Of course, a family tragedy did not stop the end-of-the-year nonsense that happens every year. Will and I came home from Idaho on a Monday and dove straight into life. Concerts, projects, tests and events of every description ruled our days. It was nice to be so busy we couldn't focus on sadness for a bit.
Lorien had her final concert as a Junior in High School. She played well...as near as I could tell. She forgot about the concert until 10 minutes after she was supposed to be there. So I ended up leaving the kids home eating dinner (prepared and dropped off by a friend) and running up to the high school. Will met me there just in time for the orchestra performance. Did I mention that friends from church brought our family dinner every night of this crazy week? I don't know how they did it but I am so grateful.
Thursday was back to school night. We have made the decision to have Colter repeat Kindergarten next year. It was such a hard choice! We want him to have the best chance at success for all of his years in school. He is just behind at every bench mark. He is young and we think the extra year will serve him well in later years. We haven't told Colter or the other kids yet...but need to soon. As we toured Colter's class we were pleased with his work but his immaturity was noticeable when we compared his work with the other kids.
Colter's current Kindergarten teacher (Barb Erickson) is retiring this year. She was a fantastic teacher for Colter and Adell. We will be sad to not see her next year.
Adell showed us her 2nd grade class room and her work. It was all wonderful! She has had a pretty OK year. She has been on the fringe of some girl drama in her class. Never the cause or recipient of the drama but close to some of the girls in that position. It has been trying for Adell. She just wants to be with her best friend, Maggie. She also has had to deal with some annoying boys in her classroom. One positive moment came when the kids had to be in pairs with someone they didn't know. They had to ask each other "getting to know you" questions. Adell got paired up with a boy she had always found annoying. However, the more they talked the more they found they had in common. Adell also found out the boy was funny and nice. It was a good experience for her and the two ended up being good friends. Winning! Hopefully, 3rd grade will have more wins and less drama.
We also saw Adell's anxiety give her trouble. As long as she has been in school she has had anxiety. It started in TK when we would be rushing to get her over to John Baldwin on time. I would be freaking out and she would react to my freak out by freaking out too. She hated being late and hated being rushed. She would melt into a pile of tears if we pulled up to school and I was frazzled. I tried to cool it but it was hard...we were always late.
This stuff continued to show up off an on all through out her school years. This year Adell had a few morning melt downs. Even though she was on time for school every. single. day (thanks to Colter's 8:20 start time and her 8:30...Colter was frequently late). Adell would freak out about something we were discussing on the way into school: if she should take dance or not, if Colter got to ask more questions, if she didn't get a turn on my phone, all kinds of things would set off tears and anxious feelings. I don't know what to do about it...but I know I need to help her figure it out.
In this week, this wild, busy, crazy week...in this week, Colter turned six! I remember being due on the day of open house six years ago. I remember hoping we would miss our very first open house at the kids new school because I was in labor. But no, I walked (waddled) around THREE elementary school classrooms as big as a house wishing I was in labor. Alas, a few days later, I was in labor and Colter was born on May 19th. I knew he would have a birthday at a very tricky/busy time of the year for the rest of his life. Sigh. So Colter's birthday was on a Saturday this year. I had done little planning or prepping. He was also supposed to have a friend party this year. With Kayla's disappearance the extras in life were falling off my plate.
Remember how all of my friends were helping me with meals and watching my kids and doing my whole life while I tried to help my family through Kayla's death? Well, another friend stepped in and did another spectacular thing. She threw Colter a birthday party! It was amazing! It was perfect! It was everything I needed done for me!
She invited all of his church friends, she made a cake, she made and decorated with the Lego theme, she planned games, she did it all!
I was so overwhelmed and thankful, I had to cry and pray in my car for a few minutes after I dropped Colter off for the party. I didn't tell him about it because I wasn't sure what might happen on my end to cancel the party. So the afternoon of the party I told Colter we had to run an errand over to Sister Maher's house. When we got there the door was decorated like a Lego. Colter walked in curiously and I announced "It's your birthday party! All of your friends are here to party with you!" He was surprised and cautious. He is afraid of dogs and the thought the Mahers might have a dog hiding somewhere. Once he figured out there wasn't a dog around he ran off to play with his friends.
It really was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. It was so perfect. Colter got a friend birthday part! A million thanks to Ellie Maher. I should note that Ellie is the Primary President but she did this as a friend and as the wife of our Home Teacher at church. Its not a thing everyone does...
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