Kindergarten - update

So, remember when Zachariah was SO excited for Kindergarten? I am just not sure what has happened.

Mornings are a mess. He begs not to go. He cries. He drags his feet on anything related to going out the door. I'm having to be tough and strict, only to watch him sadly get out of my car with his shoulders hunched over, slowly walking into the school... and then I cry on the way home.

It's just not him. When we did preschool and co-op, he couldn't get in the car fast enough! When we did VBS (pretty much most of our summer), he would jump right in without hesitation. The different camps he did this summer, where he didn't know anyone, he had a hundred friends by the end and never wanted to leave.

And I know he has friends at school, because he loves lunch and recess (haha), but he just hates school. He has some homeschooled friends at Awanas, and he asks me to homeschool him.

What kid in Kindergarten asks to be homeschooled?? Especially one who used to be so excited?

I tried to make an appt with the counselor a couple of weeks ago (for other reasons, we wanted to meet with her and Z's teacher), and she emailed me back asking for my phone number, so I gave it to her right away, and I got a vague email back. Then a vague email about 2 weeks later apologizing and saying she'd be back with me (but it looked like an email that was sent to several people), then nothing. And I emailed the teacher asking about it, and she never addressed it either.

So, it's like - who do you go to now? The principal? I know from being a teacher, that is not cool. And I don't want to make Zac's school experience worse. And we know annoying parents can make their kids' school experience worse, that's just a fact.

And what is going to them really going to do? Make the teacher into a different person who is loving and kind and reaches out to my kid? She's just not that way, and a meeting won't change that.


And I basically feel like I'm sending Zac to school for NO reason. He's not learning anything. He's not have a fun time. Shouldn't it be at least one or the other?

I'm at a loss.


**UPDATE**

So, I emailed the counselor again and this time I meant business. (haha) She got back to me within minutes and we had a conference set up for lunchtime - which meant Brian could come too - which was good since I cried all morning and it wasn't looking good for the afternoon, either.

Anyways, we dropped a lot on her in the 30 minutes we met. We had two big issues.

One - the original issue we were meeting, which was about the personal struggles Zachariah carries on a daily basis, the fact that he meets with his therapist on a regular basis, and the details behind all that. It was nice to talk with someone who was not naive enough to fall for a total fake facade, and actually care enough about our child to appreciate a series of RED flags when they appear. She took the issues very seriously, because, well, they are serious. And wrong. There's "benefit of the doubt" and there's common sense, and she seems to have some common sense. But that's a whole other issue, and unfortunately not something I can write any more about.

Then, we have this new issue of not liking school - which she also took very seriously. That was nice. She assured us that we were not "those parents" and after hearing everything we came to tell her, she said we have showed amazing patience in waiting to meet! (thank you!) We were both surprised to hear her put some responsibility on the teacher, and actually encouraged us to go the principal. Which was shocking for me, since usually teachers/counselors back each other up - at least in front of parents. And we did not get that impression. Anyways, she kept suggesting to move Zac to another teacher, but we'd rather not. Honestly, if we move him - it's simply to homeschool or private school, and that's a last resort. We'd like to all work together and make this situation work. Anyways, she agreed that the change of attitude, and the fact that it's not a social issue, makes it serious and she's going to follow up on that. She also cautioned us on the way we were thinking how Zac needs to learn how to handle bad situations, etc etc. Her thinking was that if this is NOT his personality, then we needed to take it more seriously and advocate for him. This might not be the situation to force him to figure it out.

We don't know why he doesn't like it. It may be because of academics. BUT, he's been in preschool where things were easy, and he loved it. As his mom and his first "teacher" I just don't think I can pinpoint that as the reason. It bugs ME, but I don't know how much it bugs him... I don't think it's the reason he cries before school. That just doesn't make a whole lot of sense, knowing my child. I also don't think it's because of the new baby. SG never phased Zachariah. Even his therapist thought it might, but it surprised her too that it never did. SG just doesn't affect his life really at all. And he absolutely LOVES her, loves sharing anything/everything with her, etc. The new baby... well, I don't think that it's hit any of us about the new baby... haha. So, I really don't think it's that either. It may be because he just hasn't connected with his teacher. That's more of a possibility. And then, something a friend approached me about this morning - there is a whole other factor that also might be playing into this. Not to be too annoyingly vague, but there is a new volunteer at his school. And it might be making Zac uncomfortable. School was his "neutral" ground, and now it's not. It's happened with a sport he participates in, and to see the same thing with school... just makes me wonder. Because he's having a similar reaction. I hadn't even put that together until a friend did. (thank you Lord for wonderful discerning loyal friends who care about my baby boy!!) We made the counselor aware of that possibility, because it sounds very likely.

