Ammon started first grade this year.
Many people have commented lately on how grown up he's starting to appear, and boy are they right. This guy has matured and grown and flourished right before my eyes. I have to admit I miss my little baby boy Ammon, but I sort of adore the little man he's becoming.He's curious and sensitive and silly. All the things that a six year old boy should be.
I was truly, truly worried about his transition to first grade. I just didn't think he was ready to be at school all day. I mean, this is my kid that took four hour naps and fell asleep in sunbeams so his teachers would have to hold him up on his chair. I worried about his focus and attention span, and I worried about his shyness and if his teacher would be patient enough to listen to him stumble over his words to actually hear what he's so eager to share. And would my boy be able to make friends?
Well this kid busted through all my worries and transitioned seamlessly to first grade. It helps that he has an amazing teacher, but he adjusted like he's been going to school all day for his whole life. He's enjoyed it much more than I thought he would, and he only came home tired enough for a nap one day, and at that point he just took off his backpack, walked to his room, and climbed in bed.
Ammon has been enjoying hot lunch, art, P.E., and math. He really hates writing time and comes home excited whenever they missed it that day. He's made friends with lots of girls, and plays sports with some other boys at recess. I'm so proud of how far he's come.
Lydia started third grade this year.
Lydia is the one I never have to worry about when it comes to school. She loves it and thrives in learning. However, this year we've had more struggles than before. Unfortunately, Lydia was placed with a teacher that isn't our favorite and the adjustment has been hard for Lydia. The first couple of weeks Lydia would come home crying and say that she didn't want to go to school the next day. Brigham and I went over and over what we should do.Finally, we realized this could be a growing year for Lydia as she learns to adjust to working with someone she doesn't care for as much, and if she can learn to do that she will be able to use it for the rest of her life.
After a couple of weeks, Lydia was able to adjust and she no longer dreads going to school. She has to come home and tell us three things she liked about the day, and she has even been able to find some positive attributes to report about her teacher. I don't know that this year will be her favorite to remember, but she is learning resiliency, patience, and making the best of a situation. (I'm sort of sad she has to learn these in third grade when she should just be loving life, but what can you do?)
Lydia has enjoyed learning about the salmon life cycle, seeing her friends, reading, and having her teacher read Charlotte's Web and Wonder to them. She's killing it at school, as usual and growing up more than ever. She amazes me with how much she can do and her wonderful personality.
It was just as hard this year to send these two off to school, as it is every year. I love having them home with me during the summer. But it was the first year I sort of looked forward to it as well.
Watching them walk together onto the bus, I felt proud, nervous to be by myself with Kendrick all day, and sad to miss them. And as we've settled into school, we're all grooving in our new routines.
Besides starting school in September, we were able to enjoy a fall family hike out to a nearby state park called Kanskat Palmer.
The river trail is more of a walk with a shorter distance and hardly any elevation gain, but it was perfect for us to explore and the kids loved it. Kendrick wanted to walk as much as possible with his sticks behind the older kids, and he was livid when we finally put him in the hiking backpack because he was slowing us down too much.
The weather was perfect and the scenery was as gorgeous as always.
It's hard to tell in the picture, but the river was FULL of huge fish swimming all around and jumping like crazy. We were floored. We had never seen so many fish. Brigham walked out in the water and they pretty much swam around him. He was ready to start scooping them up with his hands. And when they jumped it made such an awesome splash. We sat and watched them for quite some time, never tiring of the spectacle.
The kids loved throwing rocks in the water and Kendrick stirred and slapped the water with his sticks between his rocks splashing.
Ammon found a large fuzzy caterpillar and carried it along until we made him find it a home before we left.
Lydia found her second four-leaf clover in two weeks and I was pretty impressed. I've never even found one, but I've never really had the patience to look very long for one either.
It was a lovely weekend evening and we'll soak up the rays of sunshine and the fresh leaves before they disappear to rain and winter.
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