May 20
Everyone,
Today was a big day for us. And it was ALL about Butterfly. Today was her kindergarten orientation. Our baby is going to be in school! All day! Starting August 30th! I’m a bit wigged out. Is she really that old? Didn’t she just look like this yesterday?
Well that sweet cute baby is now big enough for school. She was whisked away by some very enthusiastic teachers this morning and Juice and I filled out forms. The boys went to a friend’s house. Then we met with the principal, saw the school a little, and became overwhelmed.
There’s so much to think about with her going to school. I guess her school is very academic. They want them reading in 6 months. They do math, phonics, science, social studies every day. They also have special classes like gym, music, technology, etc one day a week. My 5 year old is going to have technology classes. I think my parents have a picture of me when I was about that age sitting in front of our brand new computer when they were super new. Now my daughter will have classes on how to use the things. Amazing.
Because we live in a very poor area, our school is allowed extra grant money for things. They have just redone the building and will have 3 new playground areas by the time she starts school. There are 56 kindergartners and if they get another one, they will have 4 classes of 14 kids each. If not, they get 3 classes of 18 (or so). I’m impressed with those numbers.
They also have a summer school program where they preview the first 9 weeks of school all through the month of July. It’s free. They give them breakfast and lunch. For free. It’s half day from 9-1pm. They bus the kids in and out. Again, for free. They strongly suggest that all the incoming kindergartners do it.
I’m torn. I want her to go, but I don’t want to give up my very last summer of having her all to myself. I want to be able to go downtown or swimming or just stay in our pjs all day long if we want to. I want to not have to worry about getting somewhere by 9am every day. I want to be in charge of her lunches.
But on the other hand, it would be great for her to try school out when there aren’t so many kids around. It would be great for her to ride the bus home every day while it’s fairly empty. It would be great for her to have some kind of school background before going into kindergarten since I’m 80% sure she will be the only child there that did NOT do preschool outside of the home.
What would you guys do?
And congrats to my good friend Rosemarie at Twice as Nice for winning the Ergo Carrier! Congrats Rosemarie and use it well with your new little one! Email me your info and I’ll send it soon.
And my LAST giveaway is still going on! Remember to make some comments because this soap is amazing!
SEED Power Travel Kit
Safire
SafireButterfly, Butterfly activities, Butterfly firsts, elementary school Butterfly, school, winners
Apr 29
Everyone,
Today at Butterfly’s swim lessons, I sat in the lobby right next to the glass door and watched her swim. There is only one other boy in her swim class. I LOVE that ratio for swimming. We are taking them through the county. We lucked out on this class size though.
Because she has such a great class ratio, I’ve been watching her improve in every single lesson in huge leaps and bounds. This time I watched her propel herself across the pool (with the aid of a float held in front of her) and float on her back all by herself. She also was diving underneath the water to pick up rings on the pool floor.
She is LOVING swimming every week. I never have to force her to get ready like I used to with dance class. She walks to the pool happily (we live about half a mile from the pool) and walks home skipping and jumping. She did tell me today that dance class was fun at the end. And she always LOOKED like she was having a good time in class.
No matter. I’m liking the half hour or so to sit and read. I’m also liking the walk to and from the pool. We get to talk and she gets some serious one on one time with me. Of course, we have all of nap time without the boys too but that’s my time to “work” and so she watches a movie.
She’s changed her favorite color from orange back to purple. Random. That’s what she woke me up at 6:15am to tell me this morning. I was NOT a happy camper. Because when she wakes up, so do the boys.
This color change is the reason I was dragging today and was not very productive at all. We at least survived the day and now, off to bed.
Safire
SafireButterfly, Butterfly activities, swim lessons
Sep 18
Everyone,
My friend K from Butterfly’s play group mentioned that she was putting her daughter in a dance class. 
I’d heard other moms in that group mentioning a dance class and I thought Butterfly might like a chance at a class too. So when K told me what class, I went ahead and signed Butterfly up kind of at the last minute. Literally, the class started on Monday and I signed her up last Thursday.
Several times over the weekend she told me she didn’t want to go. But she did want to wear her new pink leotard every single day. And the day of the class she told me she didn’t want to go about 5 times and that she wanted to go only once.
Of course, we were late. We’re always late. And I couldn’t find the classroom. But with the help of K, we found the class and she had a great time I think.
Her class is an hour long. And it’s across the street from a grocery store. Guess where I go? It’s kind of nice to get all of my shopping done without her. The boys still come along and they ride in the little car stuck to the front of the shopping cart and have a great time. Now I just need to remember my 
insulated bags and ice for the frozen stuff and I’ll be all set.
Once I got back to the class, I peeked in and took a few pictures. Butterfly is by far the tallest in a sea of pink. There is one boy in the class and one girl has a blue outfit. They did a lot of jumping over lines and skipping in a circle.
She seemed to really like it. Once we came home, she ate like a horse and went to bed early and slept hard. Yay for dance class! We have it every Monday from now until Christmas. I’m excited to see what she will do next week!
Safire
SafireButterfly activities, Butterfly dance class
