Last Day of School - And An Awesome Compliment

Today is Emma's last day of grade 1.  She is not as excited as I thought she'd be.  I'm excited for her.  I think, perhaps, she will miss her friends, as her school encompasses most of the city (she's in Catholic French Immersion and there's only one in town.)

Rose was mad she didn't get to
go to school on Emma's first day
(Sept 2014)

We've had some trials and tribulations with her schooling this year.  Her mid-term report card was less than stellar - both the "grades" (checkboxes actually) and the comments from the teacher (which were not very helpful).  Luckily we worked with the school to overcome some of the issues we perceived (sometimes incorrectly).

She started "reading group" and is now much more interested in reading, thankfully!  (I'm a voracious reader so I can't imaging my children not liking to read!!)  And I think the rest of it was just that she wasn't ready yet.

Transitioning from play-based Kindergarten to "regular class" in grade one has got to be difficult for these kids - and for the teachers who are used to kids coming from the previous style of Kindergarten.  Rose is going to start Kindergarten this fall, and she will get the full experience of all day, play based; whereas Emma started when it was still every other day, so their experiences will be different.  I'm so interested to find out how Rose's adjustment will be.

I'm a bit nervous to see Emma's report card, but it can't be much worse than her mid-term card was.  I am sincerely hoping there's been improvement.  The thing that gets me the most about her schooling this year is the lack of teacher communication.  If my child is not performing where you think she should be, isn't it the teacher's job to tell me that?  To suggest more work at home, or other resources?  We had to call the school and ask about reading help, no one told us that resource was there.  And if you don't think she's struggling why did the "report card" suggest she's barely meeting the minimum requirements for her class?

Maybe I just don't understand fully how the schooling system works.

Anyway, on to my awesome compliment.

I was walking back from Emma's bus stop and I saw a neighbour friend coming out from her apartment across the street.  I could tell she wasn't sure it was me, so I took off my ballcap (it's sunny at the bus stop) and waved at her.  She changed direction so we could have a chat.

I caught up to her and she said "It is you!  I couldn't tell.  I was thinking 'Who's that young girl walking this way?'"  Isn't that awesome?  I'm wearing a dress she likely hadn't seen before, but still!  I was quite pleased.

I guess it's time to get ready for work.

Toodles!

Weekend anxiety

I felt a bit stressed out this past weekend.  Patrick was away Saturday, the girls didn't go to church Sunday, and I just felt so disconnected with everything.  I was at the end of my monthly "visitor" and the weather was all over the place and I had a few acute bouts of my "mom anxiety"as I like to call it.  You know, when you can't handle anything, especially related to your kids.  Like when they tell you they feel sick and then you're constantly "on" just waiting for the moaning and groaning or "Mom!  I'm gonna throw up!" and you can't sleep or do anything that requires attention because half your brain is occupied thinking about where the closest toilet is, or any other receptacle for catching the mess.  Ya, fun times.

My first "mom anxiety" involved taking the girls to the Tett so Rose can have her dance lesson.  The Tett Centre is a fabulous Kingston resource for anyone interested in arts.  Every Saturday they have a free drop-in session with an artist who has a studio in the centre.  It's kid oriented on Saturdays, but they are supposed to be running more adult geared stuff too.  Anyway, I can drop Emma off at art, then go upstairs with Rose and then go back to art while Rose is dancing.  For some reason this week being separated from Emma for so long (Rose and I were early for dance so we sat upstairs for a long time) caused me distress.  And I know, in my logical brain, that she's totally fine and she does this every week - the artists know her and know we are up at KSD - and there are other dance sibling there with and without parents, but my "mom brain" wouldn't stop dwelling on any- and everything that could be going on in the art area.  Of course, when I got down there she was fine and had done a ton of stuff,

Next item in the "mom anxiety" world was the sprinkler.  It was hot Saturday afternoon so we had the sprinkler out.  Lovely neighbour girl was visiting, got her swimsuit, everything was fine but I couldn't deal with the fact that they were barely in the sprinkler.  So I wanted to turn it off, but that made everyone mad.  So I tried to sit and read my book while they played willy-nilly in the yard and on the climber and in the sprinkler, but I could not focus on reading.  The girls were great, they played fine, they asked for freezies, they told me when they were done, but that still didn't quiet the nags inside my brain.  Maybe part of it was knowing I couldn't "tag out" and let Patrick watch them for a bit since he was working.  I don't know, but I do know that I could have been inside as I usually am when they're playing, but for some reason having the sprinkler out really amped up the anxiety.

There were Sunday episodes as well, but I don't want to bore you with all my personal issues.  I just need to talk about them sometimes.  Believe it or not it helps the anxiety to talk about it.  Especially to people who I may not even know, because who cares if you're judging me and my ridiculous brain?  Oh wait, my "mom anxiety" cares...

Toodles!