We were trying to wait until Parent/Teacher conferences to meet with the teacher, but the counselor encouraged us to try and schedule a meeting soon regarding Zac's academics. She said their principal is really big on differentiating and compacting, and we should be seeing that already. (we are not)

Honestly, I will admit - I guess I really thought his Kinder teacher would be coming to ME - just like his co-op and preschool teachers did. I never had to go to them - they saw it, they acted on it, and tried to give him some extra things here and there. I was not expecting to have to do anything, I just thought it would be even more of a big deal in Kinder and his teacher would have test scores, etc to back things up, and more resources, and more opportunities to give him. And I was wrong on that.

All in all, I learned a couple of things. First off, my experience as a teacher was a HUGE deal. We got immediate respect and we weren't necessarily expecting that! She referred to my experience a LOT during the meeting. So, yay for that. Also, waiting to talk to them and being respectful and patient was another HUGE deal. She seemed to know right away that we were totally rational and normal. We weren't running with guns blazing. We were trying to go through the right channels in a calm, respectful way. (as long as she doesn't read this blog- HA!) So, I feel okay in how we've handled it so far. And even though I cried during 90% of the meeting, I think I still sounded somewhat rational. Thankfully Brian was there! (REALLY thankful he was there!!!)

Also, I learned about lots of people who love and care about my little boy. He really is a sweetie pie. I've peeked in on him at preschool, at Awanas, at Sunday School... he's a good listener, an active participator, a rule follower, and an all around good kid to have in class. He's certainly not perfect, but his teachers have adored him in the past. This new issue is just uncharacteristic.

Our backup is to either homeschool or put him in a private classical model school (they meet half-days or 1-2 days a week, with the other days meant to work on homework at home).


Oh - and one more thing. When I came for pick-up this afternoon, his teacher called him back to her, and gave him a hug. Methinks someone got a little tip today - haha! Hoping things will look better soon.

Thanks again for the love for sweet ZZ. Praying things get better!!!! :)

Cold weather - hooray

We have been loving the cooler weather! Here are the kids before we took ZZ to school this morning.

Taking Zac to school has become quite the chore lately. He really dislikes it. He isn't allowed to say "hate" so he told me this morning, "I don't like school times infinity."

:(

So, that makes for some fun mornings.




Here is Selah Grace at her 1 year appointment. This is before shots. :)

Ohmygoodness - I love these pumpkins! They are at Michael's and they can do names up to 10 letters! Too bad they are $30 each... someday maybe!

I did ask if they ever sold the display for a discount. ;)

Selah Grace's dedication at church

Selah Grace had her dedication at church on Saturday night. She did awesome! Such a sweet calm happy little girl. :)

She wore a gown that my mom made years and years ago - I wore it at my baptism, Zachariah wore it, and now Selah Grace wore it! We got SO many comments and compliments on her gown, because it truly looks like an heirloom piece. Beautiful!! I hope to get some better pictures of her in her gown sometime this week. :)

(her scrunchy smile caught on camera!)

Happy Birthday Sweet ZZ!!!

Today we are celebrating the sweet little boy we love so much - ZACHARIAH LANE!!!!

You are such an amazing wonderful precious member of our family. The big BIG brother! You are the most spirited, lovable, huggable, sweetest boy we know. You forgive quickly, love easily, and are a protector of anything that needs protecting.

Here are some facts about you at SIX years old!

* Your major love languages are physical touch and quality time, and you NEED them both on a regular basis
* You still love Star Wars
* You've never seen Bakugan, but like the Bakugan toys
* We try to keep you pretty sheltered, so you still watch little kids tv shows on PBS kids - and it's so sweet and innocent. (even Barney!)
* You do not like to color
* You love science - especially doing experiments
* You love the patterns and predictability of math
* You have an awesome memory - and do very well with Awanas memory verses
* You still ride in a 5-pt harness, and probably will until the I can find the last seat that will hold you that way (but you don't mind at all)
* You love jokes, riddles, and puns
* You love to sing and dance (but not in public)
* You pray the most beautiful prayers!!
* You are passionate about right/wrong, and get frustrated with kids who don't follow rules
* Bugs fascinate you right now, and you are always begging to go outside and dig


