Emma's First Year of School

Emma and Todd: Emma pointing to her District Art Show Entry

Today I watched as approx. 120 kindergarteners walked across the stage to give their teachers hugs, and it was a strange moment. In typical fashion, I had arrived late to the graduation as all the kindergarteners were marching in, but unfortunately, I had to enter thru the same door as them. So, some parent, in trying to get a shot of their child entering, got an image of me carrying Abrianna, a very distressed 30 lb 2 yr old, and 20 lb 9 mo. old Kayla in each arm, struggling to keep my balance and trying to quickly make my way from the front of the cafeteria to the back where there was standing room only. (If you manage to get a visual of this perhaps you'll have some clue how stressed out I was that my 2 yr old would decide to throw a temper tantrum and decide that she didn't want to come to Emma's school after all and there was absolutely no way she was entering the building. . .)

As if Abri's attitude wasn't enough, Kayla had made a very smelly present for me in her diaper just a few mins earlier than our arrival at the school, and there's no fun place to change an infant in an elemenary school. So, I didn't even have the luxury of finding one of my friends to pass Kayla off to, since I doubted they wanted to share in Kayla's gift, in order to try and appease Abrianna. What's a mom to do? Luckily, after finding a spot at the back, Abri saw enough to peak her interest and calmed down (sparing me further embarrasment), but continued her clinginess, so I was still juggling the two of them, not wanting to put Kayla down on the who-knew-when-it-was-last-mopped cafeteria floor to crawl.

As Emma was among the last to walk the stage, I reluctantly put Kayla down on the floor so I could take a pic of Emma hugging Mrs. Logan (who she wants to stay with forever, she informed me on Tues.), all the while thinking that I couldn't believe that the year was over.

In retrospect, I'm proud of her, making me of course unique among the other parents.
She had an entry in the district art show in April. (Kindergarten-4th weren't judged, just on display.) She was a coloring contest winner in October among kindergarteners. She achieved a passing level of reading proficiency, something I was worried about given her frequent complaining about the need for practicing. She woke up almost every morning without prodding or complaint and got ready. She "pulled her clip" only once, for tickling a classmate in the hallway when she wasn't supposed to. She likes flossing her teeth after a science unit demonstrated the benefits of brushing. She loved art the best out of her subjects.

Challenges she had this year: She often came home distraught over comments from classmates. There was one boy in gym who called her stupid a few times and pushed her. Or, there was the girl who told her she didn't like her hair one day during recess. She is just so sensitive to things, so we talked about how important it is to remind ourselves that Jesus loves us no matter what others may say or do to us.

One year down, only 12 more to go for her. :)