Things with school are getting better.
Esme woke up this morning really well. She is finally getting used to this morning thing! (I wish I could say the same. Ugh.)
Yesterday, she got teary just as she was about to get on the bus. She did get on though and did ok. This morning, she was a little nervous again right before the bus came, but just like yesterday - she got right on. If I ask her about it, she says that she's nervous about the bus but she doesn't articulate why very well. Hopefully it will get better. We'll keep watching.
Tonight though, out of the blue - she told me that all of the kids in the class have a book box where they keep books. According to Esme all the kids in the class got books put in their box except Esme. Because Ms. Pearson has to find some harder books to put in Esme's box! She didn't have any! Esme was so excited!
Esme also told me that today that she likes PE. What?!? She said that once she gets there, she likes it. She's still nervous before she goes, but then it goes away a little bit.
Progress!
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Saturday, September 20, 2014
It's getting better!
A lot has happened since the last post.
As you remember, Esme's first week of school was terrible! She was so happy for the weekend and just didn't want to go to school on Monday. :( I felt bad for her, but we spent quite a bit of time encouraging and reassuring her. And of course letting her know that she did, in fact, have to go back.
Monday came and she was very nervous. She spent a little bit of time here....
Poor thing!! But not nearly as much time as she did last week, only a few times. In an effort to keep her time in front of the toilet to a minimum, I set a timer for one minute and told her that after that we were going to leave the bathroom. She actually never made it to the one minute mark.
I had decided earlier that I would drive her to school on Monday. There was some question as to whether it was the bus that she was afraid of so I wanted her first day back to at least start on a good note. She was very happy to hear this. I dropped her off and away she went with a smile.
When I went to pick her up in the afternoon, I got to visit a little more with Ms. Pearson. She said that Esme had a pretty good day. I think part of the reason it went so well is that there was a sub for PE and it was a woman. Ms. Pearson said that as soon as Esme saw that it was going to be a woman she visibly relaxed. But already while we were still in the school building, she was talking about the next time she would have PE and that she was still afraid of it and Mr. Fischer. Stepping back for a moment: Over the weekend Aaron had a great idea. He thought it would be a helpful if he or I went with Esme and met Mr. Fischer to get to know him a little better. He was going to be taking Esme to school on Thursday because I had a dentist appointment so he offered to do it then. I asked Ms. Pearson if she thought it would be a good idea and she said that Mr. Fischer was back for the rest of the day and was probably in his office. No time like the present, so away we went to the gym!
I saw right away why Esme was scared of him. He's a big, tall guy with a scruffy beard and he talks very fast. He was friendly and wanted Esme to feel comfortable, but he almost couldn't stop talking to let her get a word in. However, in the end he reassured her about a couple of things. Number one, he didn't care if she couldn't do a somersault as long as she tried when the time came. He let her know that he wasn't very good at soccer and maybe she could help him out with it. That made her feel better. He also suggested that they exchange pictures (school pictures came in that day) and that way it was kind of like they were friends. This made her smile a little bit. Lastly, he encouraged her to give him a high five or fist bump any time that she saw him in the hall.
Over all I think it went really well. She's still nervous about him. But meeting him with me and Ms. Pearson there really helped her to be less afraid.
How do I know it helped? There were no more trips to the toilet AT ALL the rest of the week for one thing! And she actually ate a little breakfast each day of the week. There were a few little hiccups during the week. She did something in class that she felt guilty about and wanted to/didn't want to tell Ms. Pearson about. She ended up deciding to tell the truth and felt much better doing the right thing. On Thursday night she practiced doing somersaults in the front yard and now she can do one!!! It's not always pretty, but the important thing is that she can do it!
Aaron thought that in celebration of her great week, she should get to pick a fun activity Friday night. She decided that she wanted to go bowling. We decided to try out the bowling alley in Buffalo. It was really fun. She was a dancing fool!
