Growing Pains

Audrey got her inaugural goose egg and scraped forehead today on the playground. It is a good battle wound, she should be proud. The nurse checked her out and checked her for concussion (she did not have one). I think Andy has had enough concussions to fill every ones quotas. I was really proud of her though, the nurse said she initially cried but stopped quickly and just took it, the nurse wanted to send her home for the day but Audrey asked to go back to class. That's my girl.

We had Hannah's parent teacher conference for pre - first on Friday, and Wes and I had an intense discussion with her kindergarten teacher and we finally made our decision. FIRST GRADE!!! I really took Marcie's advice (she wrote me an email the size of a novel...lol, love you) because we just did not know what to do. We sat down with Hannah and told her all about pre-first and first grade and asked her what she wanted (we did not tell Hannah how we felt.) Hannah was really against going to pre-first but I still was on the fence. Wes had already made up his mind that pre-first was not an option. Soooo back to the conference;

I asked Mrs. Moniz her reasons for wanting to send Hannah to pre-first and she started talking about the gift of time again, that was not the answer I wanted, I wanted REAL reasons. So I asked Mrs. Moniz the exact reason she felt Hannah needed to go to pre-first and she said it was not because of Hannah's academics. Wes and I didn't even have to look at each other to know what the other was thinking. So I asked the question...exactly why do you want to put her in this program? She said it was because Hannah was a follower and not a leader, and giving her the extra year (because she is the youngest) would help her become a leader. Why does every child have to be a leader in order to succeed and why in kindergarten. Wes was a follower until he was older and so I was I. I think it is important to find your own stride and I don't want her to feel bad about herself because she is not outspoken and pushy in school. I think the teacher does not recognize manners. Hannah got perfect marks on her social skills on her report card last week...I don't remember seeing the spot where it says..."Follower or Leader"!!

Well that answer pretty much made the choice for us, thank goodness because I thought I was going to go crazy. I want to always try to make the best choices for the girls even if I disagree.