School Update

First: Walker. Other than the crying, screaming, and kicking at drop-off in the morning, Walker seems to be enjoying his actual school day. He always tells me what they learn, what they did, if they read books (one was about someone who ate a lot of things or "fangs" as Walker says), what you are supposed to do when you make food (you smell it) and how to keep quiet (you don't let those words come out of your mouth). He remembers the letter that he learned about that day and the sound that the letter makes. I cracked up when he told me about the letter "f" and the "fffffffffffffpphhhhh" sound that the letter "f" makes. :) He has a darling class and I love his teachers, Mrs. Rogers and Mrs. Lammes. They are involving us parents a lot; we are helping the kids with simple "homework" tasks but I love it because I know exactly what they are doing and Walker and I have fun doing it together. All in all, if you can take away the giant fit he throws when we drop him off in his classroom, I am so happy with how Walker's school year has started. :)

Walker H. (there is also a Walker M. in his class), when asked "What do you like to do with your family?" answered that he "likes to play trains with mommy." No surprise there. :)

And his self portrait! I think it's pretty good! :)

This is a picture Walker's teachers forwarded onto me. It was taken at 9:38 a.m., and drop-off was at 9:00 a.m. He was a bawling, screaming mess at that time, and I'm so grateful that he was like this 30 minutes later. It just shows that he can pitch a really, really good fit. :)

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And onto Lainey...she is LOVING Kindergarten. She's having a ball, loving everything and everyone, and her teacher is just amazing. And whatever her teacher says goes. Whenever I tell her something about school, she'll ask, "Did Mrs. Molnar say to do that?" or "Is that okay with Mrs. Molnar?" So Mrs. Molnar rocks. Plain and simple! 

More Kindergarten funnies:

• "You can’t say anything to me or come over to my table." (Lainey, Sept 18, the day I was coming to volunteer in the cafeteria.)
• Her school has a "Watch Dogs" program to involve the fathers in the everyday happenings at the school. The teachers talked to the kids about it, so Lainey came home all excited about taking her dad to this meeting so that they could "watch dogs." I told her that her dad had a city council thing and couldn’t go to the Watch Dogs meeting, and Lainey got so upset and frustrated because she wanted to go up to school and watch the dogs with her dad. Makes me almost cry thinking about it. I sometimes forget how innocent she still is!
• "Kids with dark skin have cool names." - Lainey
• Favorite friends in class: Faith
• Plays with Ainsley, Berkley, Faith, Hannah, Mrs. Molnar's son Jacob, Philip, Gage, Simona, and sometimes Suraj at recess. And some other kids. She seems to play with a variety of people. They play a lot of hide-and-go-seek and chase. 
• She has been doing “inventive” spelling – trying to spell words – and it's hilarious. She's also constantly coloring and drawing. She's eager to do the "optional" homework for Kindergarten, and she likes to play school with her dollies. For some reason, she’s much more agreeable and pleasant to be around…she's quick to do the right thing, rarely argues with me or talks back to me, and has started doing things the first time I ask. I think Kindergarten is agreeing with her. :) She's this sweet little friend whom I MISS during the day.
• She talks often about science and math. She got to taste bitter, sweet, salty, and sour things at school, and she thought that was neat.
• One afternoon, she told me that she and Faith played on the floor in the bathroom and crawled under the stalls during specials. Her friend Chloe’s "friend" was doing it, so she and Faith did it…so I went on to explain that Lainey didn’t always need to do what other friends were doing and that she should still do the right thing. To that, she responded, “But she’s not my friend, she’s Chloe’s.” Well, same thing, girlie. :)  So the next day, I guess the girls did it again, and Lainey didn’t participate. She said that her mommy told her not to. Good girl! :) 
• One day I forgot to pack a snack for Lainey and even took one up to her…but she refused it. She wanted the one that Mrs. Molnar was going to give her. :)

And she's been working on this move for dance. It's hard! I think that she thinks that all the older girls at the studio are celebrities. She'll say things like, "Mom. Olivia is in there [a studio]. And she knows Kaylin." She is just in awe of these older girls and their abilities. Her favorites are JJ, Olivia, Kaylin, and Maggie. Thankfully, these girls are sweet and will give her a hug if she stands next to them long enough. :) Ha!

A few of other funny Lainey-isms:

• She says words clearly with lots of syllables (well, most words) like but-tons, fam-i-ly, hurt-ed and she's very good with her ballet terminology. Thankfully she teaches me different moves and terms because I have no idea what she's talking about most of the time. ;)
• She also says "in the night" instead of "during the night." So, when her nose is stuffy, she uses a lot of tissues "in the night."
• She does NOT like "ouchy rubber bands" but sadly those are the ones that hold her hair best. So...we don't use them all the time, but I have to use them sometimes. 

LOVE these sweet kids. They are growing by the minute. I'm glad that school has gotten off to a good start for both of them (well, besides drop-off for Walker) and that they have wonderful teachers. I'm so grateful!