Clingy Babies
My babies have been very clingy lately. I understand why Prima is - her Gotcha Day is November 22. This is always a rocky time of year for our girl. She came to us quiet and watchful. Immediately after her first bottle with us, and a lullaby, she went to sleep and slept through the night. She retreated to sleep a lot in the first days. She is quick to cry right now and needs me to hold her a lot. I took her to breakfast yesterday just the two of us. And there we were in line: me with a 54 pound 8-year old on my hip and she was very relaxed as I held her in that line.
Her teacher says that she is very kind to her classmates. There is a child in her class on the autism spectrum and she just quietly helps him with his daily agenda. The teacher says it was so sly that she had no idea who was doing it. She finally asked him and Prima fessed up. Her teacher said she is helping him for the all the right reasons and none of them are for accolades. Although I'm giving her some right here in this blog. She quickly befriends the new student in class. All of her classmates seem to like her. She doesn't participate in any of the girl drama ... yet. What I should say is that she doesn't really understand the drama. It doesn't make sense to her. She prefers to play with boys because they make more sense.
Her relationship with Segunda is improving. They play in a fort they built together in Segunda's room. But Segunda still insists on pushing Prima's buttons. And then, well, we have tears and anger. Now, Prima comes to us when she is in distress instead of hitting or pushing her sister. That's big progress. Many parents don't agree with tattling or encouraging it, but we need to with Prima. She just doesn't know how to handle conflict with her sister and she continue to have trouble differentiating big problems from little problems - I want to hear about them all until she learns the difference. So, we offer guidance and help and sometimes we just separate them for awhile.
Segunda needs constant hugs, kisses, laps, and holding. She started kindergarten. We started her when she was 4, but still within the age cut off for our district. We did this knowing it could be challenging for Segunda; we also knew we would have access to resources in the school district that we didn't have in preschool. School is hard. We started the school year with a 504 in place that they don't really need because it's kindergarten. It will be more useful to her in 1st grade. Her kindergarten teacher just accommodates her as needed and is so wonderful. She gets pulled out of kindergarten once a week for speech and language therapy. In conferences last week, the speech therapist and her kindergarten teacher asked if we could put together an IEP for Segunda. The answer is a resounding yes. She needs the help as her test scores are all in the yellow range, but she is showing steady progress. I've heard horror stories about parents who have to threaten legal action to get their kids IEPs and 504s, so I'm grateful that it's the school initiating it and wanting to give her everything she needs to succeed.
Segunda's teacher said she is a leader in the classroom. When a friend is upset, Segunda is the first one to respond and ask the friend if they are okay and what can she do to help. She reminds the teacher about what comes next and makes sure she doesn't forget anything on the agenda. The image makes me smile because I really didn't think this would be her. I thought she would have a tendency to be quiet and fade into the background based on her experience in preschool. But she is loud and proud. Indeed, she is my tiny titan.
At home, she is very sassy and dares us to enforce consequences. Last night, she was told to pick up her toys. She refused. We told her no dessert until she picked up her toys. Her answer, "So, I don't care." We sent her to her room and she marched up the stairs screaming and crying all the while. She came down about 15 minutes later without a tear in sight. The teenage years should be fun with this one. I'm thinking drama school perhaps.
Her teacher says that she is very kind to her classmates. There is a child in her class on the autism spectrum and she just quietly helps him with his daily agenda. The teacher says it was so sly that she had no idea who was doing it. She finally asked him and Prima fessed up. Her teacher said she is helping him for the all the right reasons and none of them are for accolades. Although I'm giving her some right here in this blog. She quickly befriends the new student in class. All of her classmates seem to like her. She doesn't participate in any of the girl drama ... yet. What I should say is that she doesn't really understand the drama. It doesn't make sense to her. She prefers to play with boys because they make more sense.
Her relationship with Segunda is improving. They play in a fort they built together in Segunda's room. But Segunda still insists on pushing Prima's buttons. And then, well, we have tears and anger. Now, Prima comes to us when she is in distress instead of hitting or pushing her sister. That's big progress. Many parents don't agree with tattling or encouraging it, but we need to with Prima. She just doesn't know how to handle conflict with her sister and she continue to have trouble differentiating big problems from little problems - I want to hear about them all until she learns the difference. So, we offer guidance and help and sometimes we just separate them for awhile.
Segunda needs constant hugs, kisses, laps, and holding. She started kindergarten. We started her when she was 4, but still within the age cut off for our district. We did this knowing it could be challenging for Segunda; we also knew we would have access to resources in the school district that we didn't have in preschool. School is hard. We started the school year with a 504 in place that they don't really need because it's kindergarten. It will be more useful to her in 1st grade. Her kindergarten teacher just accommodates her as needed and is so wonderful. She gets pulled out of kindergarten once a week for speech and language therapy. In conferences last week, the speech therapist and her kindergarten teacher asked if we could put together an IEP for Segunda. The answer is a resounding yes. She needs the help as her test scores are all in the yellow range, but she is showing steady progress. I've heard horror stories about parents who have to threaten legal action to get their kids IEPs and 504s, so I'm grateful that it's the school initiating it and wanting to give her everything she needs to succeed.
Segunda's teacher said she is a leader in the classroom. When a friend is upset, Segunda is the first one to respond and ask the friend if they are okay and what can she do to help. She reminds the teacher about what comes next and makes sure she doesn't forget anything on the agenda. The image makes me smile because I really didn't think this would be her. I thought she would have a tendency to be quiet and fade into the background based on her experience in preschool. But she is loud and proud. Indeed, she is my tiny titan.
At home, she is very sassy and dares us to enforce consequences. Last night, she was told to pick up her toys. She refused. We told her no dessert until she picked up her toys. Her answer, "So, I don't care." We sent her to her room and she marched up the stairs screaming and crying all the while. She came down about 15 minutes later without a tear in sight. The teenage years should be fun with this one. I'm thinking drama school perhaps.
Comments
Post a Comment