Tag: parenthood

A very special ending

Endings, often emotional, never repeatable.  Some we are thrilled to see happen, others we wish would never come.  This week I have 2 endings in process, one fitting in each category.

Wednesday I scheduled what I hope to be the last surgery I have for a very long time.  After the multiple ultrasounds it is time to have those pesky uterine polyps out.  This is expected to be a quick and relatively pain-free procedure.  I am also able to have it done at the surgery center which I am pleased about, having more than my fill of hospitals last year.  This is an ending I have been looking forward to for months!  It does not occur until mid-July but at least it is on the schedule.

An ending that I am not so happy to see will happen in just a few hours.  It is the “very special  endings” ceremony at Madison’s school.  They do not have a graduation ceremony for Kindergarten.  Instead they have this little gathering where they will sing, recite a poem and receive a certificate.  My baby is heading to first grade soon.  Amazing how quickly time flies!

They have been practicing for weeks.  She comes home and hides in her room so I can not see what she is doing.  Two days ago we had to spend time picking the “perfect” outfit. A pretty floral dress and her new “high heel” sandals.  For such a rough and tumble little girl, it always amazes me how much of a little diva she can become when she wants to dress up.  I guess the balance is good…god help me lol!

I am very proud of her growth this year.  She went to school reading just a few sight words and she ends reading small chapter books.  Her math skills are off the charts and the thoughtful questions that she poses to me on a very regular basis at times throw me for a loop.

Madison is a wonderful, smart, beautiful little girl and I could not be more proud!Image

Excited about learning, a different view

rewards-for-good-gradesI never knew just how fun learning could be until I could view it through the eye’s of my children.  I was less than a stellar student.  My grades were good in high school and actually excellent in college but for many reasons grade school was really difficult for me.  Not only did I not enjoy school, I think I can honestly say I hated it.  Maybe it was the small catholic school where everyone knew everything about everything, or the comparison to my more academically inclined siblings.  Maybe it was the latch key kid thing at age 7, the divorced parents, or the…or the….

It does not matter.

“That which does not kill us makes us stronger” -Friedrich Nietzsche

I have lived by this quote my entire life.  So many live in the shadow of their own past, fall victim to things they can not control, allow it to affect how they live their lives.  Others use experiences to shape who they become.  I decided on this route.

From the time my girls were babies, I have tried to do anything and everything to make learning fun.  I never want them to experience what I did.  I have spent many hours reading to them, hours sitting at the table working on workbooks with them and many a fun afternoon performing science experiments with them.  My husband and I both welcome and encourage questions on just about anything and we do not hide current events from them.

Who knows what the future holds.  All I can do is what I feel is best for my girls at the time, what I think will help them to grow into strong, intelligent, self-sufficient young women.  Along the way I receive such joy as they grow each day.

With each day I learn, who knew just how fun learning could be!

The day after..

Madison had a wonderful day touring the elementary school yesterday.  The kids were each provided a name tag lanyard which  included their name, Kindergarten teacher, and bus number.  She wore the tag proudly through the halls of the “big kid school”. Everyone she ran into asked her the same question, “are you Megan’s sister?”  There are some children who would be annoyed by this but not my little one.  She takes it as a badge of honor, she is famous because she is Meg’s little sister.  Hey, whatever works right?

The highlight of the day was when her group was taken into a 3rd grade classroom, the very same one that holds her big sister.  She was so excited to see Megan sitting at her desk.  Meg fielded questions for the rest of the day about her little sister from both friends and teachers alike.  Both seemed to equally enjoy the attention.

I always joke that I have nothing from my childhood.  A few pictures but that’s about it.  I was the third child for one and with my parents being divorced and my mother not being the warmest person in the world she was not a big saver of things.  I have gone to the other extreme.  I have funny papers that my girls have written over the years, pictures drawn and special items that mean something from the time each was born.  They are kept in what the girls have termed my “keeper boxes”.  When Megan was in Kindergarten, her teacher put together a booklet of things showing the growth the kids had from the time they started school.  She asked that we write a note to include.  Frank wrote the note and we included a picture from the first day of school.

Before Madison left for school yesterday, she was greeted to breakfast by a note written by her father at her place at the table.  He actually started working on it weeks ago and asked me for a picture from the fist week of school. She read it while chopping on a banana.   I feel that you can never express enough the love we feel for our kids. From someone who grew up rarely hearing the words “I love you”, I have come to learn, you can never say them enough!

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