Butterfly Stroke

While swimming in grammy's pool recently, Aidan exclaimed that he was going to do "his balifics (3 year old for olympics)", jumped into the pool and began doing what looked like the Butterfly stroke. I can't believe what he has picked up from watching the Olympics all summer!

Reputation

During dinner the other night, Reese announced that she had a new friend named Andrew. Me: "Oh really. What did you and Andrew do today?" Reese: "We played under the slide and in the tunnel." Me: (thinking that those places sound kind of like hiding spots, needed some clarification) "What else did you do?" Reese: "Whenever I left, Andrew waited for me to come back." Me: "Oh, really! Why don't you tell daddy about your new friend." Reese: "Daddy, Andrew and I were digging rocks under the slide." Thank goodness! I was worried about Reese getting a reputation!

No Good Horrible Rotten Week

Reese's very first full week of Kindergarten is best described by the title of this post. You name it, anything bad that could have happened did and then some. She was nervous to go to the bus stop on Monday and asked me to stay and walk her to the stop rather than having grammy take her. Since the bus comes just a few minutes after I drop her off at her grammy's I told her that I would take her just one more day. We snuggled on the couch until it was time to go and I walked her to the bus stop. When the bus came, she forgot her reservations and ran after her friends to get on the bus. I followed the bus to her school and waved as I drove past to my school just down the road. Everything was fine until about 2:55 when I received a call from the school nurse that Reese had had an accident and they were holding her to be picked up by a parent. I immediately left work to pick her up. When I arrived she was dressed in completely different clothes and was absolutely a wreck. She was crying and tired and totally overwhelmed. The nurse explained that she cleaned her up as well as she could with wipes, but it was obvious she needed a bath. After gathering up her dirty clothes, we rushed home and got her into the tub. I was starting my first class for the semester, so I quickly cleaned her up, got her dressed and got her settled on the couch. I gave her a kiss and rushed out the door before I could change my mind and decide to skip class. It was agony sitting through class because I was so anxious to get home and find out more about the first day. When I got home, she had taken a quick nap and eaten dinner and was in much better spirits. We talked about the incident and I found that she had gone in her pants during end of the day recess. I emphasized that she needed to find a teacher and ask to go use the restroom if something like that ever happened again. The very next day her grammy took her to the bus stop and all went well at school. After work, I picked the kids up and we headed to town for a scheduled checkup and cleaning. Both kids did very well, but the dentist revealed that Reese's front tooth that had been dead for several years (after falling into a coffee table) was abcessed and needed to be removed. She would not do it in the office, so she referred us to an oral surgeon. By this time, Gretchen was screaming, so we quickly scheduled the appointment for the next day and then ran to the car so that I could feed Gretchen. Reese was already very upset at the thought of having the tooth removed and kept asking questions about it. Randy was out of town on business, so I called him immediately to give him the news. That night I checked our insurance and discovered that the oral surgeon they had referred us to was not a preferred provider, so I called to cancel the appointment and rescheduled with a preferred provider for the next day. Wednesday night, Randy's aunt watched the kids so that I could attend my other class. By the time I got home and ate dinner, fed Gretchen, looked through Reese's school stuff and packed lunches, it was time for the kids to go to bed. I hate how little time I have with them on school nights, but I am so glad that I get to be home in time to still be able to tuck them into bed. Thursday morning we slept in a little as I took 1/2 day off to take Reese to the oral surgeon. We dropped the other kids off and drove to the office. When I pulled up in front of a dilapidated old Victorian home with boarded up windows, I did not have a good feeling. Those feelings became overwhelming as I sat down with Reese to fill out the paperwork amongst the taxidermied animals hanging all around us. When I got to a disclaimer that stated that we would owe the entire amount of the visit up front regardless of insurance, my inner voice was screaming at me to run! I asked the receptionist about the disclaimer and found that they were going to be charging a minimum of $300 to knock her out. After a quick call to Randy, we cancelled to appointment. Reese was upset because she had been all worked up about having the tooth pulled and whether or not it would be painful. I was crying and upset because I just wanted the whole ordeal to be over with for her. Since I had not fed her and did not pack her a lunch for school, we stopped at Subway to get both of us a lunch, and the cookies worked wonders at improving both of our moods. I dropped Reese off at school and went in to work. While I was at work, Randy contacted the insurance to find out about our coverage and rescheduled the appointment with the surgeon that our dentist had originally suggested. After work, we picked up the kids and went to town to sign the papers for the refinance on our house. After signing the papers, we went out to dinner. The kids were tired and crabby and it was not the smoothest or most relaxing dinner out, but I was still glad not to have to cook! The next morning Randy took Reese to the surgeon and had the tooth removed. Reese was a trooper and did not even cry during the procedure. On the way back to school, she wanted to see me, so Randy brought her into my work. All of my co-workers doted on her and though she was in a better mood, she was sore and decided to go back to grammy's. I told her that I would pick her up if and when she felt better and take her to school if she wanted, and not even half an hour later I got the call. I picked her up and took her to school and told her to have a good day. That afternoon when I got to grammy's to pick up the kids, I was shocked to find Reese in the same clothes that she had borrowed from the nurse on Monday! She had had another accident at recess and this time they had just sent her home on the bus. I was livid that they sent her home on the bus rather than calling to have her picked up. After talking to Reese about the incident, I learned that she was scared to ask the teacher to go inside to use the restroom because they had told the students that nobody was to go back inside during recess. Over the weekend I drilled it into Reese that she needs to let somebody at school now when she needs to use the restroom and that they will let her inside if she just lets them know. Thankfully, she has not had an accident since then and she has had a blast meeting new friends and showing off all of her artwork and things that she has learned. Though we got off to a rough start, I feel that we have finally found our way to enjoying Kindergarten!

Not an "S" word

Reese has been working on the sounds that the letters make at school. Reese often exaggerates words trying to sound out each letter to figure out how it is spelled. Each week they have one letter that they focus on practicing writing and also bring in an object that starts with the letter for show and tell. This week's letter is "S", so I suggested to Reese that she could wear her new shirt to school on her show and tell day. Reese: "Sh-sh-sh shirt. Nope. Not an "S" word. I love Kindergarten!