Here are some fuzzy, cruddy pictures. But check out the flowers in her hair and the rainbow socks. She wore the flowers all day and chose the socks just for bowling. I know they're hard to see against that crazy carpet, but they're there!
And then this is what happened on the way home.
How can you not love that?!? What a great end to a to a long and eventful week!
Over all I think it went really well. She's still nervous about him. But meeting him with me and Ms. Pearson there really helped her to be less afraid.
How do I know it helped? There were no more trips to the toilet AT ALL the rest of the week for one thing! And she actually ate a little breakfast each day of the week. There were a few little hiccups during the week. She did something in class that she felt guilty about and wanted to/didn't want to tell Ms. Pearson about. She ended up deciding to tell the truth and felt much better doing the right thing. On Thursday night she practiced doing somersaults in the front yard and now she can do one!!! It's not always pretty, but the important thing is that she can do it!
Aaron thought that in celebration of her great week, she should get to pick a fun activity Friday night. She decided that she wanted to go bowling. We decided to try out the bowling alley in Buffalo. It was really fun. She was a dancing fool!
Wondering what (or who) is in that bag? Cottonelle and Purple Eye had to come watch and cheer! Esme even got one strike and one spare. She was so happy!
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Friday, September 12, 2014
First week of school is over
This has been just a crazy week for Esme, and not in a good way.
I knew that she would be exhausted from going to full day kindergarten for 5 days in a row. She is most definitely not a morning person, so I knew it would be hard to get her up in the mornings. She's had some fears this summer that I thought might creep into her kindergarten routine. And she's naturally a worrier. But wow! This is so much harder than I thought it would be.
One of the days she was so nervous to go to PE she couldn't even talk about it. She can't do a somersault and she was just sure that she was going to have to do somersaults in PE. We tried to explain to her that they would probably play games and do a lot of different things. She couldn't even consider that.
Another day she kept telling me that something happened on the bus and that she didn't want to tell me about it because she was just going to deal with it herself. You can imagine where my mind went with this! After a whole lot of working to get it out of her, she finally told me that she was nervous to ride the bus because the neighbor boy waved to her in a certain way when they got off the bus and it made her embarrassed. Keep in mind that this is the same neighbor boy that was in her picture on the first day of school and who she plays with all the time.
Remember how I said that once or twice a month Esme will wake up saying that she thinks she's going to throw up? Well, this week she has done that every single day and its escalated each day. It's entirely nerves. She refuses to eat breakfast and the one morning I actually forced her to eat something??? She promptly threw it up. This morning, she refused to come out of the bathroom because she was crying so much saying that she was sure she was going to throw up, that she hates school, and doesn't want to go. On top of that, she hasn't really been eating her lunch, she's not hungry when she gets home half the time. This is just miserable for her.
I just can't believe that my little girl; the one who loved preschool, who is already reading, who is practicing multiplication with my nieces; hates school. How can this be?
I talked to her teacher today and she had a talk with Esme. Esme told her that she didn't like riding the bus and Esme also said that to my mom and to Aaron. But when I asked her about it, it didn't sound like it was a huge thing. She says that she hates PE, she doesn't really like any of the things she's doing at school, doesn't like to make new friends and that the only good part is recess.
Now I can tell you that I think some of this is malarky. We were working on her homework last night and she loved it. When I ask her something specific like "What did you do for math today?" she will tell me what she did - today was sorting buttons. She could sort them any way she wanted and she chose to sort them by the numbers of holes that they had. When I asked if she liked that she said yes! Plus, there's an optional Spanish class that starts next month where one day a week they stay an extra hour to learn Spanish. She immediately asked to do it and is still super excited about it. So she likes learning.
One thing that is interesting and worries me is that she says that she can't hear Mr. Fisher (PE teacher) and that all day she feels like she forgets everything right away. In the past, when she has done swimming and soccer - she always looks at Aaron and me (or my parents or whoever else is there) to make sure that she's doing a good job. While she's doing that - the coach or instructor is usually giving instructions that she's missing because she's looking at us. Then she says "I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing" and gets all worked up about it. I imagine that is what's happening at school also. I think her little brain is so worried that she can't get herself to listen or pay attention to what's being said. So of course she can't hear or remember. Uffda.
