Merry Drama

Abbie has had an interesting Christmas, filled with some drama.  We started the morning with the announcement that she didn't get very many presents (which she wasn't happy about).  Of course, this caused us to launch into the standard, "Do you know how lucky you are?  Some kids don't have anything." lecture.  Also, it makes me tempted to outlaw all presents for the foreseeable future, but I know that I won't really do this, so I haven't hit her with the empty threat.  Instead, I have already told her that we need to start thinking about what we could do next year to help those less fortunate.

As discussed in the previous post, Abbie did get her pillow pet that she wanted.  She requested the unicorn because that it what her friend at school has (see below).

She then informed me that she could never bring it into her room because her other animals would laugh at it and say that unicorns aren't real.  I told her to give it a try anyway.  Sure enough, she reported, they laughed.  Then I told her to go back and explain to the other animals how that hurts the unicorn's feelings, etc.  She did, but then she came back with lovey cow and lovey bear and announced that lovey cow had stuck his tongue out and lovey bear had still laughed, so they needed to go on time-out.  Then she announced that "They're friends and they copy each other in bad ways, so they need to have separate time-out locations."  So, lovey cow is currently on time-out in our room and lovey bear is currently on time-out downstairs.  Then, I suggested that maybe unicorn and twilight turtle would hit it off as friends, so off she went to introduce them to each other.  All is well that ends well, I suppose, but I am really getting the sense that she needs to get back to school so that she has something to occupy her brain other than all this drama.

The Elf on the Shelf

We almost forgot to get out the Elf on the Shelf this year!  For those of you who aren't familiar with this, you can check it out here: http://www.elfontheshelf.com/#/home.  Anyway, Abbie was super excited to see the little guy.  Of course, she thinks that it is a girl elf.  She is still trying to decide on a name, but she has been talking to him about all the things she wants for Christmas.  I overheard her this morning and some of it was the same old stuff that she has been talking about all month - she wants a pillow pet, and a dinosaur, and barbies, etc., but I also heard her say "I need a new brain so I can remember more stuff."  Always so self-critical.  The thing with the elf is that she can't touch it or its magic will go away.  So, there it sits on the mantle, just staring around the room.  Abbie is quick, though, and it is hard to get one over on her.  She said to me, "The elf's face almost looks like plastic."  Hmm, she's on to us.  I told her that maybe the elf just has to have really tough skin because the North Pole is so cold.  This seemed to make sense to her.

The other day, Abbie and I were looking at very old blog posts and I realized that I used to write so much more about the things that she was saying.  However, lately I have been more focused on the things that she is doing.  Perhaps its just because fewer nonsensical things are coming out of her mouth as she ages and because she is doing so many more interesting things.  Anyway, she does still say interesting things.

Recently we were reading one of the many princess books that she got from the library at school.  The King in the story says to a musician that if life were fair he would be paid more for his talents.  Abbie was stunned by this statement.  "You mean life isn't fair!?!"  I didn't want her to get too disillusioned, so I just said, "Well, most of the time its fair, but sometimes bad things happen to good people and sometimes good things happen to bad people and that's not fair."  She thought about this for a moment and then said, "OK, so I want to be a bad person."  "Why, honey?"  "So that good things will happen to me."  You can't fault her for trying to game the system, but of course I had to set her straight.  "No, honey, most of the time bad things happen to bad people.  Only sometimes do good things happen to them.  If you want the greatest number of good things to happen to you then you should be a good person, which you already are."

Report Card

Abbie's school is on a trimester system and the end of the first trimester is next Friday.  So, today, Chad and I met with Abbie's teacher and received her first report card along with a discussion of how she is doing.  Yes, this is only JK, but these people don't mess around.  There are specific goals and expectations for the students.  All students are evaluated in the areas of reading, letter and word knowledge, writing and written expression, math development, intellectual growth, and social and emotional development.  Further, the special subjects teachers provide evaluations in drama, library, music, P.E., science, Spanish, and technology.  What did we find out?  Abbie is doing just great!  The teachers are all pleased with her progress and enjoy her enthusiasm.  Apparently, she is making quite a name for herself (in a good way).  She has a huge personality and it has been shining.  As her teacher says, "Everyone loves our little Abbie!"  We are happy to hear that all is well.  Some other parents with older kids had indicated that this first JK report card can be a bit shocking.  I went in braced for a serious talk and was pleasantly surprised.

In other news, the activities continue.  Abbie went to a really cool birthday party a couple weeks ago.  It was on a really old sailing ship that was built in the 1860s.  It is still floating in the water, but has been converted into a maritime museum.  The museum worker (Ann) took the kids all through the boat, showed them lots of cool stuff, and put them to work putting up the anchor (see photo), etc.  Abbie stunned the other parents on multiple occasions - first, by getting lots of right answers to the questions that Ann asked, second by being absolutely fearless.  Ann took them down into the barge and asked who wanted to get on their bellies on a little board that could be wheeled into the deepest, darkest parts of the ship.  The first boy she asked said no, the second boy she asked said no, then she asked Abbie who was all too happy to go.

Next week is another exciting week at school.  The kids are taking a field trip to a retirement home on Monday to sing holiday songs for the old people.  Over the course of the week, they will also be decorating gingerbread houses, making ornaments, reading the Nutcracker, and Chad will be reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas to the class.  Then, on Friday is the holiday party (I swear it feels like we just had the Thanksgiving party!).  Then the kids are on winter recess for two weeks.