Smiley Faces and Glue

Bethany’s excelling in her first year at (note to self: need to be more positive) Kindergarten, after somewhat of a rough start. We started getting daily reports from her teacher after the initial report below, and being placed, by her teacher, on a behavior plan. Placing Bethany on a behavior plan…not us, just to be clear.

“She is doing well in Kindergarten, but she is very young and at times very immature. She is still struggling to sit still, to sit in her chair, to be quiet when I ask and sometimes keeping her hands to herself. She is funny and silly, but sometimes she has a hard time knowing when to stop being silly and start listening.”

She continues to have above normal trouble with remaining quiet and still, but improved from the first weeks. The teacher says that this is in line with her being younger than most in the class.

The goal each day is for five smiley faces on the report. She was averaging three before the holiday break. In the first two days since the break she’s gotten five. When she gets five, we all do a happy dance (picture the Chicken Dance). There is also a coin bank where deposits are made or removed, depending on the score for the day.

It must be exhausting for such a high energy, imaginative person to try to restrain herself and to focus. She is clearly more tired than she was at daycare; falls asleep at dinner from time to time, and on any evening car trip.

We’ve gone in for two parent-teacher meetings, for first hand performance overviews, plus there are e-mail exchanges with the teacher, mostly of a generic classwide kind, but sometimes little notes on Bethany.

Her Aunt Laura has been to the class twice now as a teacher volunteer. We each need to plan a day off work to volunteer also.

We attended a dinner at school the first month, then a fun nighttime Fall Festival with games and bouncies galore. And, along with grandma, got to see a holiday recital for her class where they sang, danced and played instruments.

One day I received a call from the school nurse. Uh Oh!

Bethany had fallen on the playground. The cut was under her chin and small, so they were leaving it up to us as to whether she needed to see a doctor. Well, given that sight unseen option, we really had no choice (other than good parent vs. bad parent).

I took off work, picked her up and went to her doctor, where they glued the cut closed. A little adventure for both of us.