Carson, Mallory

September Update

So – I’m sure you are all DYING to hear how school is going for Mallory. I can’t believe I haven’t done a wordy post since school started two weeks ago.

The good news is this – school is going fantastically. I think? She still runs off the bus every single afternoon, and she & Nathan race down the street (well, at least the days that Nathan’s mom doesn’t pick him up at the bus stop in her car). My dog – who is the world’s smartest dumb dog – learned – after just two days of walking to the bus stop – that the bus driver gives Mallory a dog treat for her to deliver to him. TWO DAYS to learn this. But he is SIX and is so dumb that he still eats SOCKS?

But I digress. We had a picnic at Mallory’s school last week; I’m happy to report that I wasn’t the only mom who stopped and picked up pizza for the picnic. While at the picnic, Mallory barely pointed out the few girls she’s mentioned and didn’t play with any of them, choosing instead to chase Carson around the playground. Of course I get nervous that she doesn’t have any friends or something – until I remember that she is usually reserved in new situations (in fact it took her over a month to actually play WITH the kids across the street at our new house, instead of just playing on their play structure and not talking to them). The principal and Mallory’s teacher both assured me that it is normal kindergarten behavior to not have big friendships one week into the school year. Phew.

She’s making better choices for lunch – no more Lucky Charms, unless she’s just learned to lie to me about it? ARGH.

The good news is that when she talked to Rick on the phone today about her day, she told him about her friends and told him all their names, which makes me happy. But I’m starting to get nervous about her getting older and navigating all the ins and outs of girl drama. And I’m trying so so hard to teach her to be kind to everyone, which is really hard since I’m still learning it myself.

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I don’t know that I’ve written about swim class! We started swim class at this new place in Ann Arbor – both the kids can be in the pool at the same time, and we get to pick the time we come – which is a HUGE advantage over our previous swim place, where it was 6.30p and 7p on Friday nights (or some equally unfortunate time).

It is expensive – but so far it’s worth it for Mallory. In less than a month she graduated to the next level – and is able to swim, turn over onto her back and kick herself along and then turn back to her front and keep swimming. IT WAS SO COOL TO SEE HER MASTER THAT SKILL. Especially after watching her struggle HUGE with floating on her back during her previous swim class. I know part of it is her just being more used to the water, etc, but STILL. I was so proud of her!

And then there was Carson. We are four weeks in – and he did great the first week, and then we’ve had a rough few weeks. Every week I try to get him pumped up for swim class and he tells me “No! I cwy ‘want mommy want mommy!’”. Pretty neat to hear, when we are paying too much for his swim lessons. I actually forgot how much his lessors were until the automatic transfer notice came via email this week (it’s more because there are only three kids in the class…which I knew going into it but didn’t realize how much it would hurt to pay that much to see him cling to an instructor and cry almost every week…). We are going to give him another week or two and see how he does. If he starts to make progress and really participate, I think it is worth it. I really like the small class size and know we will have to pay a premium for it, but I also know he’s only 2 and we I need to be realistic about whether it’s worth it. I say I instead of we since of course Rick thinks it’s ridiculous to pay that much for swim lessons.

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Mallory is also signed up for ballet & tap again this fall – which is what she is having trouble with. She has a very popular teacher, so there are 15 girls in her class (compared to the 9 or so in her class last year). Plus it’s a class for 5-6 year olds, and Mal-Star is still only 4.875 years old. The first two weeks of class found her chewing her fingernails and not answering the teacher (whom she knows from Rick’s work and it is ridiculous that Mallory is shy around her). So the large class size and not knowing anyone (compared to her 2+ years of dance with Alli) and having all the newness of kindergarten is maybe too much for her. We gave her the choice to not to dance but when I reminded her that no dance = no recital (= no makeup) she decided she did want to do dance. Her dance teacher & I have traded emails and I think we have a good plan going forward so we’ll try again and hope for the best. I’ll admit that part of what makes it hard is that this class is in the main studio where all the moms can watch; I’m sure Mallory has acted dumb in other classes at dance, but not where I can see her!

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We are also hoping to do rock climbing this fall – so that she & Alli can still see each other regularly. That starts in a few weeks. Good thing I have a mini-van for all the running around I’m doing with the kids. We had a playdate with Alli & her parents at the swimschool this past weekend and had dinner before. The girls were SOOOOO excited to see each other, it was so cute.

I’m hoping to get back to blogging more regularly! Talk soon :-)