I know the bottom line is that she's just having a hard time transitioning. It doesn't help that she's tired and she's not eating enough which has always turned her into a crabby girl She keeps saying that she misses us and doesn't want to go to school because she's away from us all day. I really think this is the true issue. Holy cow, this stinks.
Where we are now is that we are going to put a picture of our family in her backpack that she can look at anytime that she wants to. We're going to practice listening by looking at the teacher/instructors face while they are giving instructions so that our eyes can help our ears. Also, we're going to work on trying to wait 3 seconds until after someone is done talking to respond. That is mostly because she is interrupting us a lot to answer things before she's even heard what we want her to do. And finally, if she is good with going to school in the mornings Monday through Thursday, I will drive her to school on Friday and my parents will pick her up so that she doesn't have to ride the bus.
I sure hope that will help. I just hate seeing her so miserable. Stay tuned...
I knew that she would be exhausted from going to full day kindergarten for 5 days in a row. She is most definitely not a morning person, so I knew it would be hard to get her up in the mornings. She's had some fears this summer that I thought might creep into her kindergarten routine. And she's naturally a worrier. But wow! This is so much harder than I thought it would be.
One of the days she was so nervous to go to PE she couldn't even talk about it. She can't do a somersault and she was just sure that she was going to have to do somersaults in PE. We tried to explain to her that they would probably play games and do a lot of different things. She couldn't even consider that.
Another day she kept telling me that something happened on the bus and that she didn't want to tell me about it because she was just going to deal with it herself. You can imagine where my mind went with this! After a whole lot of working to get it out of her, she finally told me that she was nervous to ride the bus because the neighbor boy waved to her in a certain way when they got off the bus and it made her embarrassed. Keep in mind that this is the same neighbor boy that was in her picture on the first day of school and who she plays with all the time.
Remember how I said that once or twice a month Esme will wake up saying that she thinks she's going to throw up? Well, this week she has done that every single day and its escalated each day. It's entirely nerves. She refuses to eat breakfast and the one morning I actually forced her to eat something??? She promptly threw it up. This morning, she refused to come out of the bathroom because she was crying so much saying that she was sure she was going to throw up, that she hates school, and doesn't want to go. On top of that, she hasn't really been eating her lunch, she's not hungry when she gets home half the time. This is just miserable for her.
I just can't believe that my little girl; the one who loved preschool, who is already reading, who is practicing multiplication with my nieces; hates school. How can this be?
I talked to her teacher today and she had a talk with Esme. Esme told her that she didn't like riding the bus and Esme also said that to my mom and to Aaron. But when I asked her about it, it didn't sound like it was a huge thing. She says that she hates PE, she doesn't really like any of the things she's doing at school, doesn't like to make new friends and that the only good part is recess.
Now I can tell you that I think some of this is malarky. We were working on her homework last night and she loved it. When I ask her something specific like "What did you do for math today?" she will tell me what she did - today was sorting buttons. She could sort them any way she wanted and she chose to sort them by the numbers of holes that they had. When I asked if she liked that she said yes! Plus, there's an optional Spanish class that starts next month where one day a week they stay an extra hour to learn Spanish. She immediately asked to do it and is still super excited about it. So she likes learning.
One thing that is interesting and worries me is that she says that she can't hear Mr. Fisher (PE teacher) and that all day she feels like she forgets everything right away. In the past, when she has done swimming and soccer - she always looks at Aaron and me (or my parents or whoever else is there) to make sure that she's doing a good job. While she's doing that - the coach or instructor is usually giving instructions that she's missing because she's looking at us. Then she says "I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing" and gets all worked up about it. I imagine that is what's happening at school also. I think her little brain is so worried that she can't get herself to listen or pay attention to what's being said. So of course she can't hear or remember. Uffda.
