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It's Emily's last day ever at Fisher! Grandpa and Grandma Zymboly go early
to pick her up and take lots of pictures. The kids have popsicles
and watch a video! 8/1
We go up to Tiny Town with Grandma, Grandpa, Susan, and Nigel. Emily has
her disposable camera with her, and as we are getting ready to leave,
she directs all of us to sit on a bench together so she can take our picture!
8/4
We say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Z. Hurry back! 8/5
We
read a book together and while trying to sound out a word, Emily asks
me to turn back a page so she can compare it with another word, to see
if they're the same. 8/10
It's Sarah's first day of school--but Emily doesn't start until next week.
We invite Emily Anne over to play for the afternoon while her mom teaches
the Purple Coyotes! Emily S. reads to Emily D. for a long time from her
Garfield comic book. 8/11
Em and I make plans to take her bike around the block & I talk about
the corners we will turn on. Em says, "I guess that's why they call
it a block--'cause it has corners!" 8/12
Emily and Daddy went to buy her kindergarten supplies today! They really
enjoyed themselves and Em found a purple (!) insulated soft-sided "lunchbox"
complete with waterbottle inside, so she has everything she needs to go
to "all-day kindergarten!!" 8/13
Emily and I go to the zoo, just the two of us, before Kindergarten starts
next week. For the first time in 5 years I am at the zoo without a stroller
or a wagon! We walk ALL over the place, ride the carousel together, and
have lunch and ice cream. We take a peek in Em's new favorite place, the
tropical house, and look at the huge fish from the Amazon, the bats in
the cave, and the crocodiles. 8/14
I am talking to Sarah about the fire alarm at school, and say, "The
smoke made the alarm go off." Emily interrupts: "You mean, go
on." 8/14
Bill takes the girls over to Emily's Back-to-School Ice Cream Social and
I join them there after work. The kids are divided up by grade and there
are lots of activities--tug of war and relay races. Emily S. (who will
be in afternoon K with Emily D's teacher) and Em tried the three-legged
race together and kept falling down...in the end they were having as much
trouble from giggling too much as they were from having their legs tied
together! 8/15
I go with Em to spend her first day of Kindergarten with her. We explore
all the centers in the classroom together, sort out all the new school
supplies with all the other kids and parents, read a new book together,
and figure out where backpacks go and where the bathroom is. Mrs. Cameron
seems like a wonderful teacher--as she talked with us before we went into
the class, she said, "I always get goosebumps on the first day of
school." And I was standing close enough to see that she really did!
Em and I had lunch in the lunchroom with the other Afternoon Club kids
and the PM teacher Miss Heather, then went to the PM classroom. After
Em got started on a project I left to run a few errands and then came
back to pick her up. Em thinks it's going to be OK! 8/18
Mrs. Cameron, Em's new Kindergarten teacher, wants us to write down a
few goals for her for this year, so I asked Em what she wanted to learn.
She said, "I want to learn things I didn't learn in preschool!"
8/18
Em and I have this conversation today:
Em: Is the tooth fairy real?
Me: What do you think?
Em: Did you get money for your tooth?
Me: Yes, I did.
Em: Was the tooth gone?
Me: Yes, it was.
Em: Then I think it's real.
Me: I think that's a good thing to think!
8/22
Today was no school for assessment day, where the teachers meet one on
one with their students to figure out where they are. As Em walked in
for hers, Ms Cameron told me that Em was so "sweet, helpful, and
calm." The "calm" I'm sure really stood out during the
first crazy week! I waited in the hall while they talked, then when they
were done, Ms. Cameron came to the door, mouthing (so the next parent
and student, and Em, couldn't hear her), "She is SO SMART!"
