The Kindergartner

The season has changed to Fall and it has brought with it the new world of school for Megan. She has eased into the new routine of all day kindergarten and is enjoying the challenges. She has internalized the goal of learning to read and she is enjoying the new skills she has already picked up. I have been watchful these last few years and am determined to head off any learning disabilities early if they appear. The reason I say this is because Megan exhibits many of the same struggles in reading that Emma did. It took us 4 years to get Emma to a point where she could fly and I am hopeful we won't waste any time with any of the others.


Megan has happily embarked on this task of reading and is currently outside in the clubhouse going over her sight word books as I type. She is memorizing and retaining a lot and glows with pride as she reads to us. So far so good. I am proud of the excitement with which she approaches school.


She has recently become obsessed with making her own "books" and is singlehandedly taking down the rainforests. If I don't reign her in she'll use 20 sheets of paper, draw a few marks on each sheet and then staple them together. She has now created dozens of these "books". I cut her book production off and told her that she now needs to go back and write on or draw real pictures in her existing books before she can create more.


Kindergarten has meant lots of new friends and I am eager to go in for Halloween so I can put faces to the names. It sounds like she is making a wide group of friends. I have been a little surprised that the majority of the kids she talks about are boys. The first few weeks of school she kept talking about a boy, Crum. The name seemed odd to me and I recalled one boy I met on the first day named Graham and asked if that is who she meant. Yup! I guess graham crackers and crumbs have a strong association for her.


Being the 3rd girl means that Megan doesn't get to have a lot of firsts. But last week Megan became the first in our family to become a Daisy girl scout. Daisies is for kindergarten and 1st grade girls. She was so eager to be a scout and be able to participate in the activities she has seem Em and Rae take part in. So on Tuesday the five of us went to witness her Investiture ceremony. In the week leading up the the ceremony Megan shadowed me at home until I finished sewing the patches that she earned this summer at GS camp onto her uniform, and I got it ready in plenty of time. Meg played with the new tunic throughout the ceremony and couldn't wait to put her new pins on.


She is taking dance class this year. This class is with the same program as the one from last year but it runs the whole year and adds Jazz dance to the Tap and Ballet skills. It is only a rec program but she loves it and I have been impressed with her poise.


The down side of all day kindergarten is that she is more tired and way more whiny but hopefully she will grow out of this and maybe less daylight hours will help her get better rest. Kindergarten has also coincided with her first lost tooth and a 2nd should fall out soon. That means my curly headed girl has an adult tooth. It is a long road to adulthood but it has already begun... in Kindergarten.