Where we are now is that we are going to put a picture of our family in her backpack that she can look at anytime that she wants to. We're going to practice listening by looking at the teacher/instructors face while they are giving instructions so that our eyes can help our ears. Also, we're going to work on trying to wait 3 seconds until after someone is done talking to respond. That is mostly because she is interrupting us a lot to answer things before she's even heard what we want her to do. And finally, if she is good with going to school in the mornings Monday through Thursday, I will drive her to school on Friday and my parents will pick her up so that she doesn't have to ride the bus.
I sure hope that will help. I just hate seeing her so miserable. Stay tuned...
Friday, September 5, 2014
No second or third day of Kindergarten
Esme coughed all night Wednesday night. She's been nursing a bit of a cold, but that night was a really long night for her. And probably for Aaron too. In all honestly, I only heard a bit of it and slept through the rest. Yes, I'm married to a great father!
Anyway... when Esme woke up she felt really warm. The first thing she did was run to the toilet yelling that she thought she was going to throw up. This alone didn't alarm me. For the last year or so, at least a couple of times a month, she will wake up and be certain that she's going to throw up. She'll run to the toilet and nothing will happen. Then a little while later she'll eat a bit and it's all better. This time she did throw up. And that set the stage for the day - puking or dry heaving all day. She couldn't keep anything down.
I stayed home with her because I felt so bad for her.
She laid and watched TV and was basically miserable. Finally she just fell asleep.
Anyway... when Esme woke up she felt really warm. The first thing she did was run to the toilet yelling that she thought she was going to throw up. This alone didn't alarm me. For the last year or so, at least a couple of times a month, she will wake up and be certain that she's going to throw up. She'll run to the toilet and nothing will happen. Then a little while later she'll eat a bit and it's all better. This time she did throw up. And that set the stage for the day - puking or dry heaving all day. She couldn't keep anything down.
I stayed home with her because I felt so bad for her.
She was still throwing up in the evening so that meant that she couldn't go to school the next day (Friday) either. The school has a 24 hour rule, so kids can't go back to school for 24 hours from the last time they threw up.
When I told her that she couldn't go on Friday, she just cried. She said in a completely pathetic and adorable voice "Mom! Why is this happening to me!!". I felt so bad for her. She wondered if the kids at school missed her.
Aaron stayed home with her today. He wasn't feeling all that well either. He had a sore throat and a headache. I think I was better off being at work and being away from those two sickies!!! :)
I hope she'll rally for the weekend so she can have a little fun before starting back to school on Monday. Poor peanut!
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
First Day of Kindergarten
Yesterday we had kindergarten orientation. Esme was so excited to go to school, meet her teacher and see her new classroom. She's been so excited all summer, counting down the days until school starts.
She made that head band herself and insisted on wearing it today. It's also school pictures today so it will be forever remembered. :)
Ms. Pearson is Esme's teacher and she seems really fun! I know Esme will like her.
Today was the real deal though. Esme wasn't even a little bit nervous to ride the bus and go to school. I really thought she would be when it came down to it. She's had such a rough summer of being afraid of new things. Today, not the case at all. The bus driver had to actually remind her to turn around so I could take her picture!
Our next door neighbor Zac rides the same bus. He said he would help Esme if she needed it. Aaron went to work a little late so he could see her off on the first day. I didn't cry nearly as much as I thought I would. I did a little, but not too much. I'm proud of myself!
And here was her annual sign. Notice the rainbow in the background. I think that's a sign of a different kind - the promise of a fabulous school year!!!
I'm excited to see how this year goes and to see how Esme learns and grows!
Ms. Pearson is Esme's teacher and she seems really fun! I know Esme will like her.
Today was the real deal though. Esme wasn't even a little bit nervous to ride the bus and go to school. I really thought she would be when it came down to it. She's had such a rough summer of being afraid of new things. Today, not the case at all. The bus driver had to actually remind her to turn around so I could take her picture!
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