Thursday, August 26, 2010

7 Quick Takes from Back-to-School Week

My 3 year old has created a new word: "kindergartening". It is a verb meaning "going to kindergarten or being at kindergarten". He uses it in sentences talking about his sister and says things like, "When she gets done kindergartening we will do that."

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Speaking of the "kindergartening", all week it has gone well! I've learned more about what happens during the day at kindergarten from my daughter going for 4 days than I learned from my son going an entire year! My daughter comes home and tells me every book her teacher read, which kids cried, what they cried about, what her teacher said when they were crying, which kids got in trouble and why, and what happened as a consequence.

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I love our kindergarten teacher's style! I personally heard her the year my son had her say in a gentle, matter-of-fact voice to a child who was crying because he didn't win the game they were playing, "That's not something we cry about." And my daughter said when a little girl in her class cried because she couldn't fold up her towel after rest time that that same kindergarten teacher told that girl, "You could solve your own problem by asking someone else to fold it for you." Spoken just like someone who has spent years in a classroom full of 5 and 6 year olds!

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The other difference (besides getting way more info. about the day) I've noticed about sending a girl to kindergarten versus sending a boy is the amount of time you need to allocate in the morning to trouble shoot wardrobe and/or hair issues! My son has never complained about anything I've put on him or had much of an opinion on his clothes or hair at all, but my daughter? Well, just in this one week she's decided there is a certain type of hair clip she likes, "Don't give me that other kind that open like this", and one of her two pairs of shoes we tried on several times before school began now suddenly slip up too much in the back for her liking and she doesn't want to wear them. Sometimes it feels a bit like trying to please the princess from The Princess and the Pea!

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And second grade! Well, that is the year you get your own locker at our elementary, so that in and of itself has made for an awesome year for my son! And I know! I don't think I got a locker until the 6th grade, but you know everything happens younger for kids these days. And to be fair, it is not a locker with a lock and they just put their backpack in it in the morning and then get their backpack out of it at the end of the day!

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It has taken a lot of restraint on my part not to make my son pose in front of his locker for a picture! Although he'd probably more willingly do it now than when he is in 6th grade, so its settled I'm taking the camera up to school next week!

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Last, I'll have you know that I can talk the big talk about not having the goal of an "easy life" for my kids, but I am the mom that shows up at elementary school pick-up with ice-cold bottles of Gatorade in my purse for my thirsty, hot, little darlings because it would just be too hard for them to wait the 4 minutes it would take us to drive home to get a drink! (In my defense it is roughly 300 degrees outside right now where we live and the kids have to walk half-way around the school outside to the covered black-top where they all gather to be picked up by the parents).

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Have a wonderful weekend!


The Girl Creative

6 comments:

  1. Happy FF!

    I would be prepared with drinks too. Its thoughtful.

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  2. Don't know what part I liked best...."Kindergartening"..love it, the blow by blow report from your daughter..wonderful, along with her DEFINITE opinions, a locker for a second grader? No doubt a HUGE deal, haha...oh and your right, get that pic now, haha...And waiting with the drinks? Sooo wonderful. What a wonderful mama they have. Have a wonderful week-end. HUGS

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  3. I'm just too lazy, scatterbrained and generally disorganized to get drinks ready when they come out of school! LOL

    And I love the detailed account of her day--if only mine would do the same! Hmmm. Well, maybe not. LOL

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  4. That's cute - kindergartening. My own 3-year-old makes her own, too, and I have been listing those that are too funny!

    When it comes to wardrobe, it's the same with my daughter. Hubby and I don't dress her up with our choices. She HAS to choose her own and it's GOTTA BE A DRESS or else, we'll see that biggest (but cutest) pout!

    Little girls do know what they want. They are little princesses! (LOL)

    Happy weekend! :)

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  5. I love the post! We're a Gladney family too! Waiting for twins! I look forward to following along on your journey!
    Blessings.
    J
    www.gfinkfamily.blogspot.com

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  6. Kindergarten is fun, isn't it? I love to hear what they're doing and how the teacher is handling this and that. Some of it has me struggling to contain my laughter. Glad it's going well for you.

    And I'm glad to see you decided to take your camera in now to get that locker shot. Later, they'll cringe at seeing you in the hallway, let alone being stalked by a mom with a camera! Trust me...:)

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