Sleeping
* You have a flashlight obsession
* You read for at least 30 minutes by yourself every night - sometimes we peek in and watch you - it's precious!! You tell us you cannot fall asleep without your reading time.
* You MUST have a water bottle of ice water for bed. What you don't know is that we fill it up with so much ice, there's hardly any water at all.
* You are a really hard sleeper. We can turn on the lights and you won't even flinch
* About 6 months ago, we stopped waking you up to use the restroom - and you are fine!
* You are not a night person. Bedtime is full of negotiations and begging.
* You are a morning person. You rise early and love to crawl into bed with us to give us neck massages.
* You are in the middle of a phase of sleeping on the floor on a "pallet." We haven't made a big deal out of it, and assume you'll be back in your bed at some point. :)


Eating
* You are a nightmare with vegetable, and make us spoonfeed them to you. Then you wash them down with water. It's a lot of drama.
* You love fruit so much
* You don't eat food with visible spices or flecks of anything - it totally freaks you out
* Your favorite foods include apples/PB, frozen gogurt, cheetos, and gummy treats


Playing
* You are absolutely 100% a PEOPLE person
* You seems physically unable to play by yourself - it's like torture for you
* You love to be around other kids
* You love when we play games with you, tickle you, cook with you, read with you, and just sit and talk with you - it's part of your love language!
* You are terrific at most sports and are very coordinated (except roller skating - haha!)
* You enjoy "hands-on" play - tag, tickling, etc
* You still happily play with your friends that are girls - sometimes "Mommy and Daddy" and sometimes "Brother and Sister." Either way, you typically carry a sword or gun.
* You love to create ships and tanks with your legos
* You really enjoy Uno, Monopoly, Sorry, and Trouble (new game for your bday!)
* You spend forever playing in the bath and/or the shower with your plethora of toys, and usually wear your goggles, too


Learning
* You are so smart!
* You enjoy time with Mommy and doing "homework" together
* You have your math facts memorized to 10, and love to recite your doubles
* We just got your math scores back today and you are at a 2nd grade level already
* You are almost done with the A-Z Mystery series. You also enjoy reading Magic Treehouse, and you love non-fiction books about topics you like (racecars, worms, etc)
* You write us sweet notes all the time - with your food, on the shower door, on our phones in the "notes" app... And they usually say the same thing, "I love my mom and dad."



Here is ZZ's birthday invitation. We had been planning on going to Great Wolf Lodge, and he was going to get to bring one friend. BUT, as I was on the phone with GWL, he says, "Actually Mom, I don't know if I want to do that anymore. I kind of want a Chuck E. Cheese party with a camo cake."

Okaaaaaayyy... lol! Apparently he had put some thought into this, so we threw together a quick party!!

17 friends and 2 hours of fun!!!!

My last minute cake idea - I wasn't about to put my family through the torture of me trying to make a camo cake... haha!

He absolutely LOVED this cake - success!!!

Lots of loud singing!!


He blew them all out!!!


A quick family shot - with ZZ's green icing mouth! :)
Green tongues!!!


He ended up with 324 tickets - FUN!!
And lots of thank you notes to write!
At school, he got to wear the crown, the sticker, and pick out a toy from the treasure box. It was also his turn to be calendar helper!

Here he is doing one of his favorite things - hunting!!

And here he is getting his first Awanas Sparks patch! He memorized a lot to catch up, since we missed the first week, and didn't have the book until the 3rd week. Yippee!!!
Some hunting videos! I can't hear what he's saying because my speakers aren't currently working. But I'm totally sure it's something really cute.

Here is a video of him reading. I like to do this every once in a while because I love to look back and hear his sweet little voice! This is one of the A-Z Mystery books we love so much. Our church library doesn't carry the V book (it's about vampires), so we skipped it and are onto W. Almost done! :)

And I am going to get a video of him today with his Awanas verses. I'll add it later. He did such a great job, and I want to document that!

Zachariah, we love you more than you'll ever know. You are a light. You are a You are the best little boy in the whole world!!!!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Selah Grace

We can't believe you are already ONE year old!

It seems like yesterday when you were in our arms with huge cheeks and fancy white shoes.

You have blessed our family in so many ways. You are a connection to the three of us - a little piece of Zachariah, a little piece of Mommy, and a little piece of Daddy. We each have our own special little relationship with you, our own way we talk to you, our own little games we play with you.

