Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | May 18, 2015

Today was Sam’s preschool graduation. I can’t believe it came so fast. I swear, in those last few weeks, it seemed like we just had Christmas vacation, and now she is done. I can’t believe there is going to be no more St. Matt’s! It was so great for our family being right around the corner. We loved being able to walk to and from school and just the closeness to home in case of emergency (and we had a few of those – but only a few, thankfully). Sam loved it there, which is the most important thing. But, we all have to move on, and it is Sam’s time to graduate, this time for real. Last year’s graduation ceremony made me proud of her for all she had accomplished in her first year at school, but this year, she truly graduates and moves on.

We all assembled in the church, anxiously awaiting her arrival down the aisle and then, there she was!

My little graduate. 🙂

She walked proudly down the aisle, feeling very sure of herself. She knew it was a big day.

All the kids sang us a bunch of songs before the actual graduation ceremony.

Then, it was quickly time for diplomas. When Mrs. Maylie called her name, I couldn’t have felt happier for her. I cheered as loud as I could!

After the ceremony, we all went outside for some pictures.

Sam was so happy everyone came. It means a lot to her that we recognize her events, and we always try to show her how important we all think they are.

Flowers for the pretty graduate! Orange, with glitter. Could they be more perfect?

We couldn’t leave without getting a picture of Sam with her best buddy, Ava.

Mrs. Hayes and Mrs. Dunbar happily posed with two of their best students.

Sam, we are all so proud of you. I still remember your first day at St. Matt’s, you were so scared. So afraid of being away from home, of making friends, and of knowing what to do. You sailed through your two years with flying colors! You learned so much, made friends, and got so independent, that many days, you were so busy talking to your friends at drop off, that when it came time to ascend the stairs to your classroom, you didn’t even look back for a goodbye. We are all so happy for you, and loved watching you grow from such a little preschooler to such a big girl. Mommy will miss these days. You are off to Kindergarten, and that will go so quickly, then you will be in school all day, full time. What will I do without our days together? We love you, Samantha, our little Kindergarten girl.

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pamelamyers | May 7, 2015

Sam’s school art show was last night. Just like last year, she was super excited for us to come and see everything she made. I only had one clue this year as to a project, because they completed it at home – a cave person. Last year, none of the projects were done at home, so it was fun being able to help her out this year.

Ready to go inside and see the masterpieces!

Our first stop was Sam’s classroom. She couldn’t wait to show us what she made, and also just to show us around the room. Hanging from the ceiling was her snake! There are a lot of animals this year, sort of a jungle theme, I think.

Her monkey. Ooh ooh, aah aah!

The artiste in her gallery! She wore an old scarf of mine, and her daddy’s suggestion, so that she looked chic, like a true artist.

This is her frog. She picked out his jewels all by herself.

I think this was very creative. The school asked the parents to bring in paper towel and toilet paper rolls for an art show project. You just never know what they are going to make.  Binoculars is a great idea. I am glad Sam got a tiger. She loves tigers.

After we finished in her classroom, we went downstairs to the main area where most of the other exhibits were. The other theme for her class, aside from the jungle one, appeared to be prehistoric times. Here is her dinosaur!

And her favorite art piece, a fossil. She talked about this one for a while after she made it. Eeek! Spider!

Last year all the students made these little “mini me’s” too. I like Sam’s a lot. I am not so sure I like her “All About Me” though. She said she wants to be a princess when she grows up and that she likes to watch TV with her dad. Aspirations of princess-hood and TV watching. Where did we go wrong!?

Here is her cave person. We went to Michael’s to buy the felt for the dress and the bone in her hair was a tribute to Pebbles Flintstone. It was Sam’s idea to add the feather bracelets and necklace, the earrings, the cool tape pockets, and her purse. I think she did a great job drawing the face and designing her person.

The cave person wall was one of my favorite exhibits. All the kids had such different ideas! Our last art show at preschool, and it was a smashing success! We are so proud of our little artist.

The funniest moment came after the art show. We were outside just letting Sam run around a bit before bed when our township commissioner,Ed Kelly, came by. I had seen him at the art show (his daughter is in the same school) and we were chatting. He was doing some door knocking as the primary was coming up and he is running for election. Mark and Sam eventually came over and we explained to her that he was the commissioner. A few minutes later, she was whispering something to Mark and Mark laughed and told Ed that Sam wanted to know if he knew Batman. He is the Commissioner, after all!

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pamelamyers | February 25, 2015

I haven’t said much about how Sam has been doing in school since the beginning of the year, but she is doing great! The beginning of this year was a little tough. Even though she loves school, it was difficult for her this year having to make all new friends again. Sam is so introverted that it makes reaching out to other kids a scary experience for her. She does have her friends, Ashlee and Ava, and after a while, she finally started wanting to stay to run around after school in the little courtyard like she used to last year. I was so glad she wanted to do that. She even is making friends with some of the boys in her class which is shocking. Last year she had no use for the boys, and aside from Franny and Michael, I don’t think she even could have told me any of their names. This year, she knows all her friends names and talks quite frequently about the boys she sits with at her table and the boys who sit next to her in circle. She knows what they like and don’t like (if I hear about Nicholas and his love of dinosaurs one more time…yikes) and even made a birthday card for one of the boys who sits next to her in circle that we mailed to his house. She was invited to Ashlee’s birthday party this year and was so excited to go. All the girls in her class were there and they were so excited to see each other. It is so sweet.

