"Celebrate Good Reports... Come On"

Yes this blog post title is being sung to the Kool and The Gang classic "Celebration". We make a big deal about school stuff around here. From the simple (Ryen coloring in the lines or really tracing her letters instead of just scribbling) to simple for some kids (not getting in trouble at school) to the BIG DEALS (Ella getting a GREAT report card for 2nd Quarter). They don't do report cards in 1st Quarter for Kindergarten so this was her first one. And since we had a rocky start to the school year we were excited to hear what would happen. But as I mentioned in a previous post Ella's report card was exactly what we were hoping to hear. Academically she was excellent and behaviorally she got no bad marks! Yippeee! We are never worried academically but the behavior one was a big relief. So we celebrated!!!

We took her to her favorite restaurant, The Rainforest Cafe!

We even requested a booth with the built in aquarium so they could watch the fishies while they ate.

We had a great time as usual.

But this time, we didn't say no, when Ella asked for the $15 volcano dessert. We thought she earned it. And for a special occasion, why not? This thing was huge! The kids were stoked and even with 3 of us eating it (Daddy didn't want any) we didn't even make a dent in it! Gluttony and waste at it's finest. :/

After we played in the gift shop and threw pennies at the crocodile.

Hopefully third quarter marks will be just as good and Ella has truly turned a corner maturity wise and has figured things out. Either way, we will always celebrate like rockstars! :)

My Science Fair Nerd :)

Ella was really excited about attending the school science fair. We went at dinner time and scoured the exhibits and experiments in the MPR. There were SO many I was overwhelmed. We finally found Ella's experiment board and she was so excited to show it to me.



Their experiment was about whether eggs were strong or not. Everyone assumes eggs are not strong because they are so fragile and can break so easy. So the kids were polled before the experiment on whether an egg would be strong or not. Most say not. Their experiment consisted of piling books up on top of an egg, one by one, until the egg broke. I think in the end it took 18 books before it crushed. Here is a photo of Ella's classmate adding another book to the pile (Ella is peeking over his shoulder on the left)



I forget the exact conclusion but basically an egg is REALLY strong because of its arched shape (think bridges) and it can hold WAY may times it weight before it breaks. WAY sounds so scientific and official right? ha ha!

After showing me her class project (and posing with it) it was time to go hit some experiment tables and play with some chemistry and liquid nitrogen :)




Me, Ella and Ryen also had some pizza for dinner before heading home for bedtime :) She was so excited to go and I make it a point to never say no to something school related that she wants to attend. :) (ps: except all those chick-fil-a fundraisers, ha ha)

Report Cards are in!!!

Oh my gosh where has the time gone???? My last post was about the first 30 days of school and here we are starting the 3rd quarter already! Let me catch you up to speed!

Since the last blog post we literally have had no problems behaviorally at school. It really did seem like the kid just needed that full 30 days to get acclimated. We did take the advice of the professionals and have her tested for the gifted program to rule that out as a cause of her behavior issues. She did not qualify. She is right where she needs to be.

She has been doing amazingly well in the classroom. She is doing incredibly academically. Still very much ahead or in line with where she should be. Her reading has improved. She is learning Math etc. She is LOVING her school. She is proud of it. Loves to call herself a Santan Stormer (cracks me up). She still loves the school bus although she has to sit right behind the driver cause miss social butterfly was fluttering all throughout the aisles visiting friends too much. ha ha. She begs me to visit and to volunteer at school, which I do often. She comes home all the time and says Mommy there is a book fair and they need help, can you do it. Of course I say yes! :) And I have made so many friends with her classmates. They love when I come visit. They run up and hug me and beg me to let them eat with me. Sometimes it is me and 10-12 kids eating at our own table together. I once had a lunchroom volunteer ask me if I was a teacher and this was my class. Nope just a Mom. Well not just any mom... Supermom (ha ha)

So since our last post here are some of the fun activities I was able to volunteer for:

Sept- Grandparents Day, Smoothie Fridays and Scholastic Book Fair
Oct- Field Trip to Vertuccio Farms and Pumpkin Appreciation Day
Nov- Fall Carnival and Thanksgiving Craft
Dec- Holiday Shop, Snowman Craft, and Holidays Around the World

And here are pictures of my fan club (crappy phone pics) :)





Ella loves when I come to school to volunteer but she sometimes cries or has issues when I leave. Breaks my little heart. Makes me not want to leave either. Mrs Hughes is good about separating us when I come to volunteer though so that Ella can focus on her work. :) Which sometimes bums me out but I understand it is for the best for now. In addition to the above I am also coordinate at a grade level and volunteer at a class level for Kindergarten Art Masterpiece at Santan. This has been fun, challenging and rewarding. I was happy to do it since this 100% volunteer based program is the only way kids receive art in schools these days. Oh and Ella has joined a Girl Scout Troop that I co-lead AND she has been in dance school since the start of Kindergarten. Geesh! Busy busy!