Here are some facts about YOU at one year old...

* You have 6 teeth - two on the bottom, four on the top
* You have many different smiles, from shy to ridiculously scrunchy and cute!
* You enjoy emptying the wipes box daily
* You cruise around the furniture, and every once in a while stand on your own
* You empty the lower kitchen cabinets every day
* You giggle and can move VERY fast when the gates are open
* You have skinny little arms, chunky thighs, and not very much ankle at all
* You have a short torso and can still easily wear 3-6 month onesies
* You love bathtime, but prefer to have your Bubby with you (sometimes the water is scary)
* You like riding in the car when Bubby is there with you
* Bubby sometimes drives you nuts trying to play with you, but when he gets busy doing something else, you drive him nuts trying to play with him!
* You make a beeline to play with the toilet if we are not looking (why do you do that?)
* You love music. It makes you dance and clap
* You "cheer" at soccer games when Mommy yells anything with "Zac." It sounds like "Zaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
* You love your sippy cup - but only with ice water
* When you hear us get ice from the freezer, you come high-tailing it around the corner wanting some ice water too
* You are a tough cookie if you get hurt
* You got your first fat lip the day before your birthday, thanks to a kitchen drawer
* You are SO cute at home, but you are a total disaster in any kind of childcare situation
* You have Mommy and Zac's eyes, but the rest of your cute face looks like Daddy!
* You have a fantastic mullet. No hair on top, lots down your neck. It's pretty comical.
* You can stand for several seconds, until either you realize you are standing or someone makes a big deal about it - then you slowly shrink to a squat


Playing:
* You love your toys and can play by yourself for over an hour
* You love to climb on things, over things, under things
* The mall play area is super fun for you!
* Big kids do not stop or intimidate you, and you have no problem telling them to get out of the way or to stop bothering you


Eating:
* You are an amazing eater! So much food for such a little girl!!
* If you don't want to eat it, you simply throw it off your tray with a smile
* You don't want us to feed you because you are a BIG girl - finger foods only!
* Your favorite foods include: mandarin oranges, mixed veggies, cheesy chicken, cheesy eggs, pizza, fruit loops, and lucky charms.
* People at restaurants laugh because you are such a little girl eating so much adult food
* You are so easy to bring out to a restaurant!
* You cross your feet while you eat - so adorable
* You always chew with your mouth closed. Always have. Another adorable thing!


Sleeping:
* You laugh and giggle when it's time to go to bed with your babies and your pacis
* You are SOOOOO easy to put to bed!!!
* Sometimes we think you are asleep, but you are playing in your crib
* You rarely cry to be taken out of your crib - most of the time we hear you babbling
* You prefer not to cuddle or be rocked, but every once in a while you let Mommy sing you lullabies
* You don't really sleep anywhere else besides your crib, and will fight sleep until you get there
* You like to sleep in your diaper - no pajamas


Vocabulary:
Mama
Dada
Bubba
Bah (for baby and ball)
Pah (for paci)
Mah (for more - as in "more food please!")
When we ask you a question, or when you are asking for food/water, you say, "Huh? Huh?" in the sweetest little voice












Oh, sweet Selah Grace. Your life has taught us so much about being faithful, having hope, being intentional about sharing truth, and staying patient. You bring such joy to our lives. God truly blessed us with you, sweet baby girl!!!

This is our little climber! I love how excited she gets about going to sleep with her babies and pacis. It is so cute!!

Zachariah's zhu zhu pets are a new thing for SG. She'll play with them forever in the kitchen, where they will move around on the floor. They half freak her out and half fascinate her. It's so funny to watch - she'll start to cry, then laugh, then cry, then laugh - very funny!!

Apologies for the Mom-Dad singing duet.... haha!

It's sweet Selah Grace with her birthday cake!!

I love Zachariah's laughing the background. And Brian cleaning while she eats. This is definitely a picture of our home! LOL!!

Phone Photo Ph-riday - it's back!

The next 3 posts are all PPP. Enjoy! :)

Phone Photo Ph-riday - all caught up!

My final PPP post to get all these pics off my phone. Thank goodness. Another thing crossed off my list. :)









This is the ADORABLE Texas Tech cheer uniform I found at resale. EIGHT DOLLARS! YAY!

I think she likes it!

Get yer GUNS UP little girl!!

Zachariah started soccer again this season. We are on the same team as last year and he just loves it. SG had fun watching him at practice!

