Not only have my kids fallen into their 'new' school routine nicely, they are going above and beyond in all areas of their lives to be and become better little people. It makes me smile to think of all they have done in the past week or two to (unknowingly) make me proud.
Let's start with Parker.
He's off to a great start at school. I go into his classroom every Friday to help with the 'treasure box'. A box that they get to pick a prize from if they have 5 or more tickets. How do they get tickets? By listening to their teacher, doing their school work, doing 'extra-credit' assignments, helping others, being quiet in the hall, etc. And, every week there are a handful of kids who may not have as many tickets as the others...which is understandable...they are just learning the rules of school and are pretty squirrely all of the time. Mostly because they are all truly excited to be there, which is something I love.
But, my Parker, oh yeah. He's all about those tickets. Every week he easily has more than 15 tickets. Enough to 'buy' a big prize out of the treasure box.
He loves those tickets. In fact, I think they are the perfect thing to keep Parker going strong in Kindergarten and help him learn the 'right' way to do things in school.
He's lovin' this Kindergarten gig. In fact, I do believe he has a pet name from some of the teachers as being 'Mr. Popular'.
He is one cool guy.
Last week he did something that totally amazed my Momma mind.
And, while I can't share the details with you {out of privacy for other students}, let me just say that I love this age of Parker. He is making choices with his heart and his head {the perfect combination} and he's choosing to take the higher road and help others over being 'Mr. Popular'...which, I believe, is why so many of his Kindergarten buddies like him.
God has great plans for my Parker-Man.
Now, here's the story with Andrew.
Throughout the past week, Andrew's mind has been tested.
Have you ever had a moment where you wished your child didn't qualify for something? Well, that's been my prayer over the past week {or month}.
You see, Andrew was being tested by the 'special ed' department of our school district. Don't misinterpret that...it's only a 'special ed' preschool where they would work with him on his 'problem areas'. And, man oh man, was I hoping they would get their tests over with, call us in, and tell us that Andrew passed their tests with flying colors and that he did not qualify for their preschool.
We weren't involved in the first testing process....and, I think I chewed through all of my fingernails in the hour he was being 'evaluated'. And, after that hour was complete, they told us that they were running way behind and that they didn't have time to complete all of the tests they needed to do to place Andrew in whatever category he needed to be in. {Don't they know that this is the most important thing to me!}
They were running late and needed more time, so we scheduled his speech evaluation for today. This time we were with Andrew the entire time. I loved the speech therapist. And, more importantly than that, I was so proud of how Andrew did during this testing process.
He answered questions, he pointed to pictures, he knew his colors, he played with bubbles, he knew the difference between 'she' and 'he', and 'wet' and 'dry'. I couldn't believe how much this guy knew and how much knowledge he showed in the hour we were there.
He is one smart guy.
And, although the speech therapist said that he is definitely behind in his speech {what I was afraid of} and that he was 'actually testing her skills as a speech therapist' and that she 'was really trying to watch him speak so she could try to understand him', she also said that he was undeniably smart. That his 'language skills' are all there, he just doesn't know how to get the words out right. Wow. I got teary eyed.
Because, we know how frustrated Andrew gets when he is trying to tell us something...we now have confirmation that he knows exactly what he is needing or wanting or trying to say, he just can't get it out.
I am so proud of Andrew, not only because he survived two hours of being tested on something that is frustrating to him {his speaking skills}, he is living every day trapped by not being able to say the words he wants to. And, I'm just realizing how patient this means he is. He is a tough guy....a smart guy...and most importantly, he is learning so much every day and we can't wait to see what his future holds...a day when he can say exactly what he wants to say and be completely understood by those around him.
Every day Brandon and I find a moment where we just look at each other and wonder how in the world we pulled off having these two boys as our own. How did we get so lucky? They are very awesome and we are so proud of them every day for many different reasons. Everything from trying something new at dinner to learning to tie their shoes, makes us so thankful that they are the little guys that they are.
I am one proud Momma.
Photos: If you're wanting to have some family photos taken this fall...I have a few photographers I can recommend for you {depending on location}, but if you're in the Ottawa area or KC area, please call Lyndsey Johnston. She is incredible! Full of energy! And, she does a great job!! You can find her here. She took our crazy family....two of whom had been up since 4:30 am and one {me} who had a terrible head cold...and she made us look good through her photography!!
