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| I just bought a laminated calendar to help introduce days, weeks, months to Emily. What a better month to start than her birthday month?!? |
Emily is now registered for kindergarten. Yikes! How did this happen? She's the baby. She can't possibly be old enough for this. In reality, kindergarten is the exact same start and end time as pre-school. The difference is she'll go one extra day. So it's not like we're becoming empty nesters or anything here, but this Spring will bring the pre-school phase of our lives to an end. -There that sounds more appropriately dramatic for what I'm feeling. That and the fact that Emily being not only our baby, but our special baby, brings a whole other level to the drama of it all. I've got 5 whole months to dwell on this subject before she actually goes to kindergarten, so I just settle down here a bit. I mean all I did was sign a few pieces of papers and fill out some forms. Actually, that's all I had to do to register Casey for kindergarten. When you have a special kid, you get to fill out those pages as well as an additional 40 to 50 pages of assessment forms and attend several transitioning, evaluation and IEP meetings and then sign some more forms. Apparently going to kindergarten is a little more involved than just telling them she got short-changed on some of the learning chromosomes and got a surplus of the chromosomes for happiness. :) I'll keep you posted on how the upcoming IEP meetings go. I feel like getting ready for them might be like preparing for an international summit...
It is March now and little sister knows her birthday is right around the corner. Each morning she wakes up and at some point she says 'My birthday is coming up!' We've been practicing saying her birthday and how old she will be as well as her address. Saying them in a sing-song way definitely has helped her remember them. In the kindergarten registration packet, there was a list of 5 or 6 different things your kid should be able to do before he/she starts school next year. They are:
1) State first an last name and age.
2) Write his/her first name.
3) Use scissors and crayons with appropriate grip.
4) Count to 20.
5) Recognize colors and basic shapes.
6) Say their address and phone number.
Casey knew all of these, how to read and more when she started kindergarten. But I recognize this might be the only year of school that Emily will begin and be able to have met all the educational goals outlined for students. I know these are the most basic skills and many kids will be counting to 100 like Casey did on day one, but we are making sure these things are nailed and checked off this list before next school year. Come hell or high water, she's going in like a boss for at least one year. She's got most of them down, but we'll continue to sing our address on the way to Kroger or count 20 jelly beans at Easter :)
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| The other night the girls put on a cooking show for us :) |
As you can tell by this post, there are a lot of things Emily-related going on in March, right on the heels of Emily's dance competition performance. And while Casey, who is Emily's biggest cheerleader, (it was Casey who came up with our little address melody with Emily, and Casey who teared up watching Emily dance) is supportive, the more it's all about Emily the less it's all about Casey. And Princess Casey's not a big fan of being de-throned :)
When Emily was born, one of my biggest worries was that Casey would one day resent the fact that her only sibling was disabled. Slow. Challenged. Different. Never once did I worry that she would be jealous of her for being....Cute. Lovable. Adorable. Casey has mentioned more than a time or two lately that people seem to like Emily more than her. In fact, she seems to be very aware that some people find a special endearing quality in Emily. A trait that is indeed different, but not the kind of different that I worried about. Oh, I once cried buckets of tears about Casey feeling like she got short changed in the sisterly relationship department. And, to be honest, I still fear for the day Casey might confess she wishes she had a 'normal' sister. (Okay, if I'm really honest I know she will feel like this one day and I need to be prepared for it.) But resenting her for being cute? Didn't see that one coming.
We've been out and about recently and some old acquaintances of mine or people who know the same people we do, have stopped to say hi or introduce themselves because they recognize Emily. And Emily, with her blond curls, usually is smiling and blissfully unaware of the world around her. Take that in for a second. Can you imagine being chronically happy (except when getting out of bed - she's a real grump then) and not really giving a hoot about what other people are saying/doing/thinking? I imagine it would be liberating. That is Emily. And I think people are drawn to that. (Disclaimer: I am completely biased and realize I might be making this all up in my head as some self-preservation mechanism.) Either way, when I'm out and about with the girls, it's usually Emily who will get the attention first lately. And Casey's jealously radar hones in on that with lightening speed. I think it's kind of adorable, really. Like I said, I've been prepared for Casey to resent Emily for other things. So, especially as Emily's birthday approaches we will have to make sure Casey is getting her love bucket filled a little extra from us :)
My parents were in town this past weekend and mom went with me and the girls to shop for a First Communion dress for Casey. (Here I go again...) I can't believe my big girl is old enough to make her First Communion already!! I did some reconnaissance work online before we went out (what a smart idea this was!!). I knew I had a limit to what I wanted to spend and I also knew Casey would have a strong opinion on what her dress would look like, so we browsed through many stores' websites to find some we liked. I have no patience for dragging the girls to 8 different stores on some white dress wild goose chase. Fortunately, she found exactly one she loved online and a quick trip to Macy's is all it took to seal the deal. It was the maximum I was willing to spend and she loved it, so we are both happy. This is worth documenting because I'm sure this perfect storm of happiness on both our parts when it comes to fashion will be rare :)
Emily's birthday, Casey's First Communion, the end of pre-school. They all have me thinking Spring! Except I don't think mother nature is done with winter yet. Seriously?? I'm starting to think it will be 30 degrees with clouds and flurries forever. I try to never wish time away, especially when I've just spent a fair share of this post whining about my girls growing up too fast, but I wouldn't be disappointed if it was Spring already!
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| The final product from the cooking show |
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| I just learned this trick at my last photography class - blow out the background of a shot! for the subject of my last assignment I chose peanut butter and jelly :) |
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