She is really learning her letters and her numbers and has even started working on “sight words” which is a foreign concept to me. We didn’t learn to read that way when I was a kid, not that I recall, but it seems all kids start out this way in preschool and kindergarten, learning words that they don’t even sound out, but just “know” on sight. Words like and, the, me, for, etc. Whatever works I guess. Sam didn’t seem too interested in the concept at first, but now she definitely is into it. She is always finding sight words everywhere we look, in her books, on tv, printed on all kinds of signs and packages.  She has also started sounding out words like cat  and cow and other easy three letter words. She can spell a few too, like mom, dad, and her favorite and first real word she learned to spell — stop.

We had her parent teacher conference and her teacher said she was doing very well, is coming out of her shell, but sometimes seems a little reluctant to work on her papers in class. Her teacher said she knows that Sam knows the concepts, she just has to be pushed to either do her papers, or to do them with thought, and to not rush through them and thus make mistakes. I was concerned about this at first, but after talking to her, realized it is not that she doesn’t know the things she needs to know but rather, that she is bored with papers. Mark realized early on (and I much later) that Sam is definitely a hands on kind of learner. She does better with examples, with “doing” rather that being shown. Writing things on worksheets is not necessarily the way for her to learn concepts. So…I am trying to find other ways to help her grasp things and it seems to be working. Mark always says the best way to teach Sam something is to not let her realize you are trying to teach her, and he is right.

At any rate, school will be over before you know it and Sam will be off to kindergarten. She is all registered as of this week!

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pamelamyers | January 16, 2015

Sam’s friend from school Ava came over today after school for a playdate. While her mom and I were chatting, Sam and Ava suddenly decided to show us a game they were playing at school. It was hard to figure out what they were talking about, but we got the gist that they were learning some words. Later that night, Sam said to me, “I can’t believe I know two sight words!” They learned “and” and “the” at school. Sight words are not something I recall when I was in school, but I know it’s a big thing now in teaching. In kindergarten they get huge lists of them. Well, at any rate, I am glad Sam is showing an interest in learning words – I can’t wait for her to learn to read! Reading is such a joy for me, I just need it to be a joy for her too. Hopefully, it will come easy for her and she will soon be reading some basic books to me at night. She does like to “read” to me – she chooses books we read a lot and that she knows well and basically repeats the story to me. Sometimes, she can do a page almost word for word. She is very proud that she can “read” to me. Every once in a while I try to get her sound out words to me and I tell her if she doesn’t try, she won’t learn to read and she insists to me she can read. How to explain to her that, actually, no, she can’t, without bursting her proud bubble is a mystery to me.

She is trying though, and learning more and more each day. Our parent-teacher conference is coming up soon so I guess we’ll find out from her teacher, Mrs. Dunbar, how well she seems to understand the process. We should have the opportunity to discuss kindergarten readiness too – yikes!

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pamelamyers | September 9, 2014

Yesterday was Sam’s first day of school for the year. Her last year of preschool before kindergarten. It is hard to believe. Time has gone by so quickly. Mark and I got ready to walk her to school and it felt like just yesterday that she started school for the very first time. She looks so grown up now, she is such a big girl. And so very beautiful. Sam picked her outfit today (no surprise there) and I think she looks amazing.

We took a moment to take some photos together before leaving. She looks so happy and excited, but I know inside she was a little scared. She wasn’t going to know anyone in her class this year from last year, and Julia, her friend, moved on to kindergarten. Her old apprehension about meeting new people came right out.

I love her sassy little face in this one. Such a girl!

Eventually though, it was time to go and she and her Daddy marched off down the street.

Mrs. Dunbar and Mrs. Hayes had the classroom all set up for the new arrivals and Sam eagerly checked it out. She was happy to see not one, but two kitchens, and a lot of familiar toys like baby dolls and doll houses.

I was surprised when sneaking a peek at the class list, I did see one familiar name, a boy she had in class last year. Not that it matters though. Sam will have nothing to do with the boys! She told me the other day that she doesn’t like boys, only Daddy and Franny! Hmmm…I guess she hasn’t forgotten about Franny’s marriage proposal. There were only about 3 other kids in her class last year not old enough for kindergarten and they stayed in the afternoon class. But it is what it is – Sam will make new friends. I am not worried about it. Who wouldn’t want to be her friend? She is the best.

When we got home, Sam couldn’t wait to decorate her new tote bag. She already had the patches picked out that she wanted to use this year. I think her bag looks fantastic. She placed everything just so, in a logical place, and even her drawing on the bag is very specific. She drew a pond and a lily pad for the duck and the frog, and a tree with branches holding nests for the birds. She drew a sun and placed Cinderella at the bottom to look up at the flying owls. It is so different than last year’s bag (which she still loves) in it organization. Her drawing has really changed in a year.

I am so proud of Sam. I say it all the time, not only here, but also, more importantly, to her. This is her last year of what I consider babydom, even though she isn’t really a baby anymore. She’s not, obviously, but somehow, being in preschool, I can hang on to it a little bit. I feel like once she starts kindergarten she is on a new road. One that quickly leads to “real” school, and growing up so darn fast. And I am very, very proud of everything she has done to get to this point. She has changed and grown and learned so much. When I look at her little face I can’t fathom how she managed to change so much from my baby to the big girl she is now. I swing between wanting her to stay Mommy’s little baby to wanting her to grow up and be independent minute by minute. That’s how it feels anyway. Most of the time I lean toward the growing up part. Move forward, Sammy. Keep moving. No matter what, I’ll always be right behind you, ready to support you, no matter how fast you go.

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