The other day I asked Casey to put something in the toy box. She soon came back and, with a bit of a surprised, accomplished look on her face, told me she learned she could burp and put a toy away at the same time. Awesome. Way to make a mom proud....
In all seriousness, though, it is the end of the school year and I do find myself proud of what both of my girls have accomplished this year. Casey's class had a reading and writing celebration this morning at which they read lines performing skits of some short stories. My big girl read the role of the Big Red Hen and nailed it. The BRH in this skit had the opportunity several times to tell the other actors, "Oh, no you don't!" (insert attitude) This role was made for Casey because in the most lovingly way I can describe, she's bossy. Not (always) in the obnoxious, 'I know everything' way, but in the 'I am a multi-tasker and know what needs to be done and I can help you stay on-task' kind of way. Maybe she was born with this ingrained leadership in her or maybe we've put that responsibility on her by asking her to help keep track of Emily so much. Maybe it's both.... The other day she told me she would like me to get some math workbooks to work on this summer so she (and I quote) "can be a smart as Colin." That's some competitiveness. I like it. I'm competitive, too. I get it. So as long as she is excited to learn more math, we shall embrace the good natured competition of nailing the timed math sheets before a peer. First grade was a good year for her. She had a bit of a rough start, learning to control her speaking out in class, but she's come a long way. She's not the quiet, disciplined teacher's pet by any means now, (I'm mean I'd be disappointed if she were - that's just not Casey!) but self control is a skill gathered with maturity and it's coming along well. Next year she will go to a different building; a 2 through 6 school. As I sat through and video-taped the skits, songs sung and poems recited this morning, I realized that these first graders are still in those magical years of school-age. Where they can sing songs to their moms, and dads and grandparents about how much they've learned and about how summer vacation is coming up. You know - those songs with lyrics made up to the tune of 'I've been workin' on the railroad'? I'm guessing that these days are numbered. It might not be cool anymore to recite a poem about how mommy used to help me read and now I can do it all by myself in fifth grade - maybe not even second grade!!!! So for now I will cherish my little big girl who has shown us what a capacity and excitement for learning she has. Even if it's learning to burp and clean at the same time... :)
Emily is completing her first full year of pre-school! (She turned 3 last March, so she only went to pre-school the last 2 months of the year last year.) Sister knows her colors, some letters of the alphabet and numbers and is developing counting skills. She's learned to use a scissors (I've got mixed feelings about this one. My conflict regarding scissors has mostly to do with her lack of impulse control and a beautiful head full of blond curls.) We have learned, even more than before, how much of a nurturer she is. - She has spent her school year keeping track of classmates when they are not following along and running over to console when someone is hurt. For some of the disabilities Emily has been handed, she was given such special abilities as well. Nurturing, mothering, and helping are just some of them. Each day she was the first one to tell another student "Hello!!" as soon as they walked through the door of the classroom. I could be wrong (and extremely biased), but I think she was the most outgoing and friendly of her class. She loves to paint and is a social learner for certain! She recognizes letters of the alphabet in the environment outside of school because they are letters in her classmates' names. Oh, and she's kind of bossy, too. (Uh-oh! Yep- I've been given TWO bossy little girls!) Emily's vocabulary has expanded and blossomed leaps and bounds this year. I watched her last weekend at the Daisy scout picnic interacting with another pre-schooler and Emily was volleying conversation back and forth like she hasn't been doing this for just a few weeks. She'll have one more year of pre-school before she starts kindergarten. My baby is getting so big and is blowing us away with what she has learned, can learn and will learn...
This morning before school one of my little darlings was at the kitchen table finishing up breakfast and I asked her to bring her bowl to the sink. And she said, "No." I told her she needed to do what I ask and she said, "No." I said, "(insert daughter's name here), bring me your bowl." And she said, "No, mommy, YOU do it!" Can you guess which of my girls I just bragged about in the above paragraphs talked back to me? It was Emily. It is moments like these that make me take a step ba
ck and feel so many emotions. When she does something so ordinary and typical (like starting to talk back) I almost immediately feel proud and amazed. There were many, many moments in the months after Emily was born that I feared she would never be able to do such normal kid stuff. These despairing thoughts were heart-wrenching. And now, 4 years later, on a random Thursday morning I hear her talk back to me for the first time, I do not feel upset. I feel blessed. Don't get me wrong, we treat and discipline Emily like we do Casey, so she won't get away with talking back for long. But my heart can't help but give her a few free passes. And while on the topic of talking back, Casey gave me a doosey the other day. We were getting ready for school and I asked Casey to go upstairs to get a different pair of socks. She protested, saying she was going to miss "the best" part of SpongeBob. I told her too bad, and she stomped away saying, "Mom, you have no idea how hard my life is!" I can't say I was left feeling proud and amazed, but I was left smiling. Theses girls have spunk that's for sure. :)