Behaviorally Ella has been doing really well too at school She has only come home with 1 uh-oh gram back in September and that was for a playground argument with a girl from her class. They were both responsible and both got in trouble for it. But Ella really has learned from peer pressure and social consequences what is expected of her at school. That is not to say she does not still require special attention. I am sure she can still be a little hard to reign in sometimes. She can be a little restless, get distracted easily, and she can lack patience and doesn't like waiting for stuff (for instance when the teacher calls kids up by table and her table gets called last). She can get a little whiny and pouty while waiting her turn. Part of this could be personality and part could be immaturity since she is on the younger side of her classmates.

Socially she is learning a lot too. Some of it good, some of it I could do without. ha ha. For instance someone taught her the Trick or Treat smell my feet rhyme. Awesome LOL. Someone else taught her a naughtier version of Jingle Bells that I had to listen to during the Holidays. And most recently she walks around saying Ella and so and so sitting in a tree K I S S I N G... etc. But she is really cute about it, cause she still doesn't understand what it all means. So when she sings it she sings it about her and her friend Rachel, or her and her Sister or her and her Daddy. It is really funny, and all I can do is laugh.

My biggest struggle with Ella right now is teaching her to be less self centered. Her personality type is to focus on negative stuff. She tends to overlook the positive and focus on negative which is very frustrating for me since I am so the opposite. She tends to be ungrateful for what she DOES get cause she is so focused on what she does NOT get. I am so the opposite there as well. This really tests my parenting skills and patience at times. For instance you could give her a lollipop but if she get a blue one and someone else gets pink, she will focus on that and will be upset and pouty. That is a mild tolerable case of it. A not so mild case of it is when we left The Nutcracker (our annual Mommy and girls date day) and she threw a fit cause she only got 3 people's autographs after show and wanted autographs from the main characters. The reason she didn't get autographs from the main characters is because she got PHOTOS taken with them instead. Geesh. Photos like THIS ONE:



You would think she would be SO thrilled to have seen this show, gotten to go on stage after, met the characters, had her picture taken AND got autographs of some of the smaller characters, that she would not find something to complain about cause she would be on cloud 9. But that is just Ella and something I have to learn to not get too frustrated about, although it is VERY hard sometimes. sigh... this kid. Man is she gonna test me for a long time to come. Ha!

Our parent teacher conference prior to Fall break went great! Ella was excelling at everything. Her teacher didn't have concerns at all behaviorally or academically. What a relief!! Yay!

So fast forward to today! Where are we?? First week back from a long Winter Break and she is not struggling so far to slip back in her routine at school. Not testing boundaries like I thought she might. She seems great. And TODAY we got her FIRST OFFICIAL REPORT CARD. The first one of many we will get over the next 13 years!! And... drum roll please... it was AMAZING!!! She got all good marks (progressing or meeting the standards) in ALL areas academically. And for behaviorally she ALSO got all good marks (satisfactory or excellent) in all areas.



But here was the best part of all... Her teachers comments "Ella is a pleasure to have in class" Music to my ears I tell ya. When I think of what the teacher was telling me at the beginning of the year during those first few weeks. How she didn't know if she could handle a child as strong willed as Ella and didn't know if it would work out, to how Ella was one of the most challenging kids she has ever had in her entire career... to that statement above.

I am so proud of her I am crying. For some parents out there they might take for granted how easy it is for their kids to be referred to like that. It might come naturally for their kids to be people pleasers or to stay in line. But for a kid with a very strong willed personality you have no idea how hard it is to hear things like this. They are the kids that blaze their own trail, and follow their own lead, to a fault at times. To the point where it does get them in trouble and comes across as defiance to authority figures. They want what they want when they want it, they want to be in charge, they want to be in control, they want to decide what they are going to do, and they want to do it their way. All qualities that will make her an excellent leader someday but until she is mature enough to learn to compromise and learn when you HAVE to let someone else call the shots, it will always make it a little harder for her to conform.

