I'm Melissa: A month into the school year

We are four weeks into the Kindergarten school year. And so far....GREAT! I can not brag on Sydaleigh enough. This little girl, has not one.single.time. complained about going to school. She has never once asked to stay home or complained about getting up in the morning. Each day she is cheerful and enthusiastic to go to school. She is learning. She is flourishing. She is being challenged. She has got a great teacher that maintains much of the same guidelines we have in our home. She is active and engaged and keeps a close eye on the happenings in the classroom. She has a great method for open communication and Sydaleigh enjoys learning under her.

We have had a couple little, not hiccups, but just, things happen in school that have needed addressing so far. The first week her teacher was out of the classroom for a day and Sydaleigh's class had a sub. There was a pushing incident while the kids were walking in line to music class. I got a little riled up and talked to the teacher about my "take no crap stance" with other kids laying their hands on my Sydaleigh. :~)

And then her lunch got taken and hidden from her for fun by another friend and she had to eat cafeteria food. I probably shoulda not gotten so riled up this time. But it's me, and I tend to respond emotionally before I think things through logically. When I informed Sydaleigh I'd be havin' a talk with the friends mommy, she got really upset...knowing that my talking to another mom resulted in trouble for her friend. So after lots of tears and screaming and some lying....I just felt the Lord encouraging me to step back. So, I told Sydaleigh that I would not talk to her friends mommy. But that she needed to talk to her friend herself and ask that he not take and hide her lunch anymore. But I also reminded her that she is this boys friend. She is not his mommy. It's not her job to make sure he doesn't get in trouble. It's her job to make sure she always tells me what is true.

Oh....how I'd love to step in and fight all my kids battles for them. How I instinctively want to protect and save them from everything the world throws at them. Even small things like this. It's so easy for me to step in and just solve all her problems for her. But, I can't solve all her problems. I can't fix everything for her. I want to equip them to be problem solvers. I want them to be bold and have confidence to speak up and address a situation. And that's not gonna happen if I'm always stepping in, and never giving them a chance.

I'm just so grateful that we're starting out with small things like lunchboxes!!

I need to be eased into this!

One thing that we are apparently not going to get the pleasure of being eased into is this whole "girlfriend" fiasco.

FIRST day of school a boy came home gushin' to his momma how Sydaleigh is his girlfriend.

Say wha?!?! Not again!

It was the same way in preschool! The boys in her class and in her swim lessons would tell their moms how Sydaleigh was their girlfriend too.

NO!!!!! She's five!!!

Shoot, I laugh now, but if she's already turning the boys heads, I'm clearly gonna be beating them back with a stick come high school. Probably before that. And I do mean "beating them back with a stick" li.ter.a.lly. I need to find a ninja store so that I can find one that collapses so I can fit it in my purse all inconspicuously, and then BAM! Bust it out all quick and ninja like.

And then I'm gonna get the girls some of THIS. So they can be protected....and fancy. Gotta equip them against all their admirers....because apparently the line is already forming. :~)

But school is going well. She absolutely loves it. She adjusted so smoothly. She has made a plethora of new friends. And when she comes home we spend time at the table having a snack and talking about her day. And then her and Marvelly spend time together getting reacquainted after a day spent apart.

Me and Marvelly have been having a grand time, just us. I have been doing "school" with her a couple days a week. But since she has the attention span of a peanut, we are done in about 15 minutes. But in the past four weeks she has memorized how to spell her name and is developing her fine motor skills learning how to trace letters. Oh, and coloring inside a picture. Very big three year old stuff. :~)