AGHHHHH!

So, Grace is STILL not loving kindergarten. She cries every day -expcept yesterday but that was an early release day. She's even taken to crying some the night before and starts crying the second I wake her in the morning. It's the same thing every day. She says she's bored, that she only likes specials (P.E., music, art and computer), that she doesn't like recess (I know!) because it's hot. She seems to have made friends ok. There are several kids she talks about. I was even approached by a mom yesterday who's kid is not even in Grace's class who wants to arrange a play date. She says they play together on the playground, yep, at recess.
I am at my wits end here. I'm torn between wanting to cry with her, hug her and tell her she can stay home with me as long as she wants, and being angry with her for doing this EVERY stinkin day!
I'm pretty sure it's all about attitude. She needs to try to not be bored, to engage and to have a good attitude. I know that's a lot easier said than done, especially for a 5 year old.
Paul and I start and end each day, praying for our little girl, that she would not only not cry, but that she would really enjoy and look forward to school. We've been spoiled with Kristin. She has always loved school and was even sad when school was cancelled last year for our flood days and snow.
Would it be bad if I just pulled her out of school? Is that coddling her? She's so cute and sweet and loving. I think she's the most like me of the 3 (not the cute, sweet, loving part of her. She's definitely surpassed me in those areas). I can empathize with her homesickness, but at the same time, I want her to be tough and NOT CRY!
Anyway, that's it. That's what's been going on around here lately. A lot of crying. Not fun.

I Heart Faces Beach Fun

Beach Fun is this week's challenge at I Heart Faces. This is a pic I took of my brother in law the last time we were all at the beach together, back in 09.

And then there were none

I feel I've been remiss in posting much about Elliott and her first day of pre-k. It's actually a pretty big deal, if not for her, then especially for me. You see, since she has started school, this is the first time EVER that I have had any child-free days. Since we first began multiplying, 7-1/2 years ago, I have always had at least one kid to keep me company (or to drive me crazy, depends on which way you look at it). Actually, today will be my real first child-free day. Even though Tuesday was Elliott's first day, after I dropped her off, I had to go pick Grace up from school for a dentist appointment. So I was alone for about 10 minutes that day. Today I have no plans. My husband asked me what was I going to do today. I can tell you what I should do; laundry, laundry, laundry (I have 3 baskets to fold and put away, hence the repetition), sweeping, vacuuming... However, I know my precious 2 days a week (3-1/2 hours a day) of no kids will most likely soon be filled with volunteering at the older kids' school, meetings, working on my photography business, and of course housework, but today, I think I might not do any of that. I just might go to Starbucks, get me a WAY over priced coffee and read-a-book. I will say though, even as I write that, I feel a little guilty for not using my time wisely. That laundry really needs to be folded and put away. And the least I can do is straighten the house.

And Elliott. She's been great. She even decided yesterday, of her own volition, to throw away her passy! So we ran right out and got a really big lolly pop as a reward. She has done amazingly well too. She has asked for her passy a few times, but after I remind her that she threw it away, she says nothing else. All my babies are growing up! "Yeah" and "Boo Hoo" at the same time! We've finally reached a level of independence with our kids that has allowed us to actually enjoy things we haven't in the past. We really don't have any babies any more. But then, we really don't have any babies anymore. (note the difference here..one happy and is a good thing, one sad that they are growing up so fast!).

It is a little sad to not have any babies anymore. Maybe.....

I could keep writing on my woman feelings on how I feel about all my kids leaving me and the good and bad things about it, but I think I'm going to try to fold a basket or 2 before I have to take Elliott to school.


*side note.... Grace didn't cry today!!! Her teacher immediately emailed me this morning to let me know she did great! Love email.

Another first day of school

I can't let today go by without posting about our youngest and her first day of preschool. Elliott started 3 year old preschool today. She'll go 2 days a week. She's been very excited about it. She has the same teacher Grace had when she was 3 so she knows her a bit. She just wants to be like her big sisters and go to school too. She seemed to have a real good day.

An update on Grace and her recent lack of desire for school...

I have resorted to bribery. I told her if she does well all week and does not cry, then we'll go get a toy on Friday. She loves new toys. I told her anytime she feels like crying, to first stop and pray and ask God to help her to be happy and then to think about what new toy she wants to get. I know. I know. I'm just trying to do what works. It helped Kristin when she went through a similar thing.

Today she did great. Of course, she was only there a couple hours today because I had to pick her up for a dentist appointment. She had 2 cavities. That's another post for another time. Lets just say (and oddly enough) after having been on the laughing gas, she wants MORE cavities. Weird kid. Can't figure her out. Scared to go play at kindergarten, loves the dentist's drill.

Tomorrow will be the test to see if she can get all the way to school without any tears. I'm hopeful she can do it.

Kindergarten Woes

Well, Grace's enthusiasm for kindergarten has waned. I knew it would. She's always been the homebody of the 3 girls. As an infant, I was paged EVERY Sunday for the whole first year of her life to come and get her from the nursery because she wouldn't stop crying. The nursery workers were always amazed that the second I picked her up, she would stop. For a long time as a baby, she wouldn't let anyone else hold her. At the grocery store, if a bag boy/girl looked at her too long, she would break into a wail.

She did completely fine for two years of pre school. Didn't cry once. I reminded her of this. She says she's just used to being with me and her blanket all day and misses us (me and the blanket). She cries every morning now and sometimes at night. It's heart breaking for me to see her so sad. I do take some comfort though, in knowing that Kristin is there and can at least walk her to class. I remind myself, that even Kristin who is my social bug, never afraid of a new situation as long as there are other kids to play with kid, had some adjustment issues in kindergarten. It took almost the whole first semester for Kristin to completely adjust. But once she did, she never looked back. This year, I only got to walk her to class once. After that, it was, "moooommm. I can go by myself!" For her, one thing I did was to print out a picture of me and one of her very favorite, stuffed cat, Chi Chi, to keep in her lunch box. If she got sad, she could look at our picture. That seemed to help her a bit. I tried that with Grace. She said she did not want a picture because if she looked at it at school, it would just make her miss us (again, me and the blankie) even more. Makes sense to me. I can identify with Grace. I very much like my comfort zones. I remember being that way as a kid.

I know she'll be fine. I just hope that it's sooner than later. I hate seeing her sad. It makes me think crazy, like I might want to home school or something!

This picture is the one we took so she could have it to take to school. You can tell she'd been crying, but she put on a brave face for about a second and a half for the picture.

Waiting

This is Elliott waiting for Nana (my hus' mom) to arrive from AL. It was 9:30 AM in these pics. Nana wasn't to arrive until 5 PM.

ummmm.....Rum Runners for me and the kids. Nothing like it to cool you down on a hot day! And NO, they are not alcoholic.