I am taking my girl out to celebrate to the Rainforest Cafe (same place we took her to celebrate when she passed her entrance exam to Kindergarten.) It seems fitting. And I am going to order her this $15 piece of cake this time since I said NO last time. :)



100th Day of School is around the corner!!! Woo hoo!!!! :)

So true my Angel... :)

The First 30 Days of Kindergarten- High's and Low's ;)

Some of you may remember the previous post (here) titled "To Kinder or Not To Kinder", regarding our decision to enroll Ella for early entrance to Kindergarten. Today marked the end of the first 30 days of school!!! Can't believe how fast that went by! The first thirty days have been bumpy at times and great at times. She has adjusted fairly well overall. There were signs she was intimidated, nervous and sad. So we were nervous for her but hopeful and well aware that MANY kids have these feelings regarding Kindergarten. For those of you that are following along with us on this journey, or contemplating testing your own kids early, I am going to keep updating with how it is going, (good or bad). So here is our first update :)

Week One

It was hard to know how the first week was going, cause Ella was overwhelmed and tired at the end of the day and fairly tight lipped about everything. The 3rd day of school I got an email from the teacher. I was a little thrown and emotional and way over-reacted. Mostly because the teacher's email stated she has never in 10 years of teaching contacted a parent in the first week of school due to a child's behavior. I immediately started panicking wondering WHAT on Earth did Ella do that was so bad?? And I was immediately second guessing our decision to enroll her early and panicking that they may kick her out (Early entrance kids are all on a 30 day "probationary period"), and worrying about what getting kicked out would do to her emotionally and to her self esteem. But maybe she wasn't ready after all to start Kindergarten? This was a real LOW in our Kindergarten journey, and it was only DAY 3!!! So I was scared and nervous for our meeting but MUCH to my relief, she told me she only contacted me because she threatened to and she felt like she needed to follow through. I was also VERY much relieved to find out this was regarding some not so serious behavior issues that were normal for her age, and normal for a child who is at a new school with a new teacher and new classmates. Teacher was confident she could handle it. I asked her if she thought we made a mistake putting Ella in Kinder early and she told us she believed Ella was where she needed to be. Mommy was feeling much better. (Although I was racked with guilt that I had so over-reacted to the teachers email and wished I could go back and not have Ella see me so upset and emotional with anxiety and fear. I hoped so bad that I did not add any more anxiety and stress to her little shoulders) sigh...

Week Two and Week Three

The second week of school they started a happy gram system. If your child had a good day and listens to the teacher they get to take a happy gram home to their parents. If they have a bad listening day they take home an uh-oh gram. The uh-oh gram explains to parents what the child did wrong. We KNOW that Ella is a VERY stubborn and STRONG willed child and that she can be difficult and TEST limits and PUSH boundaries more so than most kids (even though she normally didn't do it at school only at home). So we were thrilled when each week Ella was coming home with 4 Happy Grams and only 1 Uh-oh gram. The Uh-Ohs were never anything serious (even still we took them seriously at home). So because of how she can be, AND because she is the youngest kid in the class, we were feeling proud of her that she was doing as well as she was, considering it was still only THE FIRST MONTH OF SCHOOL. So YEAH... way to go Ella!!! That was a high for us!! :)

Week Four

We were hopeful that Ella would have a perfect 5 happy gram week pretty soon. But on Monday an Uh-Oh gram came home that I thought was pretty serious. Ella had a real bad day and had to be removed from the classroom twice to go to time out in a "buddy room" next door. I felt so awful for the teacher when she called and told me that Ella had been disrespectful and hurtful to her and some classmates. I was embarrassed and apologetic and upset at Ella who knows better then to act that way. But we reached another low when the teacher told me Ella was still not doing that well in her class. We were surprised cause we had been so proud that Ella was having 4 good days a week out of 5. The teacher wasn't as confident as she was the first week (when I met with her) that she would have Ella's behavior under control by the end of the month. She also no longer thought some of Ella's behavior was "normal" for week 4 of school. This brought back all the fear and anxiety that I felt that first week. I was panicking and emotional again!! Again I was questioning our decision to put her in Kindergarten early, wondering if she was going to be kicked out, and wondering if she would be better off in her old school for Kindergarten. Again I asked and the teacher told me she STILL believed Ella belonged in Kindergarten and that we could continue to partner with each other to "try" to avoid her being kicked out of the program. We exchanged suggestions and ideas for both at home and school and were determined to make her last 9 days of her "probationary period" successful ones. The rest of week four she came home with Happy Grams all 4 days, and we were there with lots of hugs and encouragement and positive reinforcement :) Another high for us!! YEAH ELLA!!

