Routines

She has really latched on to the routine at the new house.  She has some specific times that things need to happen and I give her countdowns to those times.  It works really well most days.  Today we were running a couple of minutes late, or the bus was a minute or two early, and we had to separate at the middle of the driveway instead of the end (because I couldn't keep up).

She gives me three kisses and hugs every day when the bus gets here.  One for me, one for Corin and one (with the kiss on my belly) for Thing 3.  Every morning.  It's really sweet.

She has developed more patience and maturity lately.  One day, she asked for a pencil for her backpack so she could start doing her homework on the bus.  She finishes it every afternoon during the 45 minute bus ride.  She was mad at me on Wednesday for picking her up because her homework would have to be done at home.  We compromised and did it in the car in the driveway and she still finished 15 minutes before she would have been home on the bus.

Discussing the experiment to see which was faster was enough to calm her down.  She didn't need to keep fighting because she knew she could prove she was right or be wrong and still come out ahead.

We forgot to do her book report this weekend.  I suggested she take it on the bus this morning and she loved that idea so it's in her backpack.

The level of maturity and responsibility that comes with aging is remarkable to watch unfold.  Now, if I could just get her to clean her room...

Big sister skills

Ryanne was outside playing with Corin and their friend Marshall today.  Corin was swinging a stick at her.  It was 5 or 6 feet long.  One of the times the end hit the ground, she stood on it.  Corin couldn't make her budge.  He was dragging the stick along with her standing on one end.  Eventually, he got frustrated and dropped it.

At that point, Marshall threw a ball in her direction.  She picked it up and threw it off the deck over the railing, away from both boys.  They ran to get it back.

She bought herself 5-10 minutes to stand in the sun and write notes on her pad without starting a single fight.  I think her big sister skills are coming along just fine.

On the other hand...

Math apparently sucks.  She is having such a hard time with the degree of addition and subtraction they are requiring at school.  It has not clicked for her.  She's not seeing the short cuts.  She's not seeing the self-checks.  Tonight there were tears over finishing a worksheet that she didn't get through at school.

I tried to explain that reading wasn't always easy for her, either.  She worked at it and one day it clicked.  I told her math would do that eventually, but she has to keep working on it.

I don't think she believes me.

Reading awe

To top off the school's difficulty in finding her 'perfect book,' she finished the last book of the Harry Potter series a few days ago.  She has now moved on to some of Gail Carson Levine's books.

I am in awe of her desire and ability to read.

Principal's office

She gets in the car on Thursday and I, as usual, ask how her day was.

"I went to the principal's office twice."

Turns out, this is horrifying to hear.  Even when it's rather unceremoniously announced.  It wasn't a big deal to her.  I didn't think it could be for something bad.  At the same time, she wasn't exactly volunteering information.

"...uh...for what?"
"For reading"
"...uh...What were you reading?"
"My perfect book"

At this point, it clicked a little bit.  The teacher had said something about them getting their 'perfect book' this week.  Something that they don't totally understand, but understand most of and can learn from.  They were having her read to find her perfect book.  Apparently this involves the teacher and the principal listening to her read and asking her questions.  I guess it's a nice way to get them comfortable with the principal and take the negative connotation I have out of the principal's office.

She is the only one in her class that she's aware of that had to go twice.  Apparently the first time she understood all of the books they gave her.  The second time, they found one that she didn't completely comprehend.

She wasn't very willing to talk about it (nothing new), but I got bits of information out of her by just continuing to talk about it as we discussed other things.  Chrys wonders if she finally got bored with it.  It doesn't sound like she did.  She is proud that they finally stumped her.  I am *very* curious to see what that means.

Texas policy was that they couldn't test them beyond a maximum for their grade level so I have truly had no idea what level she actually understands.  She has maybe 50 pages to go in book 7 of Harry Potter at this point so it's not that she has trouble reading things.*  She can explain things in the movies based on data from the books when Chrys asks her questions so she seems to grasp most of what she's reading.  Nevertheless, it will be nice to have a better understanding of where we should be pointing her.

*Even if her pronunciation of some of the words is wrong, she understands what they mean.  The best example was 'conjure' which she understood to mean creates, but she pronounced 'con - jhoor'.  It's been impressive to see her progress.

On another brother

We had our 'big' ultrasound for Thing 3 on Wednesday.  It's a boy.  There were many tears shed by the girl that has wanted a sister for 5 long years.

Thursday morning, she walks in and throws herself down on my bed.

