2nd Grade and Preschool

I can't believe Layla is already in 2nd grade. How does it go so fast?! I was very nervous for Layla to start at a new school where she didn't know anyone. But she wasn't nervous! I should have just trusted her instincts on that, because she has been just fine. More than fine, actually! She is really happy!

I am truly amazed by the PAL (primary advanced learners) program. And I can't rave enough about Layla's teacher, Ms. Moulton. She has been teaching gifted students for 15 years and she is amazing. The curriculum includes books written specifically for gifted learners, at their grade level, as well as math curriculum that they access on class ipads, laptops, and at home through the school website. Ms. Moulton's classroom is vibrant and exciting. The desks are arranged in different shapes and groupings, some with regular chairs and some with fun wobbly stools. The students can pick where they want to sit, but they spend most of their time on the rug and sitting around the room in various places. It is a very fun learning environment complete with two pet turtles in a tank.

While it is not my favorite thing to drive Layla to and from school each day, it is SO worth it! She is already happier, more mature, more positive, more responsible and kinder and it's only been a few weeks! I think she is able to be a better version of her already awesome self because she is finally in the type of environment that she thrives in. It makes my heart so happy!

Her new school is also focusing on a "growth mindset" this school year. They are focusing on having an attitude of growth, positivity, and learning with phrases such as "I can't do it ... yet" and "I haven't practiced enough" and "I will keep trying!" etc. It has helped Layla have less frustration over piano practice and be more patient with herself and others overall. I even find myself repeating some of the mantras to myself!

The one big downside to moving Layla from our local school is that we lost Chinese Immersion. While I am no longer sad about that for Layla, because the PAL program is exactly what she needed, I am sad for Marcus. When Layla was in Chinese, Marcus was automatically in the program when he starts kindergarten thanks to the grandfather rule. Since we pulled Layla out of Chinese, Marcus will not automatically be in the program and he will enter the lottery with the rest of the kids who want in. Unfortunately there are only 2 classes for Chinese so most of the spots go to younger siblings who are grandfathered in. There are only a handful of slots left for other students, so chances are that Marcus will not get into the Chinese program. I started a petition with my friend, Lara Lifferth, who is the Immersion Parent Coordinator at the local school, and we asked parents to sign if they would like to see a third class added to each grade level to allow for more students to participate. We didn't get as many signatures as we'd hoped, and we ended up meeting with the superintendent of the school district who told us a third class cannot be added. I was very upset, mad, sad, and annoyed, but I have finally made peace with it.

Maybe Marcus will get in to Chinese Immersion, and maybe he won't, but either way I will be fine with it. I don't know if he'll end up in the gifted program like Layla, it's hard to say. He is very smart, but I don't know that he'll have the same level of interest in learning as Layla does. Time will tell. As long as he's happy and learning what he needs to, I will be happy with regular school, Chinese, or gifted. I think the next year or two will be really telling for him. He has been doing the same online preschool that Layla did at his age and he is loving it. He is doing so well at it and it makes me so proud! He is truly a smart boy!

Marcus is SO excited to be in preschool at Miss Tiffany's! Layla also went to Miss Tiffany and we love her. Marcus has preschool Tuesdays through Thursdays from 9 to 11 am. He is growing up so fast and I can't believe he'll be in kindergarten next year! It really breaks my heart because I will miss him immensely! But I am proud of the people my kids are becoming and I'm happy that they get to go to good schools.

 

 

 

Why We Put Layla in the Gifted Program

I should share the story of how we came to have Layla participate in the gifted program for 2nd grade.

First of all, when Mitch and I were first married, we knew that we wouldn’t raise our kids in the house we were living in. Partly because the floor plan of the house was not good for having more than one kid, but mostly because the schools our area fed into were terrible. We knew we would move before Layla started kindergarten.

Fast forward to when we decided to move. We looked at homes in many areas, all with good schools. We finally decided the general area and builder we wanted to build with based primarily on getting the most bang for our buck. When we looked into the area more, we found out that Heritage Elementary was not only a top ranked school in the county and state, but that they also offered Chinese Immersion. Sold! We switched lots to have one that was adjacent to the school.

When I registered Layla for kindergarten, I put her in the lottery for Chinese Immersion, and then prayed and prayed that she would get in. I also met with the principal and asked her opinion on having Layla skip kindergarten. I knew Layla was extremely bright and already knew the kindergarten curriculum. I felt like she either needed Chinese or to skip to avoid being bored all year. At the end of the day, she got into Chinese and we decided that would be better than skipping a grade because she would learn a language and stay with kids her own age.