She's laughing at her Bubby kicking the "BAH!"

At Awanas, we saw a rainbow outside! It was so fun! Rainbows remind us of God's promise.

Zachariah is really enjoying Awanas. It's self-paced, so he can memorize as many verses as he wants to. Last week, he saw some other classmates get a green patch, and he has kicked into high gear this week to not only earn the GREEN patch but also the RED JEWEL. Big stuff.

The great part for ME is that all the stories and verses from his book are on the CD that comes with it. So, we just pop in the CD every time we get in the car, review our verses, sometimes learn a new one, and then the Awana's "homework" is done.

Oh my. These are the ABC cards I volunteered to cut out. What was I thinking? 137 ziploc baggies with each letter of the alphabet inside. After HOURS of cutting these, Brian and I finally got wise, drove to Kinkos, and had them cut the rest for $6. Then all we had to do was sort them and bag them up with the instructions.

This project wouldn't have been that taxing, if it was one that our child could actually use. But the instructions with each packet read, "Parents, show your child each card, ask them what letter it is, ask them what sound it makes."

&#$%($*()$#^*

It was during this project where I started to get very frustrated with the school.

Selah Grace likes to take off the back of the remote and get to the batteries. Nice.

Here are Daddy and Daughter at one of our events - a pool BBQ. Love this pic!

This is our bbq set-up before the residents start showing up. :) Grilled hot dogs and hamburgers are in the warmers. YUMMO!

Selah Grace has figured out all the drawers and cabinets. Hours of fun.

So, I was sick on the couch and listening to SG in the kitchen. I didn't know the pantry door was open. But it was. And she found the bag of cheerios. And this is what I found.

This is when we discovered that SG could reach the toilet paper on the counter in her "room." Cracked us up.

My kids are so spoiled by relatives!!! This is Zachariah's new gun that came with a real target. He LOVES it!!

I'm really not exaggerating about the coloring sheets that come home from school. This is the kind of thing Zac brings home. Really? Really?

And I love the "Keep Trying" stamp. I'm assuming that was just the stamp that she was closest to. I hope so.

You can't really tell, but SG is sporting a new Mommy Outfit. I love these ruffle pants! Wish this girl would stay still for a pic, but this was actually the best one I got.

(This picture also marks when I started to feel better last week)

This was the caterpillar outside Zac's school. Perhaps a product of these day's school lunches? haha

I don't remember where we were, but I love her laugh here. :) <3>

These are the outfits I made for a friend's baby shower this weekend. I loved them. :) She's having a boy after two girls, and usually dresses the girls identical. Now he can match! As soon as he has a name, I can monogram his overalls. The girls have matching peasant shirts and brown corduroy ruffle pants.

This is when I was asking SG to "come here" and she decided to climb over her toy box instead of going around it. That is SO her.

So, we had a crazy weekend of parties. But this one took the cake. It was a roller skating party. Brian had SG at home for a nap. (Why did the pregnant lady decide to go to the roller skating party?)

Anyways, we learned quickly that roller skating is NOT his thing. I usually see Zac pretty good at most things he tries. THIS was not good.

I was literally crying. Tears streaming down my face, and laughing so hard. Zachariah was laughing, too. I mean, it was all we could do.

On top of that, I wore flip flops. My feet hurt so badly because I was trying so hard to keep ZZ up and he kept rolling over my feet.

Omgoodness. You had to be there, I guess. Because I'm laughing so hard again, I can barely typ. It was CLASSIC!!!!!

We had a super fun Saturday night at church!

BOZ came to church again! We love BOZ! It was Bring A Friend weekend, and Zac was SO excited to bring our neighbor to his class!!

After church, they had bounce houses!! He was getting ready to hit the obstacle course with a friend from choir.

They also showed the UT/Texas Tech game, so we were all dressed for the occasion! :)

SG says, "Wreck 'Em Tech!!!"

There were probably a couple hundred people there watching the game on the outdoor screen. They also had tons of food, tables, and tons of Tech and UT decor - including motorcycles that were decorated for each team. Kids were everywhere - in the bounce houses, and lots of spontaneous football games on the grassy areas. I love our church!!!!!!

BUT, Selah Grace couldn't make through the game, so we came home to watch it. Go TECH!!!
Unfortunately, we lost. :( Zac was cracking me up, doing whatever Brian did. haha!

That's it! We're ALL caught up! YAY!!