It's All Over - K

It is probably appropriate that I waited all summer to write this post as this is the first week of back to school though it feels like school just ended.  Some people know that we had some concerns during Adelaide's year of Kindergarten and we were faced with the decision of whether to push A forward or allow her to repeat K.  As I write this I get teary eyed just thinking about all of the conversations, meetings, crying, testing and stress we enduring starting in January.
We knew before ever enrolling Adelaide in school that she was almost a full year younger than most of the other students that would be in her class and that some of her processing was a little delayed.  With all of that we decided to give her the chance and off to K she went.  The first few months flew bye and she seemed to be doing really well.  Just before Christmas the teacher started to mention some minor concerns, but as a whole we were working towards 1st grade.  After the holiday break Adelaide really started to struggle.  She wasn't getting along with classmates, she was giving us attitude at home, didn't want to do her school work, threw tantrums at school and then actually pushed a teacher.  I can't tell you what it feels like to have the principal call you because Adelaide refused to walk in the lunch line and they didn't know what else to do with her.  I wasn't sure if I was going to laugh or cry, especially when the principal tells you that she doesn't know what to do because by the time she got to her office she was smiling and being as precious as she could be.   Yes,  the story of her life.  Adelaide is typically as sweet as humanly possible and then she has these momentary lapse in sanity when she is a complete booger.  Exasperating is the only word I can come up with at this point.
We thought about anything and everything that had changed in the last month and started working backwards.  At the end we figured out that she was exhausted because Penelope was keeping her up at night talking and she was struggling with not having a solid routine.  So we fixed as much of that as we could and then Grant also came up with a brilliant idea of asking the teachers to have A count to 10 slowly when she became upset.  A few weeks later and it was like a miracle had occurred because she was getting back to her normal self.  There was plenty of catch up to do when it came to work, but she did it.  Grant and I were having monthly meetings with the teachers and each day the teacher would send home a discipline chart which determined if Adelaide got to go on a special date for the weekend.
I didn't get in trouble much when I was in school but I can imagine that when being called into the Principal's office it was the same feeling that Grant and I had at an Adelaide update.  We walk into a room filled with A's Teacher, Speech Therapist, Physical Therapist, Occupational Therapist, ESE Advisor, Guidance Counselor and School Psychologist.  I didn't cry when Adelaide had her first day of school, but I did cry when we got the official message that Adelaide would be progressing to the next grade.

 Now that I have spilled my guts about our struggles these past few months let me get to the good or in this case, the funny stuff.  There was a Kindergarten Awards presentation at the school and each of the four classes presented each child with an award.  This years Funniest Friend was of course Adelaide.  When the announcement was made the entire class started laughing as Adelaide stomped up the stage being silly as could be.  That's the thing with this sweet girl, she has no idea that she is being funny and yet she can make an entire room light up with joy.

 Great progress this year, she really can read and does read anything that you put in front of her.  We are still working on her writing, but as you can see from these pictures she improved greatly.

October 2013

7 months later

Last day big girl.

The last day of school was an early dismissal so as a special treat we picked A up on the bike and went directly to the pool.  At the pool our friends were waiting for us with cupcakes and we had lots of fun in the sun.

Snack time at the pool.

Let the summer fun begin.  

I've gone through life listening to others talk about being an advocate for this or that, but it wasn't until I became a mother did I really understand what that meant.  No matter what school district your child is in or who/what you think you know it is never enough.  We are doing everything that we can to stay involved with the school and the community so that we know Adelaide is receiving every service that she needs.  For those that do this for others I applaud and admire you for it takes a big heart and thick skin to do what you do.