Kindergarten was great. Layla truly loved learning Chinese, she had awesome teachers, and made lots of friends. We had some issues at home that a lot of girls that age go through (or so I’m told). Mostly temper tantrums, power struggles, etc. They did work themselves out over the course of the school year. Overall though it truly was a great year.

First grade started off fine. She had her “sissy,” Ella Bott, in her class and they were happy for the first three months. Then in October Layla started acting different. Mitch and I both noticed that she was acting out towards us (which she really didn’t do anymore), was acting shy when she is normally incredibly talkative, and would occasionally say things about Ella not wanting to play with her anymore. I kind of brushed it all off as typical kid drama and friendships that come and go. I knew she had plenty of other friends and didn’t worry about it. By the time December came around, she was crying after school saying nobody liked her and that she didn’t have any friends. Again, I tried to console her and tell her she had lots of friends, just as I saw when I volunteered at the school.

Christmas break was great, but when school started up again, I finally realized that something really was wrong. (I know, mom of the year.) She would now cry for up to an hour at a time, several times a week, saying she didn’t have any friends, etc. One night I decided to email her teacher and ask if she knew if something was going on between Layla and Ella or if she had noticed anything else. She emailed me right back and said she had noticed something was different between the girls and that Layla had been acting differently. She said she was glad I had asked and would talk to Layla the next day. I spent that night on my knees, crying and pleading with Heavenly Father that He would help Layla to be happy at school and that the correct situation would present itself.

Since this is a really long story, I will shorten it by saying that the teacher ended up switching Layla into the other class next door (same teachers, just different students). I was elated and felt like my prayer had been answered. The next few weeks or even month or two were great. Layla had many friends in the other class. I really wish she had been in that class to start with! She seemed happy and I was happy.

By the time April or May came around she was unhappy again. This time I knew it wasn’t friends because she had loads of friends in that class and was always playing with someone. Instead, she would come home from school and cry and say she was SO bored. One day I was volunteering in her class. Before she saw me I noticed that she looked so sad. I walked up to her and the tears just welled up in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong and she said she was bored. This was in Chinese class. Bored learning Chinese. Hmmm. She wrote me a few notes that said things like, “I am sooooooooo bored! I hate school! I’m never going to school again! The boys in this class are cuckoo crazy and nobody listens!” It broke my heart to read these notes! She is so intelligent and should be challenged, not sitting there bored, hating school!

That’s when I began to piece together the puzzle and thought about her sitting at school for 7 plus hours a day, learning and repeating things she already knew. Sure, there are plenty of Chinese words she doesn’t know, but they practice the same words day after day and she only needs to hear them once or twice. I can see how she’d be bored. She literally had perfect scores on every single test and report card for the entire school year, in English and Chinese. I began to believe her that she was legitimately bored and 7 hours of school, every day, was torture for her. I thought Chinese and good friends would be enough, but it truly wasn’t.

Now it’s May and I don’t know what to do. We told her repeatedly that the school year was almost over and she would have to put on a brave, happy face and get through it. Ignore the “cuckoo crazy” boys and just do her best. Then we scrambled. I looked into charter schools; asked the principal, district employees, and friends with education backgrounds about having her skip a grade; and we even looked into moving and finding a different school.

I also looked into the gifted program, but was told that the testing had already been done for the year. I was so mad at myself. At every single parent/teacher conference in kindergarten and 1^st grade, her teachers have suggested that we have her tested for the gifted program. But I didn’t bother to have her tested because I loved that she was learning Chinese and I didn’t want to give that up. Or drive her to a different school. So I said no each time.

After making a few phone calls, I found that they were doing one last testing session the end of May, and I got her in by the skin of my teeth. She tested for 3 days. I was told there were only 2 or 3 spots available for 2^nd grade and there were 7 kids testing. I told myself that if she didn’t get in, I would have her skip a grade.

She scored in the 99^th percentile in all three categories. She is amazing, I tell ya! Imagine my shock though when we got the letter saying she didn’t get in and would have to wait a year. What?! Three other kids scored higher? I called the lady over the program the next day and just asked her what she thought about having Layla skip a grade based on her test results. I was surprised again when she told me that she was going to call me that day. It turns out that there was actually only ONE spot available, and one kid did score higher than Layla. But, she saw Layla’s scores, and asked the teacher if she could take an extra student. When the teacher saw Layla’s scores, she said, “We can’t have a student like that at a normal school, Chinese or not” and said she would take her!

So here we are, with two weeks left until school starts. I will now be driving Layla to a school about 10 minutes away and picking her up every day. She will be in a classroom with other students who think like her. They will cover 1.5 years worth of material in one year, and at a deeper depth. I am having mixed feelings over the whole thing. Mostly I feel like we were led to this and that Heavenly Father answered my prayers and this is all part of His plan for Layla. But I also am incredibly sad that she won’t be learning Chinese anymore. She loved it and was so good at it, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t enough to keep her happy at school. But it still makes me sad!

Not to mention how nervous I am for her to go to a school where she doesn’t know a single person! Layla makes friends easily and I’m sure it will be fine, but I’m still so nervous for her! All of the kids in her class were in the same class last year, so they all know each other. She and the other kid who got in the program will be the only new kids in a class that will be together for the second year in a row. Ahhhh! I have been praying that she will make new friends. Good, kind friends who will be good influences and she to them.

And the selfish part of me is bummed that I have to drive her to school every day! Grrr! We moved to this exact location so that she could walk to school! It is literally at the end of our street. She doesn’t even have to cross the street! Lame. And it makes me sad that if she stays in the gifted program, she and Marcus will never go to the same school, unless he gets into the program too. (I honestly have no idea how he’ll be in school yet. Kindergarten will be really telling. I still haven’t decided if we’ll put him in Chinese or not, we’ll see how preschool goes this year.) It also makes an issue when Marcus starts school- I will have to make arrangements for him to go to a neighbor’s house before and after school each day while I drive Layla. I know it’s not a huge deal, and I have plenty of friends here who have already offered to help, I just struggle when things don’t go according to my plan.

But, that’s the funny thing about my life. None of it is according to my plan. At all. It’s better! I didn’t plan to serve a mission, I had planned to marry someone else, and I had planned to have Layla walk to school and learn Chinese, dang it! LOL. But in all seriousness, if I’ve learned anything, I’ve learned that when I try to do what Heavenly Father would have me do, and pray my guts out to know what that is, I end up happier than I could have imagined. Serving a mission is something I am grateful for every day, marrying Mitch was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life and I can’t imagine where I’d be otherwise, and I have no doubt that soon I will realize that this decision was the best too, even if it makes me a little sad right now. I feel like this is a huge leap of faith for me, because it affects my sweet daughter and I want to do what is best for her. But deep down, I know this is it, even if it’s inconvenient and not what I would choose. I hope it helps her learn to have faith and trust in Heavenly Father’s plan for her. That will bring her the most happiness in life and in the eternities.

So, here’s to a new school, new friends, a new teacher, and a new adventure!

Last Bits of Summer

We managed to cram some more fun into our summer. The highlight was going to Bear Lake with our friends, the Craguns. This is a favorite activity for everyone because Oakley is Layla's favorite, Kevin and Mitch are friends from high school, and Nicole is one of my favorite people. And Marcus just thinks he is bffs with the girls (which he is), so he tags along with them. It makes for a fun time!

 

 

We talked a lot about renting a boat but it was very expensive. Instead we rented a 5 man aluminum fishing boat! It was slightly redneck, but the kids thought it was the best and we had fun riding around the beautiful lake in it.

All the fun ended though, when the next morning Layla woke up vomiting. :/ She didn't listen to us the day before when we told her, repeatedly, to drink more water and eat less candy. She threw up 4 or 5 times in a 6 hour period, and then she was just fine. Thank heavens she was better for the drive home through Logan Canyon! It is the windiest canyon I have ever personally been in, so I was prepared for her with plastic sacks in the car, but she was fine and slept most of the way. I'm so glad the Craguns invited us- we had a blast with them like always!

 

This summer Layla also attended a Mandarin Language Camp put on by the University of Utah. It was held at a local junior high so we didn't have to drive far and we often carpooled with her friend, Amelia. The camp was for 5 days, for 4 hours each day. Speaking of getting sick, Layla was sick for 2 of the 5 days, boo! She had a high fever, cough, etc. It ended up being a virus, but I was so sad that she missed so much of the camp. Oh well, what do you do? She did have fun while she was there and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the class perform their songs at the end. She learned to sing, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in Mandarin among other songs.