Week Five

So far this week Ella has not come home with any Uh-oh grams in her bag. Which I thought strange cause I was expecting her to come home with one yesterday after I saw her sitting in time out in the hallway outside her classroom while I was in an Art Masterpiece meeting. But perhaps she was good the rest of the day and the teacher thought her behavior merited the time out, but not for her to need an uh-oh to go home. Tomorrow is Friday and hopefully there will be a happy gram in her bag. She has yet to not get a happy gram on a Friday. But really, who doesn't love Fridays??? ;)

So WHERE are we now???

After discussing it for hours and trying to determine what was ultimately best for our child, we decided to let the entire 30 day probationary period go by before we made any decisions. If her behavior got worse and she was being removed repeatedly from class for being disruptive, or if she was getting 3, 4, or 5 uh-oh grams a week, we were prepared to take action and meet with the school to see if they thought it best for us to wait till next year. If she is not ready, then she is not ready. There is no shame in us putting her in early especially since we did that on the advice of professional educators, not just because we were in a rush to get her out of the house all day. If we ultimately decided to give her another year at preschool then Jimmy and I realized this was nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about, just what was best for her, and that is most important. The most difficult part about our situation NOW is three things:

1) I need to stop panicking/second guessing our decision to put her in Kindergarten early; and need to trust the educators and the professionals who are telling me they believe my child BELONGS in Kindergarten.
2) If she will require some extra attention, discipline, behavior modification, IEP etc, I have to stop feeling guilty about that. Ultimately they made the decision to accept her to the program and to keep her in it. Unless she goes drastically downhill we will continue to partner with them to help Ella succeed.
3) The nay-sayers. We knew there may be some to wag their finger and say we told you so. We know there are some that wonder why we haven't pulled her already and put her back in pre-school. (Why are we PUSHING it on her when she is "not ready".) The answer is simple... I will take the professional opinion of her teachers and principal every time over the opinions of friends.

There are many kids across Kindergarten who are having very similar or worse behavioral problems who did NOT test in early or who are closer to 6. So age is not always what causes these behavior issues. If I panic and over-react or assume we made the wrong choice and yank her out of school, I could be robbing her of a great learning opportunity and/or not giving her a chance to overcome, assimilate/adjust fully, and SUCCEED. I don't want to doubt her, I want to BELIEVE in her. We don't think a child who is having 4 good days a week out of 5 behaviorally and who is KICKING BUTT academically in the classroom, needs to be kicked out of the program or is "not ready". Apparently the school agrees with us for now. I just think she needs time, patience, love and encouragement to reduce and limit her bad days and set her up for success.

Tomorrow, we are getting away for some relaxation and some quality family time just the four of us... We will de-stress, celebrate our little one's accomplishments from this last month, have lots of laughs and love and come back on Monday to start a new month of school with a clean slate.

Stay tuned... :)

First Day of Kindergarten

Monday July 25th was the first day of Kindergarten at San Tan Elementary. I felt like I reached a new level of Mom-hood when I had to actually start packing a real lunch and writing notes for my baby to find when she opened her lunch box.




Ella was so excited! She picked out her own outfit and shoes. hee hee.



Per tradition... here is a year by year of her first day of school. WOW... they really DO change so much from year to year. It's crazy! sniffle :'(




She was so excited to see her besties from the neighborhood when we got to the bus stop.





Look at these big girls!!



Photos with Mommy and Daddy!




There are so many of Ella's friends from the neighborhood riding with the bus with her it makes it a little easier to feel ok about her on there.



The bus is here!!



She got on the bus... and we got right in the car to race to school, LOL!!



Ryen: "Where is my SISTER!?" (as we wait for her bus to pull in)



Daddy: "Where is my Baby???" (lmao!!!)



Here she comes!! She was so excited and LOVED her bus ride!



Seriously... how priceless is this photo of her and Rachel holding hands all the way from the bus to their class lines? It was like their body language said "You're not alone. We're in this together!"



And hugs for her friend Ryan who is in her class this year!



Ready to go into class now!!



I didn't go into the classroom (I had some self control) but I did snap one photo!



I did meet her at school after it ended, to make sure there was someone to take her to the bus and that it wasn't as chaotic.




And who wouldn't love riding the bus when you get to sit like this?? (don't worry I was the first Mom there and NO ONE saw me jump on the bus for a photo! ha ha)



After school we told her we would take her out to dinner for any food she wanted. And she MADE her Daddy's dreams come true by requesting steak and baked potato!!



We hope she adjusts well and has a wonderful year. :) We love you Ella Belle. xo