She showed me the reading primer she used to do the assessment and that
Em could do stuff that "usually kids in the spring can do, but NEVER
a kid in the FALL!" 8/22
Today while sounding out the word "give," Emily said, "guh"
for "G" then "eye" for "I." I reminded her
that "I" could also sound like "ih." She told me she
was using "eye" because there was an "E" at the end
of the word, and I had told her the rule--about 10 days ago--that the
"E" at the end of the word made the vowel sound like its own
name. Em is improving, noticeably, as a reader EVERY DAY. 8/30
This
is our favorite thing about Sarah right now: When you ask her, "How
you doin', Sarah?" She calls back, "GREAT!" 8/03
We go up to Tiny Town with Grandma, Grandpa, Susan, and Nigel. Sarah was
just the right size for going inside the houses and peeking out. She had
a disposable camera with her and was determined to take a picture of the
"S" on the roof of the CLUBHOUSE. 8/4
We say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Z. Hurry back! 8/5
Wrapped up in her towel after her bath, Sarah announces, "I a blue
guy." Emily says, "You're a blue girl. You're a woman!"
Sarah obediently repeats, "I a woman!" 8/10
While painting at Abiyoyos today, Sarah said, "I just thinking about
Mommy and Emmy." 8/12
Just before I arrived at Fisher to pick Sarah up this afternoon, the fire
alarm went off! I saw
all the kids and teachers walking calmly and carefully out of the school
to the grass by the side of the parking lot. I joined them and found out
that one of the classrooms was having s'mores for a snack and burned a
marshmallow in the microwave, which set off the alarm. We all sat in the
grass and waited and pretty soon the fire engine came! The fire fighters
checked everything out and told us it was okay to go back in. All the
kids cheered and waved at the fire fighters as they drove away! It was
quite an experience, but I was so proud of the staff for behaving so cool
and calm. None of the kids that I could see were upset or crying at the
experience! 8/13
Another time at school, Sarah woke up from her nap and announced, "I
awake, but my pee is still sleeping." 8/03
Sarah has had a couple meltdowns at bedtime this week, probably just part
of getting used to her new schedule, and it took her longer to let me
leave this morning than usual when I dropped her off at school. So I called
her classroom at about eleven a. m. just to check that she was doing all
right...her teacher said, "Oh, she's doing great...she's really busy
right now & hasn't had a problem all morning!" 8/14
Sarah's teachers asked her who her special friend was today. She points
at Aidan, and says, "This guy, right here." 8/19
The Abiyoyo teachers, bless their hearts, spend a LOT of time with their
students doing "potty time" after snack, after nap, after circle
time...Sarah usually will go at these designated times, and often has
a dry diaper, but she's not really deciding on her own yet when she needs
to go. Well, this afternoon after we got home, I was in the kitchen and
hear Sarah calling, "I need help with my pullup!" It turns out
that she had decided to go to the potty, taken off her shorts and diaper,
had her pee in the potty, wiped her bottom, and was now only stuck trying
to pull up her pullup! Mommy was impressed! 8/22
Sarah is still loving Abiyoyos, but is doing some adjusting at home--not
wanting me to go to work, needing to sit with us to eat dinner, not wanting
to go to bed....just getting used to the new schedule and more hours away
from us. But it's really nothing extreme and she does beautifully at school.
8/22
Tonight Sarah told me, "I not sleepy!" So I said, "You
don't have to be sleepy, but you do have to go into your crib." So
we started her tape and put a book in her crib to read, and when I lifted
her up to put her in, she started to say, "I not sleepy!" again--but
then remembered that hadn't worked before and changed it halfway through
to, "I not--I don't want to go to my crib!" 8/24
Sarah counted to 11 only skipping the 9! 8/25
Sarah has had a little cough at naptime the last few days, but the teachers
didn't think she needed to stay home from school. We gave her some cough
medicine before school today, so as I came into the classroom this afternoon
I said, "So how'd she do today?" And before she realized that
I was asking specifically about Sarah's cough, Miss Susan said, "Oh,
just great--just like always!" 8/28
Walking up to our restaurant, Sarah points to the sign
and says, "Black....Eye....Pea. I reading that!" 8/29