Kindergarten!

My sweet, sassy, funny little girl started kindergarten this week.

I don't remember being too emotional when Andrew started kindergarten--he was more than ready for it and we were both excited for him to go (also, I don't think I fully appreciated what it meant). But I have to admit that my eyes were suspiciously wet after I dropped her off and headed up to campus (just in time for my class to start).

Her skirt is courtesy of Bubby; the shirt is one my mom found. And the reason she's holding her hands funny in every picture is to show off her new sparkly  nail polish--just for kindergarten!

We're very excited for her. She has a great teacher (my visiting teacher from church, in fact--a lovely woman who has come into our home once a month for the past year or more). Her best friends from preschool are in her class, and she seems to be generally thriving.

Of course, it's only been a week.

Dan and I both started teaching this week, too, but that's not nearly as exciting. (I'm teaching one class, on TTh afternoons).

I got my hair cut--shorter than previously. My primary goal was to make it difficult for Oliver to grab a fistful of hair and put it in his mouth. And yes, I do make important fashion decisions on the basis of what my child will put in his mouth.

This week was unexpectedly busy for me, because a great opportunity opened up. Many of you know how much I loved working with the Writing Fellows at BYU. Well, we're piloting a similar program at my university this semester--and they've asked me to take charge of it. It's small enough now that it shouldn't be a huge time investment (three classes and five students), but I'm thrilled with the opportunity, even though it may mean sacrificing some of my writing time. (The only downside was how quickly it happened--I first heard of the possibility a week ago, and then it was a done deal. It's amazing how quickly things can happen in a university when the provost gets behind it . . .)

In other news:

Today is the one year anniversary of Oliver's due date. So he is now *officially* one year old (no need to adjust).

Andrew took a preliminary reading test this week (the DIBEL Next test, for the curious). I asked the reading specialist (also a member of our ward) to let me know what Andrew's scores were. But even I was surprised by the results. For a student beginning second grade, the ideal score (the one that says this child has a good chance of succeeding in that year's literacy goals) is 52 words per minute, with 90% accuracy (in reading the words), and a 16+ word summary of the reading after the fact. Andrew read 192 words per minute, with 100% accuracy--and then gave a 133 word summary.

Andrew reported after the test that the person administering the test told him he got the highest score of anyone they tested that day.

I realize it's not cool to brag about your kids--and I'm honestly not trying to brag; it just makes me so happy to see him growing into a confident reader.

Also, he really likes his baby brother.

 

And, because I forgot to post these last week, some videos.

Oliver on the verge of walking. 

This particular video cracks me up. Just as Andrew had his signature "captain hook" crawl (where he would crawl around our apartment with a small plastic stacking cup in hand), Oliver has a signature "bath" crawl. Basically, this is what he does as soon as he hears the sound of running water.