First Day of Kindergarten

Yes, it has already been two weeks since Abbie's first day of Kindergarten and I have been totally delinquent about getting pictures posted. She has been doing great. Getting back to school has really improved her mood and I think that she is really enjoying it. Her teachers seem very nice and her Kindergarten classroom has many of the same things on the walls that she had in JK, so it feels very familiar to her.

So far the work that they have been doing seems like review - i.e., letters of the alphabet, colors, etc., but my expectation is that soon the pace will pick up and they will get to the new material. As you can see, the 1st day was a whirlwind at drop off time and Emily was working pretty hard to get in on the action.

The structure is very similar to what she had last year, with Spanish four days a week and Chinese one day a week. There is also the usual stuff - PE, library, music, tech, etc. She is also excited about ballet classes after school on Tuesday afternoons. Of course, Abbie is yet again one of the youngest in her class. She just turned 5, but this weekend we are going to a birthday party for a classmate who is turning 6. Hard to believe.

Other than going to school, Abbie (and all of us, actually) have been spending the afternoons in our pool. It is small and not more than 4 feet deep, which is perfect for the girls. It has been a nice way to relax at the end of the day, especially since it is regularly sunny and 100+ degrees. All the time in the pool has really improved Abbie's swimming abilities and she is now really comfortable in the water.

Finally, Abbie has recently devised a new strategy for trying to get what she wants. Basically, she has started treating us the way we are taught to treat two year olds - i.e., set up two choices in a way that the parent always wins. For Abbie, there are two strategies. First, she may try setting up two choices so that she can't lose - i.e., "Mom, do you want me to ride the merry-go-round or the train?" Of course, I want neither of these, but somehow she thinks that she can trick me into feeling forced to pick one or the other. Second, she may do some investigative work to determine a choice that she knows I won't pick so that she can offer it as an alternative to the choice that she wants me to pick. It usually goes something like this: "Mom, would you like it if I fell on my head?" Me, "No, of course not. That would be awful." Her, "OK, then I can either fall on my head or have cake for dessert. Which do you choose?" Again, she seems to think that I will actually feel obligated to pick one of these. Pretty funny.