Kindergarten Recap

I cannot believe the school year is already over! It has been a couple of busy weeks with Myles finishing kindergarten last week. Overall, he had a great first year of elementary school. Of course nothing is perfect, but he made a lot of progress and his teacher, the other staff members, and his classmates all embraced him as a valuable part of his class and school. We, and he, received the support we needed, and he was a part of his general ed classroom full time. At the start of the second semester, Myles began attending the after school program twice a week until Gilby or I got off of work, and that went great as well. Without having to ask, they requested extra funding from the district to have an additional staff member available. Knowing that Myles has some extra needs, they felt it was important to keep the ratio of staff to students lower to make the program a success for everyone. It is these types of things that I am so grateful for. There has never been a question this year as to whether Myles will participate in anything, it's just about how we are going to make it work best for everyone.

Denver Zoo
On the Wednesday of the week before school ended, the kindergarteners went on an all day field trip to the Denver Zoo with their fourth grade buddies. We were told that Myles did great all day and had a lot of fun with his buddy, Reece. This fall, I was lucky to be volunteering in Myles' class on a day when their fourth grade buddies came in for a project, and was able to watch Reece and Myles interact. Reece is a very sweet, mature young boy and engaged with Myles really well. On that particular day, they were making gingerbread houses, and when Myles lost interest before most of the kids were done, Reece followed him to the rug and read stories to him out of the Lion King book Myles had chosen from the library. Reece wasn't fussed that they hadn't completed the project as thoroughly or as well as most of the other groups, but took his responsibility as Myles' buddy seriously and stayed right on track with him without any prompting from the adults. Here is the letter Reece wrote Myles at the end of this year, which for some reason makes me tear up when I read it -

 

Field Day

Field Day was the Friday before school ended. Myles doesn't typically go to school on Fridays as he was in the 2.5 day program this year, but his class was invited to come for the morning to participate with all of the other kindergarten classes. Friday is also a day off for me, so Sydney, Ryker, and I were able to go too. As with a lot of things, I wasn't sure what to expect from Myles, but he did really well! The games were fun and well organized, and it was laid back enough so that the kiddos could have fun messing around too. Myles made it through the first four activities before getting a bit tired, but after a bathroom and water break inside, he was able to rejoin for the end. It was a gorgeous morning and I'm so glad I was able to be there!

Birthday Celebration!

With Myles having a July birthday, they celebrated it in his class during the last week of school. I was scheduled to volunteer the same day and so happy to join. For each student's birthday, one of the centers on that day includes a worksheet where the other kids write what they want to give the birthday boy/girl and draw a picture to go with it. At the end of the day, they sing Happy Birthday and Mrs. Babbs reads what each kid wrote. Myles was so tickled to be celebrated by his class. We brought a bottle of bubbles for each classmate, which Myles got to hand out afterward.

Kindergarten Concert

My favorite part of the end-of-the-year festivities was the kindergarten concert. Not only was it super cute overall, but Myles did awesome and we were so proud of him!! Again, I wasn't sure how he would do (stuff like this hasn't always gone well in the past), and didn't know anything about the program. He had had a really long day with appointments and school already, and I knew he was exhausted. I was hoping he would at least stay with the group, but didn't want to expect much more. Not only did he stand with his class for the whole 35 minutes they were up there, but he did the actions to all of the songs and even sung a lot of the words (pretty great for a kid who's still not very verbal)! He had fun and was really proud of himself. So were we!

Myles and his teacher, Mrs. Babbs. She was the perfect fit for him this year and he truly loved her! 

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day celebration started the Friday before when my parents volunteered to take all three kiddos for an overnight sleepover! I love my kids to bits, but was in desperate need of a little break after an especially challenging week with Myles. I was able to get some errands done, actually do some for fun shopping, and came home to a yummy steak dinner made by Gilby, who is a fabulous chef.

On Sunday, Gilby got up with Myles, our early, early riser, so I could stay in bed a few minutes longer. I came down to fresh picked flowers, breakfast, and gifts from the kiddos.

All of the kids made something at daycare/school. Ryker's is the bag painted with flowers from his handprints. Sydney painted the flower pot filled with a packet of flower seeds and handprint paper flowers listed with things she loves about me. They said:

I love when my mommy reads me books.
I love when she plays princess with me.
I love it when mommy plays with me. 
I love to plant flowers with my mommy.
I love mommy because she makes me pancakes.

Myles and Sydney also filled out an interview about me. They are super cute.

Myles'
My mom's name is pretty. She is 7 years old. Her favorite color is blue. Her favorite thing to do is basketball. My favorite thing to do with my mom is play Spider man. The best thing she cooks is cookies. She makes me laugh when we play. I love my mom because she loves me. 
(I'm sure he answered these questions using his talker and probably had help with a couple, but they do reflect what he would say. Very sweet.)

Sydney's
This is my mom. (The red colored square in the picture above...I look so nice.) Her name is Jocelyn but daddy calls her Mommy. She is 7 years old and she is as pretty as a princess. My mom is the best at making pancakes. She really loves family and kids. If I had a ton of money I would buy her lots of food! If my mom was an animal, she would be a flamingo. When mom was a little girl, she used to go to yoga. My mom is scared of naughty people. My mom looks funny when she is silly with daddy. Something my mom always says to me is I love you! I wouldn't trade her for all the butterflies in the world.

I am grateful for this family of mine and the blessing it is to be a mom.

 Photo courtesy of a Mother's Day photo booth at church

On a date.

These two.

According to Sydney, they were on a date. It's called a "brother date."