Miss Katelyn

Miss Katelyn is 7 years old and is in 2nd grade this year. I worried about her starting 2nd grade this year because last year was such a huge struggle. For the entire family. I worried and fretted the entire year about her academics and about her being behind the other kids and wondered if we should hold her back. We talked about it some, but for me it just never felt like the right thing to do.

We made her work hard over the summer so she could keep some of her skills up to speed. She didn't lose anywhere near as much as she did from K to 1st grade.

The first couple weeks this year got off to a rough start when it came time for homework. She started throwing her usual fits and was being rude and disrespectful, to be honest. I just DID NOT want to go through another year of the same thing.

After a huge meltdown one day I grounded her from playing with her friends for the rest of the week. I second guessed myself about the length of time, but knew that I had to follow through with it. Every time she started to act up I reminded her that if she wanted to throw a fit and be disrespectful that we would add another day on.  She really got her act together that week and has been doing so much better since then.

I also think that nature has a way of intervening. This year we have a baby at home and that doesn't allow for me to sit right next to Katelyn's side as she is doing her homework and reading. I decided to let Katelyn do her reading minutes out loud by herself (where I could hear her) and told her that if there was a word she needed help with, to ask me. At first we were still struggling and she was fighting, but now she is doing great. I also learned that she felt like I would get mad at her if she made a mistake or read a word wrong. Although I never felt that was true, my frustration with her attitude (last year) probably came across that way to her. Now that I have been forced by life to not hover over her shoulder each day, I think she is relaxing more and not as stressed out with the reading and I can already see that she has progressed.

I feel bad for first children. She is pretty much our guinea pig. We have never done parenting before and we get to learn a lot of things, sometimes at her expense. Hopefully we will get better at it.

On a lighter note, Katelyn was able to start art classes this year. She goes to Blodgett School of Art taught by Ginger Blodgett and is loving it so far. Katelyn loves to color and draw and create, so I really wanted her to be able to do this. She was excited when she found out her classmate Abigail Wang is in her art class too. I have stayed in the class a couple of times and it made me happy to see that Katelyn was raising her hand to answer questions and actively participating in the class.

The other day someone was asking about my kids and I said that I had a 7 year old. It was one of those times where it's almost like you realize it for the first time. I have a SEVEN YEAR OLD!!! WOW! Where has the time gone?!? Sometimes I am a little sad to see how fast they grow up, but most of the time I enjoy watching them as they experience life and have new experiences.

Oh yeah, Katelyn told me (well, I inquired) that she has a crush on the new neighbor boy down the street. But shhhh, don't tell her I told you! I asked her what she liked about him, and after giving it some thought, she said, "I like his hair." HAHAHAHAHAHA! Well, he does have good hair :) She also said that she likes his green and black shoes. I asked her if she liked his personality. She wasn't sure what that meant, so I talked to her about it. After a while she said she wasn't really sure about his personality. So funny.

The back story to why I asked Katelyn if she had a crush on anyone, is because the other day we went out for a walk and Justin said he saw Katelyn give this little, coy smile to the neighbor boy. You know, like a special smile.