Workin' Mama : Another Week

Hadley wrapped up another school week, and of course, she did excellent! I just got my update from Miss Julie about how and what she accomplished this week. At this point Hadley can recognize the phonograms a, g, and c (in cursive). She is also working on numbers which she has a harder time recognizing written, but she can count objects very well. Lately my fingers have been her favorite things to count. Here is the email from her teacher.

"Hadley is doing wonderful in class. She's catching on so quickly to all the routines throughout the day. She was adorable on Friday after she got a new lesson. We showed her the bean basin, which is a basin full of dry beans that the kids can bury their hands in and run their fingers through - I think they'd love to take a bath in it, honestly - it's quite soothing ;-) She was doing this work for over 20 minutes! It's very easy to spill beans but they know that part of this work is to pick them up if they spill out. So Hadley was being SO vigilant about the beans and if one or two beans spilled out she would quickly pick them up. She was quietly working for so long. She even impressed herself because she said, "I'm being such a big girl!" When she did the painting work she was raising her hand so quietly for a while and even smiling! It was sweet to see her wait so patiently.

Hadley tends to say, "I can't do it" or "I need help" fairly often, but that's actually really common and one of the first things I help all my students overcome, because these little kids are VERY capable! So Hadley will often hesitate to attempt something and say one of those phrases and I'll encourage her as she tries and before she knows it she's done something all by herself and is SO proud :)

I love how articulate Hadley is when she expresses herself - she's very good at explaining what she wants or when asking questions. I see this during our Line Time and she loves to hear what the other kids in class have to say too. She's getting really good at raising her hand for a turn to talk and at waiting patiently for others to have a turn. It's so cute to see the respect they show for each other this way and when watching another child working while folding their arms.

Hadley is making new friends daily and always so curious. She's a sweet friend and easy to talk to as well. I love to see her interactions and conversations!

I'm enjoying her so much and I'm so glad we get to have her at our school!"

I love that Hadley was able to concentrate for 20 minutes on something! I am also so impressed (and thrilled) that her teacher mentioned how articulate Hadley is. Trying to not speak to Hadley like a baby was always a little difficult for me because, well, who doesn't want to talk to a cute little kid in made up kid talk? I knew the "I can't do it" "I need help" would be brought to my attention soon enough, she does that all the time at home. I assume that we just helped to quickly in the past and so now she is having a hard time trying to do it herself without giving up. I'm trying to live by these words I saw, that went something like this:

At first we take care of our children, eventually we must just care for them.

I know that Hadley still needs me to take care of her in certain ways, but now I can care for her by teaching her to care for herself. She can help with so many things around the house, blow her own nose, go potty alone, I need to allow her independence and foster it. Now, for some pictures :)