Class Act

Who is 3 years-old and insists on writing his own destiny? THIS guy!


















He asked me lots of questions, in his very distinctly Abramic way:

A:"This is my school, right? It's preschool for big boys."

X: "Yes, Marin goes to her school, Santi goes to her school, and Abram goes to preschool."

A: "Oh I see, Abram goes to Abram school. But not Santi and Marin, huh Mom? Just Abram. Just Abram goes to Abram school."

X: "That's right, you're a very lucky boy. Your teachers are Mrs. Andrews and Mrs. Maulhardt."

A: "Oh I see, Mr. Andrew (as in Tio Andrew) and Mrs. Walmart."

I wonder if he was expecting to see Tio Andrew at Walmart. Well he didn't show any disappointment when neither of those materialized.

Like an old pro, he walked in, found his name and owned his cubby.

He was plenty OK with me leaving him to embark on his own adventure. I was pretty OK too. Seeing him so confident and comfortable put any concerns to rest. Plus, he is number 3 to go off to preschool. With each subsequent child, I imagine most parents settle in a little or just grow really, really tired. 

Halyn is just stoked to finally get some alone time. I forgot what it was like to have only one child at a time, and this has been quite a joy for the two of us. I hope to blog about it more.

Good luck in school Aboy! Your teachers are undoubtedly bound to have some good times ahead.

SingSing

We taught Abram to sing the song, Latter-day Prophets. It was so much more fun than I could've ever imagined. I had no idea that in just a couple weeks, he would get it down so well. The first video is the final outcome of singing it together as a family every night after scripture study. I suppose I shouldn't have taken the video right after lunch. You'll see why.



This second video is of Abram learning the song for the first time with the help of his lovely sisters. They are so great. I heard them several times singing it with him. Thanks girls.



The third video is just me trying to capture this experience and Abram more concerned about showing off. And Halyn trying to get involved, like she does. He was more exuberant in this video than in the one at the top because that one shows him behaving (sort of).



Abram was able to sing to Daddy after he had come home from a trip and it was such a cute surprise. Then Abram thought he was on a roll of impressing people because now he's sung it for the missionaries after dinner as well as for his nursery teachers at church. Where does he get such a thrill for performance? Oh yes, you're right, his Grandma Nay.

Picnic Saturday

Last weekend was a picnic for one of the clusters in Brian's company. It was nice for them to invite our family to get to know them better and for the kiddos to have a little fun. To my satisfaction, not one of my fair brood was burned while running around in the sun.

Bri and Abram trying their hand at the egg toss.

It ended badly. For the egg.

All lined up for the potato sack race.

Rinner noticing that the potato sacks get smaller and smaller as she grows up.

Abram's first sack race. He just wanted to do what the big kids were doing. He actually did a pretty good job. There's a short video of him at the bottom of the post.

Santi crossing the yellow ribbon. 

Halyn playing it cool and playing her dad. She lights up when he's around and he's a sucker.

Schooled

To the point? They're back in school which means we're back on a schedule, with a long list of responsibilities and beholden to someone else's demands and rules. Nah, it's not so bad.

The hard part for me is that I spend far less time with my oldest girls, far less than I'd like. Even though this has been the first summer of real and sometimes relentless bickering between them, they are so fun to have around. I will very much miss their voices throughout my day. Not to mention the help they are with the younger ones. So that'll be a big blow to me. Enough to homeschool? Nah, it's not so bad.

Backpack flair. Both girls picked up new backpacks this year. Apparently an important life decision at this age because we shopped and shopped and shopped for them. We fared much better in pursuit of fashion where I learned that I have become almost completely irrelevant. 

Like so:

Me: "Hey girls, this is cute!"

Cool person between the ages of 8 and 10: "Yeah Mom, totally cute!" (and sounding very sincere)

Me (getting very excited that I made a good call): "Do you want to try it on?"

Cool person: "I'm fine."

You're fine? Does that mean no? At least they know how to let one down easy. 

After these pictures, my girls went their separate ways; Santi returned to the safe haven of elementary and Marin off to carve her own niche into the mysterious realm that is Middle School. Fortunately Marin's been extremely excited (though still detectably nervous) about a Brave New World.

Little Santi was excited to meet her teacher and relieved to discover that she is nice. All summer long, she was so nervous to start third grade. A grade for which she felt desperately unprepared. She was intimidated. Fortunately her STAR test scores came in after our vacation and gave her a tremendous boost in confidence. Just in time. Now she's enjoying the prospect of everything written in cursive.

Middle school orientation went great and other than having a bottom locker, which she aptly brushed off as inconsequential, Marin was ready. It was still hard to watch her go. Poor thing has always had to be the trailblazer of the children. But I'm convinced she is the one who best has the disposition for it. I love her for loving us enough to see us struggle as her parents through her many inaugural stages of development and maturity. Our guinea pig. She's most likely already earned her mansions in Heaven.

The Friday before school started we had a bunch of Marin's friends over for a late night. It turned out to be a great time. There are four other girls in our ward who are starting middle school this year, a fact they've bonded over. So each of those girls was invited to come and to bring a friend from her respective school so the group could meet more girls.

Marin had so much fun playing hostess and the girls were virtually self entertained (again, I was a little irrelevant. She doesn't need me for everything anymore. I'm learning to be OK with that). A taco salad bar, 2 gallons of berry lemonade, 8 bags of popcorn and 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies later, they had figured out the exact location of each other's lockers, decided on a suitable hangout for break and lunch, and retold Grimm's tales of middle school, like having to change for P.E. Yikes!

This whole thing is bittersweet in the worst way. We love that Marin is growing up and love who she's choosing to become. She's remarkable. And not because we are her parents, almost despite us, more so because she has a strong internal compass that points her in the right direction almost all the time. She's courageous and persistent and will invoke all of her passion and wisdom to fight even the slightest injustice (so that's not always easy to parent when the "injustice" is your fault). 

Is this the same girl who clung to my arm when just a few months old, refusing to go to anyone else? And yet if I were to meet her back then as she is today, I would see a resemblance of that fierce independence softened with compassion and charity for others. This girl wants to help heal the world's ills. I am curious to see the course of her life and pray there's a relevant part for me in it.