Hope Loves School

So far so good. Hope still loves school! She was actually reading a few words in one of her stories last night, so she is getting smarter by the minute.

I'm definitely grateful that she has her cute little friend Aubrey from church in her class. From what Hope tells me, they play together pretty much every day. Earlier in the week I found this adorable card from Aubrey in Hope's backpack.

 

How precious is that?

Speaking of precious. We got Hope's school pictures back already! I have to admit, I did shed a tear as I looked at her pretty little face in front of that generic school backdrop. I can't believe she is old enough to be getting school pictures taken.

 

 

I like that she is wearing her CTR butterfly necklace from Grandma Bosley in this picture. This picture made me remember my kindergarten photo....which is nothing compared to this awesome one, but just for fun I am going to try to dig it up and do a comparison photo. Maybe I can find Ben's too.





Say What?

Mom: Did you sing a song today in school?
Hope: Mmmm...we keep singing to the flag.
(The Pledge of Allegiance)

Eden: *jabbers*
Grandma Bosley to Hope: Did you understand her?
Hope: No. I think she's talking spanish.

Hope: One of the boys was acting like a zombie. He was going like this. *Puts her arms out in front of her like a zombie* It was funny...like a chicken.

Hope: I played with the new girl today.
Mom: Oh yeah? What does she look like?
Hope: Her is brown like Noah and her has long beautiful hair and her wears beautiful shirts and beautiful shoes.

Pre Pre-School

You may recall that in my Kindergarten post I mentioned wanting to educate Eden a little better than I had done with Hope before she began school. A few weeks ago I started coming up with a plan on how to do so, but was feeling a bit overwhelmed and not sure where to start. Then one Sunday one of my friends approached me and asked if I'd like to participate in a pre preschool program with her and a couple other ladies in the ward. All their girls are Eden's age and just so happen to be some of the cutest 2 1/2 year olds I know, so I eagerly said YES! After I started thinking about it I started getting unsure. This is MISS CHEVIOUS we are talking about here. Do I really want to subject my friends and their children to her antics when I am not there to "apprehend" her? Witnessing her interesting change in behavior during nursery at church gave me some hope though. (During nursery she is wonderful. A delight. Down right REVERENT at times. So strange.)
*** Post first day report was that everything went great. None of the girls got upset and there wasn't any toddler confrontations. You know the uncomfortable ones about sharing and the like.***

 

 

She totally posed for these pictures. And how perfect is that smile?

I remember once during the many ultrasounds I had while carrying her that when the tech rolled over her face I literally gasped as her beauty took my breath away. I had a similar moment when she posed for these pictures. Sure, she is super silly and loves to be messy and gross, but my goodness...look at that face and the spirit shining through it. Beauty.

 

But I digress.

Eden was just a little bit happy about going to school today. Actually she was super duper happy about it all day long, even after I picked her up. When we pulled up to the house where her little school would be held all (4) of the girls and their mommies where standing outside chatting and taking pictures. I pulled open the van door and immediately Eden yells "Hello!" She could barely wait for me to unbuckle her car seat she was so excited. I put on her back pack and she ran around the car where one of her cute little friends shouted with excitement, "Eden!" and ran to greet her. Eden stopped in her tracks, pointed to her shirt, stuck out her chest and said, "Look at my shirt!" I don't know what it is about her shirts, but just about every time she sees someone she wants them to check out her shirt. Funny girl. So they stood there admiring each other's clothes, like true girls, and then sat on the front steps for a group picture. Then the teacher told all us mothers good bye and they walked up the rest of the stairs. Eden never even looked back to see where I was.

I am surprised, proud, happy, scared, a little disappointed (if I am being completely honest here) and excited for her and this new journey. I'm glad I'll be doing it with her though. I'll get my turn to teach in October. And she is my "last" baby. I still think of her as a baby and when someone states otherwise I have to take a minute for reality to sweep over my brain.

When daddy got home she very enthusiastically told him all about her experience with school. She proudly showed off her hand print/finger paint sunshine and sang us songs. I'm not positive but I think it was a medley about Old MacDonald and a sunshine.

 This is definitely going to be fun.



Remember

Yesterday when I picked up Hope from school I noticed a few children wandering around the sidewalk looking for their parents or siblings or whomever was supposed to pick them up. It was chaotic with small children running all over, yelling and parents greeting their children or trying to talk to teachers and I realized how easy it would be for someone to grab one of these kids. I always try to be a minute or two early to wait for Hope so she doesn't have to wait for me, but I am sure that sometimes I won't be able to do that for whatever reason.

As we walked away from the school building I asked her, "What would happen if I wasn't there when you came out of your class?"

She responded, "I would look for you." She wasn't getting it.

Finally I told her, "If you don't see me when you come out of the class you need to stand right by the gate until I come get you. And if someone tells you they will help you find me, you say 'No Thanks' and run and tell your teacher. If someone tries to grab you, you bite, kick, scream and yell until they let you go." I still wasn't sure if she had gotten it, so I tried to reinforce it once more during dinner time.

 

Today when I picked up Hope I was a minute late. The kids were scattered around the sidewalk and I was searching for Hope. And then I see her, clinging to the fence looking slightly worried. She saw me as I approached and smiled like her usual sunshine self and we hugged.

I let her know I was proud of her for waiting by the fence and she said, "I remembered what you said to do."

Thank goodness.

I don't ever want to forget the way she looked clinging to that fence. I wish I had the camera with me so I wouldn't ever forget. I told grandma and daddy that Hope was hugging the fence waiting for my arrival, and she insists she wasn't, but hugging the fence is quite alright if it keeps her safe.

A Miss Chevious Moment

About a month ago I decided to potty train Miss Chevious. I was so determined that I went out and bought the smallest little panties I could find, because I'd be damned if I were going to buy another box of diapers. My plan was to have her sit on the potty every thirty minutes for several days until she got the hang of it. She isn't afraid of the potty, so I thought for sure this was the route to go. Day 1 started with her telling me she needed to go potty. I thought to myself, "Heavenly Father must really know how much I just need Him to potty train this child and is obviously taking this burden from me. I am SO blessed!!!" I took her in and sat her down on the potty. She sat there for a minute or so with a cute little grin on her face as she talked about the potty. Once or twice it actually seemed like she was trying to go. Finally she just wanted to get down. I felt okay with that because she did give it a good try. I helped her down from the potty, but then she started whining because she wanted back ON the potty. I put her back on. She smiled, then wanted back down. We repeated this a couple of times. Finally, she walked into the hallway just in front of the bathroom and peed down her legs, all over her feet and the carpet. "Fine," I thought. "Not my will be done, but THY will." This is experience was, no doubt going to be part of the refiner's fire that I must pass through during this part of my life. ***I'm seriously being sarcastic here. Kind of.***

I decided that putting on the panties might help. She was thrilled with that. She wouldn't put her pants back on because she wanted to run around with her little pink panties. A few moments later I got distracted by something. I don't remember what now, but all it took was a moment. The "quiet storm" hit the house and I went into search mode. This is what I found:

 

 

This is the corner where the diaper genie is kept. She wedged herself here where she reached up on her changing table for the powder and lotion and went to work. Thank goodness I got to her before she had a shot at the lotion. I'm sure Dance Star Mickey is grateful too, because he was now an albino mouse.

This kid. She is like Animal from The Muppet Babies.

 

Her new trick is climbing up on her changing table (which is a re-purposed buffet table, so quite heavy and I'm not at all worried about it tipping over on her). Since she recently mastered climbing into her crib I suppose it was only a matter of time before she gave the other furniture a go. The first time it happened went something like this:

I was cooking dinner when the clouds of the quiet storm began to swirl. It storms quite often in our house. I took a moment to resign to the fact that I would soon be cleaning up another mess and I didn't know how significant the damage of that mess might be. My eyes quickly scanned the family room and living room and then my ears perked with alertness as I realized she must be in the back of the house, which means either she is playing quietly in big sister's room, or she is wreaking havoc somewhere back there. I knew in my heart the answer and as I rounded the corner in the hall the smell of baby powder filling my nostrils confirmed my intuition. But I didn't see her in her room, which is where the baby powder was kept. And I still didn't see any baby powder, only smelled it. I passed her room and searched Hope's room, Noah's room, the laundry room, passed her room again with a puff of powder stinging my nose and searched my room and my bathroom. Nowhere. Puzzled, I turned to go back down the hall when I caught a glimpse of a chubby, bare leg sitting atop the changing table in Eden's room. "No," I thought, "no way. She can't climb up there....can she?" Powder filled the air as I walked in to see her smiling at me.

"I did it myself!" She was proud. I was shocked. I'm always shocked that I am shocked when it comes to this child. Wouldn't you think that I would know by now that there is just no limit to her destruction? Her power is all encompassing.
She had taken off her diaper, which was soiled, and tossed it on the floor. Then she cleverly found the powder, which after the above incident I hid on the shelf above the changing table, doused herself and her changing pad with the white stuff and then strewn baby wipes all about. At the moment I walked in she was very delicately wiping a tiny spot (which was the one spotless place) on her forearm with one of the wipes. I knew I was standing there gaping at her because my mouth suddenly became parched from all the powder in the air. I came to and tried to clean her up, but the powder on top of her messy bottom made that next to impossible. I stripped off her clothes trying not to get any more powder on myself and once she was standing atop her changing table naked, she for some reason decided to give my breasts a high five. Not just one of them, but both of them now had tiny little white hand prints on them. If I had looked closely I am sure I would've found more than the powder in the hand prints, but I didn't need to see it to know it was there. I held her out as far from me as possible, stood her in the shower and turned it on. Thank goodness we have a shower hose. She wouldn't stand directly under it, so I had to follow her little fleeing body all around the tub. *Sigh* Reliving it is almost as exhausting as living it the first time. She'll be three in about six months. Then she'll be past this stage, right?

Kindergarten

She is ready.

 

Ben and I have had several conversations since the birth of our little sunshine about when she would be starting kindergarten. Most of the conversations included results from psychology studies about children who are in the bottom age range of their class and those who are in the top. Yes. I said "psychological studies". The consensus seemed to be that younger children in an older class setting didn't do as well as those who were older - and that wasn't even mentioning sports or extra-curricular activities. At least I think this was the consensus he was talking about. I have to admit that I zoned out once or twice when I felt statistics coming into play. Just kidding, Ben! Not really, but you already know I am not perfect and if my brain power must be used to decipher statistics of kindergartners I'm going to check out for a moment to save some brain power for all the other things you say that I have to decipher. We can't all be blessed with a photographic memory and human-calculator-like math skills. :) *phew* That was quite the tangent.

What we finally agreed that it came down to was if we felt Hope was ready for school when she turned five. Now, let me take a moment and make a confession. I did not teach her at home like I should have been doing these past five years. She is not entering kindergarten with the ability to read, she does not know EVERY SINGLE LETTER of the alphabet, but she does know several. She can write her name (first and last), she knows her shapes and colors, she can count to 20 with minimal mistakes. I have friends whose children are in Hope's class and they can read. I did not do that with Hope. Yes, one of my many mommyhood regrets, but I am hoping to do better with Eden. Hope is, however, very eager to learn and she is a socially mature for a five year old. She follows directions well, and more importantly is excited to learn and be in school! That is how I know she is ready.

 

Ben disagreed with me for a while, until I finally dug it out of him that HE was really the one who wasn't ready for his little Hopie to start growing up. He took time off work so that he could go with me to drop her off and pick her up for her first day. What a good daddy.

 

 

Hope was so excited that she woke up early that morning and wanted to get dressed right away so she could go to kindergarten. She was disappointed when I told her it would still be several hours before her class started. But to help pass the time, she helped me make her first day of school poster with sunshines on it, because well...when she grows up she wants to be a "Big Sunshine".

 

 

A couple of days before school actually started, she had her assessment and got her first assignment! Her first project was that along with mommy and daddy she was to make this girl cut-out look like herself.

 

 

I had some fabric scraps that we glued on as her clothes and I had some horse stickers that she put on the shirt of the doll to match the purple shirt she is actually wearing in this picture.

 

 

Hope made a little necklace that we attached to the doll and she and daddy made some silver painted shoes to match Hope's sparkly Sunday shoes. Then daddy printed out a picture of Hope and we glued it on.

 

 

It turned out pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. Hope was concerned about leaving it at school. She didn't want it to get ruined.

 

 

Here she is getting tired of pictures. Just a few more Hope!

Eden wanted in on all the fun too and found Hope's old Strawberry Shortcake backpack to wear.

 

 

Finally time came to leave for school. Here Hope is walking to the building like a big girl.

 

 

School is over! It was awesome!

 

 

On her second day we arrived a little early and the door was locked so I pulled up to the curb to wait. Hope saw one of her friends arrive, and wanted to get out and wait with her. I allowed her to get out, but I stayed in the car to watch her. Soon more and more children and their moms arrived and I was sure Hope would come back up to the van where I was but she didn't. I could see her in the middle of the crowd talking to her friends...being all independent and "sunshiney". Fear was no where in her countenance. Then the classroom door opened and she went in with the other kids. She IS ready.



Sunshine turns FIVE!

***Every now and then I get a little blogged out. Call it writer's block, call it lazy block, call it blogged out....today I'm calling it emotionally drained.  Several times I have started to update my blog and the thought of it just makes me tired. So much has been going on physically and emotionally that once an experience has past I have to refocus all my energy on getting through the next experience and I have nothing left to revisit the one I just got through, which let's face it, is exactly what journaling is all about. Or at least this "journal".  Lots of great things are happening during this most recent storm for me and in an effort to focus on the positive and being more positive in general, blogging about those little rays of sunshine through the storm clouds might just help me do that. So here's hoping I can find a plug for my "emotional drain" and build a reservoir again. :)***

 

A little over five years ago Hope Elizabeth Maxwell was born. She is my second child, but to be honest I was a little nervous about being mommy to a newborn again because the first time around included some severe post-partum depression and I was worried that might happen again. Fortunately for EVERYONE, it did not. I had the experience that I had hoped I would have with all of my newborns. I was in love. I was in awe. I couldn't stop looking at her. Even when she had woken me up for the third time in the early morning hours, she somehow made me smile. Somehow I could see those precious dimples through my sleep-deprived eyes and still feel amazement at how bright she could make a unlit room.

 

I constantly received compliments on behalf of her beauty. I remember one Sunday a lady touched my shoulder and said, "She is so beautiful I can't stop looking at her. Usually they aren't that pretty when they're first born." What can I say, I make pretty babies. :)

(Eden, Hope and Aubrey at the party)
 

Sometime in the first year we all began singing "You Are My Sunshine" to Hope. She loved it. It was her favorite, and if I remember correctly, it was the first song she memorized. She also has taken many liberties with the song. Once she changed the lyrics to be about her "toot". She hopped around on the bed singing, "I toot, I toot!" She was indeed our little sunshine. Since I've called her my sunshine and she's asked why several times. Once in response to her inquiry I said, "How do you feel when you see the sunshine?" She just smiled at me. "Do you feel happy, and warm and wonderful?" She nodded with her pretty little smile and dimples all aglow. "Well, that is how you make me feel. So I call you 'My Little Sunshine'." She giggled and seemed okay with that answer. Something about that little girl literally makes my heart feel warm and full. Even just thinking about her I can feel it. I think it partly has to do with her name.

(Eden, Ry, Hope and Aubrey)
 

When I was pregnant with Hope, once we found out she was a girl, I knew without a doubt her name should be Hope. I felt her name was Hope because I had been without actual hope for so long in my life until I met her daddy. He sparked hope in me again and that is something pretty significant to happen to a person. Now that Hope is her own little person I can see another side to why her name was and is HOPE. She emits hope. She hands it out freely like a gift to everyone she encounters. It is, no doubt, a gift from Heavenly Father (or Harry Potter as Hope confusedly calls him) that will only grow stronger as she herself grows. I am honored to be her mother.

(Hope, Aubrey and Eden standing on the "horse track")

 

A few fun facts about Hope right now. She still cannot fall asleep on her own. I have to sit in her room with her until she falls asleep. Right now grandma is visiting, so grandma "gets" to do it, because hey, when grandma is around what good is mommy? :) She likes to tell me to think about good dreams and she thinks about them too. This is because one night as she was trying to fall asleep she said she was scared she would have another bad dream. I told her that she can help herself to have good dreams if she just thought about happy things that she would like to dream about while she falls asleep. So now every night we have to think about happy dreams. Hope's favorite color is purple. It has been for a long while, and looks like it will continue to be. She has started drawing the past few months and has become quite talented at it. There have been many days when all she wants to do it draw. She gets better every day and loves to show off her masterpieces.Two Sundays ago, she was drawing in sacrament meeting and she told me she was drawing that picture for Jesus. Hope loves primary! She is no longer afraid and will skip on into the primary room, give her teacher a high five and sit in her chair with that sunshine smile on her face. She has said the prayer in primary twice now. She has made many friends with both the boys and the girls and is surprisingly outgoing for being the child of someone like Ben and I (who are not outgoing). She is an incredibly picky eater. She still doesn't like meat, but will eat Chicken McNuggets the few times we go to McDonald's. I don't know if that really classifies as meat, but you know..... she still likes Mac N' Cheese, but it has to be the right kind and the right brand. Still loves apple juice and will settle for water at night. She has been doing quite well at the dentist and the doctor's office. The past several visits were met with bravery and dimples. No tears. Like I mentioned above, she gets Heavenly Father and Harry Potter mixed up. She has some speech issues that certainly don't help. Now that she's started school I am sure speech therapy will be in her future. Her problem letters are "R", and "L". Grandma thinks it's quite funny to try to get her to say "Lizard Lickin Lemon", which comes out, "Yizzard Yickin Yemen".

(Aubrey, Grandma Verla, Hope, Grandma Nikki and Eden)

She does not like for me to fix her hair. She lets me comb it and will occasionally wear a clip on the side or a headband, but forget about anything else. She has NO interest in getting her ears pierced but will let me paint her nails sometimes. Sometimes she lets me paint them, but wants me to take it off immediately after. She adores her big brother who helped teach her how to swing all by herself. She talks about him often and misses him a lot when he's away. Her relationship with Eden is growing. Still not great, but they have their moments of wonderful, melt-your-heart kind of bliss. She loves school and is excited to go everyday. I can't wait to see how she grows.

(Hope, Eden, Grandma Bosley and Aubrey)

I love this picture of Grandma Bosley!!!