Movin' on up!

Baby girl,

How proud we are of you! You have finished Kindergarten! You've done a lot of things this year! Let me give you a list of just some, in no particular order of importance:

1. We walked to school probably about 85% of the time. We had that nasty spot in the winter where the snow was up to MY hips and sidewalks weren't cleared. However, you've skipped to school, ridden "Sparkle" the unicorn hobby horse, we made friends with Mr. Jim, met and made friends with B- and her family and we've navigated construction obstacles for the last two months. I have absolutely loved walking with you! We've had such great talks and observations about school and nature. We've worked issues out along the way. You know, the school stuff. "This one said this, this one said that . . ." It was wonderful time that you and I were able to spend together.
2. You learned to read. Boy, you are good at it! You love to write stories, too!
3. We learned that school lunches are not a good thing for you. Jamie Oliver would absolutely be beside himself. Once we figured out just what you wanted, everyday you went off with 1/2 of a turkey sandwich, pretzels, yogurt/fruit or veggies and your Klean Kanteen filled with water.
4. You have perfected the ability to sit, listen and not wiggle.
5. You learned to snap your fingers.
6. You are still one of the few kids who hasn't lost any teeth. That's okay. For what pain and suffering you've gone through with them, it is just God's way of making sure that we get the mileage out of the fillings and root canal.
7. You've made some wonderful friends. You amaze me. You can walk into a room full of kids. You'll go to play with some. If they won't play with you, you'll move on to someone else. You don't care if they are short, tall, boy or girl. You are thrilled to play with anyone.
8. You have become quite the teacher's helper. In not a bad way, Mrs. H- says that if she wasn't in class one day, you could easily run the class. She said that you are very helpful and know absolutely everything to be done.
9. You learned that sometimes school hands out a few hard knocks. You had M- with the need to physically harm you, and Z- with the power of manipulation to talk you into the bad choice of breaking up all your crayons. With M-, you learned that it was a two way street. You needed to open up your ears and listen to his request for no help. Though his struggling was difficult for you to watch, you finally got the hang of it and now both of you are friends. As for Z-, you learned the hard lesson that you shouldn't allow your friends to talk you into doing something that you know in your heart is wrong. You paid the price and replaced the crayons. I'm happy to say that now you and Z- are friends again, too.
10. You've shed your color blindness. When you first started school, you would describe children by their hair and clothing. Just recently, you were talking about a friend that "has brown skin." It makes me sad that now you see color, when before you didn't. However, to you it is just different skin. That's all. I want you to stay just like that.
11. You've never cared for the gym teacher's whistle. I'm not surprised. Extreme high pitch is something you've never done well with. You've learned to work through it and now you are fine.
12. You've learned about another food allergy-- peanuts. You saw how careful I was with everything that I sent into class and that never once did I send peanut butter to class for lunch with you. Of course, the day that I did bring peanut butter was for the zoo. Wouldn't you know, A- was in our group! We kept him safe, so it was all good. Still, it made you aware that some children can't have what everyone else can because sometimes it can make them very ill.
13. You love Junie B.
14. You are a rule follower. If there is a rule, you know it and will obey it. In fact, you never got your "clip moved" even once this year. That's great!

Please don't think that this list is all the lessons that you learned. This is just a small sampling.

You are a great kid! You have learned so many incredible things this year. You are such a fantastic student! I can't wait to see what First grade brings!

Love,

Mommy