Hola, Como` Esta`?

Faith is coming along quite well in her Spanish classes recently. After completing her colors, numbers and alphabet, her teacher has moved on to simple greetings. Luckily her Spanish teacher will also be her classroom teacher for the Fall so she will be getting double the lessons. We are hoping that she continues to enjoy it. We are going to go ahead and keep the private lesson with her teacher on Saturday mornings. This week's greetings include, Hello and Goodbye. Hi how are you. I am good. What is your name? My name is.... Good morning, afternoon and night. Please. Thank you. and You're Welcome. Come Fall, she will be learning the weather and calendar during circle time along with a thirty minute Spanish lesson once a week.

Newest addition

So we have had another visitor move in. In fact, he is living on our porch. Faith brought home some sand from the beach last week and has had it sitting in her pail on the porch. She picked it up this evening to find a small beautiful neon blue tailed lizard sunning himself in the warm sand. I asked Bud if he was going to stay, he said probably until it starts getting cold. Faith is overly excited about this. Maybe we can sit down tomorrow and learn more about this lizard. I have researched and have found him to be a blue tailed skink. However I would like to learn more about him. If we are lucky maybe Bud will let us keep him. Big beautiful blue eyes have that kind of effect on daddies.

The End of Summer Vacation

With the end of summer in sight, it is back to school for all of us here in the Happy Little Family. So far Faith doesn't appreciate being back in class. I guess 10 weeks is just too much for a child to be away from something she loves. Loves....I can't use that word anymore for how she feels. I hope it gets better. As far as Champ, he is a happy little baby. I wish he could be held more in the infant room but with 9 babies what can a person do? He is treated well and cared for. I guess that is all that matters at this point in time. Faith is transitioning to a different class room. Her original class is now switched AGAIN. I am about fed up with the philosophy of the school and so is Bud. I am starting to see how a school doesn't treat children differently based on their intellectual needs they keep them the same as their ages. It is really disgusting but we won't talk about that. Faith misses her little brother and her mom at school. When I go to pick her up she wants to hold baby Champ and kiss him. I'll put him in her arms so it feels like she really is holding him. She loves him so much. I can't say that about his crying though. We are having an end of summer extravaganza at school on Friday. Maybe this party will help boost Faith's enjoyment of school a little more. Until then, today is another day in a class she doesn't want to be in.

What to pack for the beach

We are going to the beach tomorrow. Faith's first trip and my first trip in a long time; since I was 8 years old. Here is a list of important things that Faith has decided to bring along.
-Hello Kitty notepad....check
-toothbrush....check
-horsie......check
-clean underwear.....check
-change of clothes....check
-Hi Ho Cheerio Game....check
-microphone....check
-Mr. Machine man...check
-bag of beach toys... check
-fan...check
-vaccuum.....check
-everyone's tennis shoes.....check
-Lamby....check

Faith is super excited to go the the beach. She is planning on building a sand castle, swimming in the water, eating a picnic on the sand,keep away with the beach ball, and riding the ferris wheel at the amusement park. The drive is not going to be excited. Especially since Champ hates his carseat. We'll make it though. With a headache maybe, but we will make it.

Growing up

Each day that I stop into RS school I am reminded of how much Faith has grown this summer. Her hair has gotten longer; probably 5 inches since Christmas. Her communication has broadened by means of talking like a grownup and knowing words like intersection, breast feeding, weeping willows, content, passe, tondue, gorgeous. Only to name a few. Her imagination has run wild as she has no choice but to pretend with only Champ and I around. Her caringness towards others has expanded to asking for forgiveness when she does something wrong. Her wants have taken a back seat to Champ's needs when it comes down to him crying. Her boarding pass arrived today for Purple class. However Blue class was crossed off and Purple wrote in. It was kind of depressing knowing that the keepsake will not be nice and neat like the others. She has grown from an only child to a big sister all in the matter of two months. She goes to sleep by herself now. She buckles up her seatbelt by herself now. She sets the table now and helps clean up. She even helps feed her brother and hold him. As we venture into a new school year I am excited and nervous all at the same time to lose my little preschooler and gain a prekindergartener.

Thankful

I just wanted to take an opportunity to jot down the things that I am thankful for.
1. All my family that has came to visit me this summer to help with Champ. It is hard taking care of two kids especially one as active as Faith.
2. My dad for caring so much and sharing his experiences with me
3. The patience that I've learned again with having a newborn around.
4. Faith's love of books that allow me to just sit and read when things get chaotic.
5. Knowing that my mom is just a phone call away if I need anything.
6. The opportunity to remain at home this summer to get to know Champ and his ways.
7. A beautiful smart little girl that wants nothing more than to be with her mom and wrestle with her dad at night.
8. Our wonderful landlord who cares so much about Faith and Champ and our family (she is coming over on Sat. to teach me to cook vegetarian)
9. A great school with nicer than nice teachers for Faith to enjoy
10. The beautiful earth that surrounds me each day filled with mountains, flowers, hills, and sunsets.

I really couldn't ask for anymore. How blessed we each are when we sit and think about how many things we have been given in life and how short life is.

Welcome to everyone is the same world

So after receiving an email from the school director yesterday that stated she is being pressured to put all kids into their rightful classes for the Fall by the corporate office, I am forced to write a letter to state and prove why Faith should be allowed to be in the older class. Here at our school it doesn't matter the age. The child is supposed to be in class with their own age and the teacher is to tweek the curriculum in order to accomodate the advancedness of the child. Well, I have one question. With 20 three year olds in a class, when is that teacher going to have the time to teach her the stuff she needs to know for kindergarten. Hence the reason we wanted her in the pre-K class.After discussing it with Bud his response was "eventually we will have to consider having her back with her own age." Why oh why does a child have to be with their own age when they are far more advanced than their age? Yes public school will have her in her own small group for reading and math based on her ability however here at our school even the most advanced primary care group would not suit her. She learned all of this curriculum last year. Basically she will have to start with this is the Letter A and this is the number 1. We are currently putting sounds together to make words and numbers together for adding and learning to identify the teen numbers. The teacher of the Gold room feels that Faith will have no problem in class. That tells me that she should be allowed. I hope that the director sees where we are coming from and I suppose that I will write corporate office if it comes down to it.