We went to Classic skating and waterslides several more times. Always a fun time! I will be torn next summer between a pass to Classic (so nice to be inside on a hot day!) and a pass to Cherry Hill. First world problems, I know.

I bought a road bike! Road biking is something I always said I would get into when I quit running, and it seems the time has come, haha. I enjoy it even more than I thought I would! I bought a used, generic brand bike off KSL for $275 and it is great for me to learn on and get the feel of road biking. It is quite different than mountain biking, which is all I've ever done. I still LOVE mountain biking on a good trail more than road biking, but it's not realistic for me to get up to a trail much anymore. It's more realistic to road bike from my house early in the mornings for a few minutes. I want to get some click in pedals (is that what they're called?) and shoes, but other than that I feel like I'm all set. Eventually I would love to get a nicer bike, but we'll see how much I end up using this one before I drop $1K on a bike!

Also, Marcus and I were able to see the Tour of Utah bicyclists ride by! The race was passing right by our house (as in a quarter of a mile away) so we rode over on our bikes and watched them whiz by! Marcus was not as amused as I was. ;)

 

 We went hiking with our friends, the Mudrows, to Donut Falls. It was fun and the kids did great!

 We had an eclipse party! And by "party" I mean that Mitch came home from work and we all ate chocolate cake outside while we watched the eclipse, haha! I was able to get some eclipse glasses from the library and we had leftover cake from my mom's birthday, so we had a party. The kids got bored halfway through, but Mitch and I were amazed by the whole thing. It would have been so neat to see a full eclipse, but we did see about 90% or more. I thought it was so interesting how the light around us turned to a flat, dull light, almost like a camera lens filter was put over the light. It made our shadows have a curve and the temperature dropped enough to where it felt nice and cool.

 

 A couple of funny things Marcus has said lately:
-We told him to go get in the shower, he got mad and said, "That sounds like a bad opportunity!"
-Marcus said, "Listen to this commercial I just made up! They're hot, they're temals, they're hot tamales!"
-He had a bad stint where if he was upset that I told him to do something (get in the shower, come home from a friend's house, etc) he would yell and tell me, "You're the worst mom ever!" and "You're a bad mom!" etc. I got so sick of it, that I finally followed the suggestion Nicole gave me to take him to the "New Mommy Store." We were driving home when he got mad at me and told me he wished I were dead so he didn't have to listen to me anymore. I told him that's an awful thing to say and that we were going to get him a new mommy. I pulled into an empty parking lot of a mortuary and told him it was the new mommy store and he could go in and get a new mommy. He thought for a minute, then looked at me and said, "There's no such thing." I told him, "I know you can't read yet, but that sign actually says, 'New Mommy Store'" at which point he started bawling. I let him cry for a second and then said he could go in and get a new mom since he thinks I'm such a bad one. He kept crying and said no and I asked if it was because he actually thinks I'm a good mom, to which he choked out, through his tears, "You're a maybe." (I can't win with this kid, I tell ya!) We left and I told him how it was not okay to say mean things to people, that I am a good mom and any mom would make him clean up, end a playdate, and do all the other things that I make him do that make him mad. Later that night he got mad at me, but instead of telling me I was the worst mom ever, he told me that he would go into the new mommy store if I would just walk him in, and that he didn't go in earlier because he was scared to walk in alone. Oh my goodness. The interesting thing is that the next day he gave me more hugs and kisses and told me he loves me and played with me more than he had in a very long time. And he has not said I'm a bad mom or the worst mom ever or anything close to that since. I think he finally understands that it's not okay to say those things, even when you're mad. He got mad at Layla last night, and told her to stop bugging him, and then he said in a calm, nice voice, "At least I didn't tell you that you're the worst sister ever." Right on, Marcus, you're learning. I'm trying to teach him healthy ways to vent his anger, and the new mommy store did the trick, haha!

He took these selfies on my phone:

 The kids found the box of old Halloween costumes in the basement and have been wearing random parts of them around the house. It's made me laugh to see them squeeze into them!

 

 

It's Labor Day weekend now and we went boating yesterday with my parents, Brock and Natalie and their kids, and my grandma Ruth. It was great fun and the kids each rode on the tube behind the boat for their first times. My dad was nice and went slow, so neither of them tipped out. Layla rode with
Mitch one of the times and they went fast enough to go over the wake. I loved watching our kids experience something new with giant smiles on their faces!

We had a great summer and now we're finally in the routine of a new school year. Until next summer!