Tales from the Second Grade

A huge change occurred in our household two weeks ago - AC became a full time student of a charter school.  On the very first day she walked right into class and sat down at her chair without a single look back. She  hops out of the car every morning with a smile on her face and comes every afternoon with an agenda for me to sign, an empty lunchbox, new songs to sing, funny stories and some negative situations too. I listen and watch and realize that my baby is no longer a baby, or a toddler or even a pre-k"er", she is a kid - a full-fledge kid. With all that is going on right now, I really haven't had time to reflect on how I really feel about this, so for now I'll just relay some of the main events from the past two weeks.

On her teacher..."She is a good teacher. She is creative and fun." As a parent, I have been impressed with the calm manner she handles the classroom and how positive she is with the children.

On her classmates... "My friends are Chase, Sidney and Anna and Zachary and Zach, Raven and Sophie. Zach goes to my church. Chase is my friend because he cheers me up by drawing funny pictures in his journal. Sidney is like Molly and Anna is like Jaiden. Anna keeps on losing teeth in the classroom, so does Zachary!" She also told me that she wished she had a time machine that could make me a second grader again so that I could go to school with her and be her best friend. (Such a sweet little girl)

On having fun in the classroom..."At the end of the school day we write names and draw pictures for practice on the cool (smart board) board and we use an electric marker and do fun games with it. I like to sneak marks. Zach thought of it."

Favorite class of the day..."There are two of them. I like Music and P.E. P.E. is where we play dodge ball and Music is where I learned the song, 'The Picnic in the Forest'. One day Valoon got hit in the mouth with a baseball bat during PE, and one time, I dropped Anna while running the wheel barrel relay and her face landed on a moth (giggle, giggle)".

Traumatic Events..."Once me and meanie Melissa, we were going to the restroom and the lights went off. I stayed calm, but meanie Melissa screamed to the top of her lungs. I felt embarrassed because she was in my class. I was shivering too. The next one is a bad one, I think. At lunch time, I spilled chocolate milk on my skirt that was brand new and I cried and cried and cried until a teacher came and asked me what was wrong. I told her what happened and she took me to the nurse's office and the nurse asked me to put on a different pair of shorts. And then she hand washed my skirt, and I put it on wet!"

Making decisions for my child is always very stressful for me and I often second guess myself. But, for now, the decision to transition AC to a full-time school seems to have been the right decision and we all appear to be benefitting from it.

First day of school
(Very comfy outfit b/c I believe the last thing a child needs to worry about on the first day of school is whether or not she can button her pants or if her panties show when she bends over)

A second shot so that the new lunch box could be included 

    

What Do You Do When It's 110 Degrees Outside

and you have twelve hours to fill with an energetic, creative little girl? In AZ, it can become a bit of a problem, because you simply can't play outside unless there is water involved and children do get tired of swimming everyday. Luckily, in our home, creativity runs wild. So, often all I have to do is make some suggestions, gather some supplies and try to reign in the control freak that lives inside me. Here are some of  AC's most treasured creations of this summer.

If you can't actually adopt 100 dogs and your parents refuse to buy you a hamster and/or any type of reptile, the next best thing is to pretend that you do, indeed, own all types of animals. One way AC created to accomplish a "feel" for having these animals was to create an album entitled, "My Pet Pixs". She spent hours looking for different pet pictures, printing her favorites, naming each animal, pasting their pictures on paper and combining them all in a notebook.

The cover of the completed "photo" album

Photos before they were compiled in the notebook

She also began collecting Mighty Beans this summer. One of the cool things we found that we could do with these silly little toys was to create obstacle courses for them and race to see whose could make it down the track the quickest. It was interesting watching what household objects she would choose to add to our little tracks.

This creation includes some books, a tool box, a Sprite bottle cut in half and a paper towel roll all held together with masking tape.

Another project that lasted for several days was the house she created for the little Chick-fil-A cow figures that she had collected and saved from her kid's meals. I helped with cutting two of the doors and applying the "wallpaper" in some rooms, but the inspiration was entirely hers. I gathered the supplies and hopped in the shower. When I came out, this is what I saw...

She is attaching the bathroom that contained a shower.

Almost complete - one cow is taking a nap while the other two are watching TV.

While our summer is officially over, I'm happy that the creativity is not. She is currently creating a field journal on various owl species. I look forward to seeing the final product.

Moments

In Donald Miller's newest book he talks about making "moments" in your life. Having been given the task of writing a script for a movie about his life, he realizes that life is really about the moments that really stand out and everything else is just filler. He gives many examples of huge moments people create in their lives when they get up off the couch and actually do something. I agree that it is important to do big things, but I also believe that some of the best moments of life are those where we simply let life happen. Happily, we had a few of these moments this summer.

Our time in Georgia is always rushed. We have so many people to see and sometimes feel like our time is spent just getting to the next event. So, the night we stopped at a park and played with Troy this summer will always be special to me. We were returning from eating dinner and he pulled into the parking lot of a park on a whim. We all got out and headed to a baseball field. Anna Cate and I pretended to bat while Matthew stood behind us. When we swung our pretend bat, he would throw the ball as far as he could. The "batter" would take off running the bases and T would run to catch the ball and then attempt to get us out. We tired of that and moved to the playground. At this point, we began an intense game of crocodile and monkey. (a game AC and I invented based on a finger play she loved as a toddler) Troy, Matthew and I were all climbing on the equipment, hanging from the bars and running around with as much enthusiasm as AC. We left the park sweaty, laughing and totally relaxed. Everything seemed right with the world. To me, that's a moment.

The little town we found while exploring with T

Fast forward a few weeks. Matthew calls me mid-day Monday and tells me he is going to Honolulu next week and thinks we should make a long weekend of it. One big step, I said ok. (This is probably the whole idea of getting up off the couch and doing something.) And, although we have so many wonderful memories from the trip, the second night there is probably the most special to me. We had gone to Pearl Harbor earlier in the day and then returned to the hotel for some beach/ocean time. After some body surfing and taking a few turns on the hotel water slide, we grabbed a table at the little hotel bistro located pool side. With the ocean in front of us, a nice breeze surrounding us and a Jack Johnson-esque guitar player strumming in the background, we settled down for dinner. Anna Cate and I started playing telephone and giggling at the funny ways our words were getting twisted with all the other noises surrounding us. Matthew wanted in on the game, so the three of us started taking turns creating the beginning sentence or phrase. Within moments, we were all three laughing our heads off. AC would start a phrase and whisper it to me and then I would have to get up and run around the table to whisper it in Matthew's ear (who, by the way, we discovered was the weakest link in this particular game). It was simple, it was goofy and it was a very special "moment" for our little family.

At the pool in Honolulu

Sometimes it seems that our lives get filled with all the activities that we "have" to do. I'm not sure if it was Donald Miller's original idea, but I think just taking time to have authentic moments with those we love most gives our life meaning.