with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Mike, Aaron and Shayla. Did I mention that Family Rocks?!!

Early birthday presents from Jacob's Babushka Sue! Cute sleep mask, it has a monkey and says "Leave me alone!" I don't post all gift pictures, of course, but this one was so cute, with her peeking, I wanted to post it. Thanks again, Sue!

I'm at home now, finishing typing the blog. Most of it I typed while waiting for them to finish with my car. I really started chomping at the bit after 2:30 (school gets out at 2pm on Wednesday - no doubt they decided to start school on Wed. so the kids would have a short day). A couple came in with their kindergartener, who had had his first day of school, and it really made me want to see MY kindergartener and find out how her day had been! I got to school about 3:30 and Amanda was sitting in the gym at a table with two other girls and they were all coloring pieces of paper with their names. She said hi sort of nonchalantly and told me what she was coloring. Even though she was not hyper excited, I was happy to see her and just wanted to hug her. I was worried that the other parents would have picked up their kids early, so I was glad to see lots of activity and lots of kids having fun.

I checked out her backpack and found a colored paper proclaiming "I survived the first day of kindergarten": This pic was taken with my new phone camera, and I can tell it's going to be a great improvement over my old phone camera and the camera in my camcorder. I'll have to get used to it - when I took this, I thought I just had her in the pic, but actually had a lot to either side of her and ab ove, so this is a cropped picture.

Tonight she picked a different book for a bedtime story, and it had a Little Red Riding Hood selection. This one had granny escaping out of the house, and then right when the wolf reveals himself ("The better to eat you with!"), granny shows back up with the hunter, and they all three gang up on the wolf, get him down to the river, and send him down the river on a log. No one is eaten and the wolf isn't killed. That seemed almost as messed up as the other version. Made me wonder what is more correct, or "classic", so I checked it out on Wikipedia (not that it can't be wrong, I know). It suggests that the first (both eaten and cut out whole, wolf weighed down with stones) is more classic. It also went into other disturbing avenues of interpretation of this tale, and I'm now avowed not to look up any more classic fairy tale meanings! Scary!

I think Aunt Lynnette requested a picture of the monkey girl with her current expertise at the monkey bars, being able to skip a bar. I took this the other night, so it is not good quality from my old phone: