Kira and 1st grade

Kira is doing really well in first grade.  She had such a hard time when I went to work in kindergarten and seems to have outgrown a lot of her fears and anxieties.  Some of it I am sure was loosing my parents and time seems to heal and make a lot of things better.

She is really smart.  Just gets things.  Reminds me of Scott in a lot of ways.  Has perfectionist tendencies.  Scott used to be hard on himself.  She isn't hard on herself or the outcome but just scared to do new things or in the process if they aren't turning out how she wants, she gets real frustrated.  It has been fun to see her learn to read.  All of a sudden, her reading just took off and somehow she went from learning one word to reading at a pretty high level.  I read an article years ago about how they teach kids in Switzerland (I think) how to read when they are older and actually ready to read and they progress happily and much faster than in America.  It really impacted me and for the most part I have adapted that into letting the kids learn skills when they are ready.  It has worked for reading for us.  She loves it.  In her free time, she goes onto RazKids, an online reading program, to read.  Reading has been such a great thing for Scott so I hope it is for Kira as well.   Scott has been really bored in school the past couple of years and this is really the first year I addressed it with his teacher, but I am going to stay on top of that with Kira because I can see her also getting bored in school before long.

She doesn't seem to have a group of friends like my boys did or at least I am not as much in he know with her.  With every kid, I feel like I am more and more removed.  With Scott, I would go to the park and knew all the moms and kids.  Now I find that Kira plays with her brothers friends more than her own.  Not that it is a bad thing, but just how it works out.  With that said, when we go to school, her friends seem to always say hi and she seems to have a lot of friends.  She is happy to go to school and always seems to have fun.  So we just plug along.  She has Mrs. Shirley, who Scott had.  Danny or I volunteer on Tuesday and I teach art once a month which is fun!

She is doing gymnastics which she really likes.  She seems much more confident and comfortable.  Last year, she didn't want us to leave her and now she doesn't mind so that is a great thing.  She has another showcase coming up.  The last one she was so scared, so hoping she is happier this time around!