R: "Mommy, what happened to all of the girl sperm?"
M: "I have no idea, sweetie.  No idea."
R: "Why couldn't they get the directions right?  Why didn't they beat the boy sperm?  Are they lost somewhere inside your body?"  (The stream of related questions was seemingly endless.)
M: "I don't know, sweetie.  Nobody knows what makes some sperm get to the egg better than other sperm."

She keeps going with the questions until I advise her to take it up with her daddy.  Then she walked away, defeated and sighing.  Poor kid.  Too much knowledge of human reproduction can be a bad thing...

On safety and television

Ryanne was up making her bed this morning.  Corin wanted to turn on the fan.  We discussed how it wasn't safe right now because she was sitting up.  She listed quite a few things that could get hurt by the fan with her sitting there.  I added a few more.

Corin then asked if we could do it when she was laying down.  I said no because she didn't always lay perfectly flat and we didn't want her to accidentally sit up and get hurt.  She said wiggled down to the end of the bed and looked over the rail out her door, "Yeah, and sometimes I get distracted by Chuck."

Looking at the angle...that requires some impressive acrobatics.

Slow down, little one

Ryanne decided she wanted egg salad for breakfast today.  I told her there were four hard boiled eggs in the fridge.  She got them out, peeled them, sliced them (with the egg slicer) and then came to ask for help getting spices.  I put salt and dill in it because she still has some trouble controlling the flow of those and I didn't want to have to throw it out because it was too salty.  She grabbed a spoon and the mayo and put some in the bowl.  She didn't want to stir it up so I got to do that.

Now, she's happily eating her creation.  One of her major comfort foods.  It took me a while to realize that it was a comfort food for her.  I guess all of those Fridays eating it in Japan really stuck.

I'm still not sure I'm ready for her to be that self-sufficient, though.

On coffee

In her best whiny voice: "Why do kids never get to drink coffee? Why is it only for adults?"

"Ryanne, honestly, I drink decaf. If you want to try it, you may."

"Uh...maybe tomorrow."

Yeah, that's what I thought.


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Rally to Save Texas Schools

This morning, Ryanne asked me what we were doing today.  I have avoided talking to her about the budget cuts because, unlike Austin, we're not facing closures in Round Rock ISD so it doesn't seem as severe.  Instead, I would have to name names and tell her that teachers she has grown to love the past two years will likely not be at the school next year.  We've had wonderful teachers for her.  New teachers.  First teachers to go when layoffs come.

This morning, I laid it out for her.  Talked about the budget crisis.  Talked about how Round Rock wasn't going to close schools, but that they were going to reduce staff.  I listed a few possible names.  She cried.  I cried.  I told her that as sad as it was, crying over things that aren't guaranteed doesn't help anything.  Then she asked what we could do about it and I bawled like a baby.

I am so, so proud of my girl today.  I told her that we could tell our government that we didn't like the decisions they were making by going to the rally.  She asked if she could make a sign and I told her to bring her paper and markers to her brother's soccer practice.  She did.  She made a sign that said, "Save the schools by giving them money! Give money, money, money!"  She drew coins on it and labeled them with values.  This is what's they've been talking about at school so it was an interesting transition to the real world application.

At the rally, we bumped into some of the Wells Branch teachers and walked with them.  She was able to explain to one of them why we were there.  The teacher understood Ryanne's analysis and commented on how it was making her tear up that Ryanne really got it.  Now I'm crying again.

My kid knows that her teachers are at risk.  My kid was yelling as loud as she could to "Save Our Schools" and "Save My Teachers" with 11,000 other people.  My kid was sad and angry and wants to fix it.

It was an amazing day.  And heartbreaking.  And then more amazing.  That girl of mine is going to do spectacular things.  She has a heart so big and the brains to back it.  I wish these lessons didn't come with such a high emotional price tag, though.

She asked if the rally was good enough that the government would find the money for the schools.  The hardest words I said all day were, "I hope so."  I really hope the Texas Legislature is listening.

On syrup

Today we ventured to the original pancake house (GF pancakes for the win!) for breakfast. Ryanne ordered pancakes and bacon. She wanted syrup. I poured it on.

"The bacon is soiled."

I was confused. Then she pointed to the pool of syrup touching the bacon. I excitedly dipped mine in and declared that I loved bacon soiled with syrup.

She grudgingly tried it.

She demanded more syrup.


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Sibling brutality

From Chrys:
"We were playing Star Wars...and I had the light saber"

And that's when she hit him in the face with the snow shovel.

There was some blood. Dr. Aunt MK says it's not broken. Still looks a little sore.



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Award winner

Tonight, Ryanne received a council level award for the PTA's Reflections competition. She entered for photography. She is the only one from the school to get an award at the Council level.



Her photograph is titled "Together We Can Play".


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