Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | September 29, 2017

In Samantha’s school, the second graders do “star of the week.” Sam was super excited when she got home last Friday because she found out she was the very first star! I remember in Kindergarten they did star of the week and Samantha was almost the last kid. It was so hard for her to wait while everyone else got to have their turn. Not this year!

She was given a poster to complete and bring in on Monday. We had a lot going on that weekend prior because of her birthday, and she didn’t have a heck of a lot of time to work on it, so I helped her with some of the coloring. She filled in all the questions about herself. They may be a little hard to read, but no surprises here: her favorite color is orange, her favorite animal is a cat, her favorite food is french fries, her favorite book is No, No Kitten!, her favorite sport is none, her favorite thing to do in school is lunch, and her favorite thing to do at home is play with dolls.  My favorite section of the poster is where the kids are supposed to list three “super-cool facts” about themselves. Sam picked some good ones: I know electronics, I can build a robot, and I have 2 cats.

Her teacher asked the parents to write something about their child in the star binder. This is what I wrote:

All week Sam was allowed to bring in a show and tell item. She loved that. She mostly brought in toys (Boo Boo and Baby Ann were two that she just had to bring) but she also brought one of her electronics projects. Mark helped her practice the night before to make sure she remembered how to show the electronics project, and how to fix it if the wires came out. She told us the kids loved it!

The best part of the week though, was that she got to bring a “star guest.” On back to school night her teacher explained this to us and said that in the past parents have either talked about their jobs, read a book, and one time a student brought an older sibling or cousin or something who played college football to talk about what that was like. Sam wasn’t sure who she wanted to bring. I told her that I thought that Daddy would love to go to school with her because he was thinking they could demonstrate together how they built, programmed, and work one of the mBot robots. I told her that I would be happy to go in with her because she knows that I love to go to school, but I probably wouldn’t be very exciting, all I would likely do is read a book to her class. Sam loved the idea of Mark coming in and then sort of dismissed the idea of my going by saying, “Yeah, I mean, what are YOU going to do? Talk about your job or something?” (as she had a blech look on her face). The kids LOVED it! Mark told me the kids were freaking out they were so excited. There were a million questions, and they all were completely entranced. Sam worked the computer perfectly. Mark had a blast being in the classroom teaching again. He actually emailed Sam’s teacher and offered to come in again to do a lesson on Scratch programming and robotics sometime. Mrs. Smith thought it was a great idea and said she’d definitely be in touch. I really hope she does set it up. Not only did the kids love it, but it’s an important STEM lesson that they don’t get a lot of at this grade level. And Mark loved it, which is a treat for him. We’ll see…there may be more robots in this class’s future!

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pamelamyers | September 23, 2017

And….she’s 8! Oh, how the countdown to her birthday went on and on. I don’t know why being 8 is such a stupendous deal to Samantha, but it certainly is. We have been counting down the days for weeks and it’s finally here. My baby girl is 8.

Every day you amaze me with how beautiful you are, not only on the outside, but on the inside. You are one of the kindest, most compassionate, most lovable little girls I have ever met. You worry about everyone’s feelings, not only your family and friends, but other kids, strangers, animals, nature, and even the fairies.

We are so incredibly lucky to have you. You make us smile, you make us laugh, you make us think, and you sometimes make us scream, but through it all, we are totally enamored with you.

When Sam woke up in the morning, she was just about ready to burst at the seams. She wanted to open her gifts immediately, and I told her she had to wait for Daddy to wake up. Eventually, I caved and let her open her gift from Zach and Penny. She was so happy they gave her the Barbie Newborn Pups set she so desperately wanted. She commented to me that the cats always buy animal themed gifts. Of course!

As the day wound on with her family party still hours away, she couldn’t stand the suspense any longer. We let her open the few gifts we bought her. We didn’t get her a lot, since her big birthday gift was her new bike, but we had to give her something to open. She has been bugging me for some furniture for Barbie, and now she has a bedroom and a living room set.

Even though this is technically her family party (the kid party will come later), since she really wanted a pinata, we figured we needed to have a few more kids over besides her and Maddox. Of course, Ryder would be here too, but I don’t think he’d be much help knocking open a pinata! I invited her friend Lina from down the street (her mom and I have gotten to be pretty good friends) and her bestie Julia. Lina and Sam had fun hanging out (literally) before anyone else arrived.

After we all ate (pizza!), it was pinata time. Sam wanted a cat-themed party this year, so the pinata was a cat. I was half afraid she’d be upset about beating all over the cat, but thankfully, she didn’t say a word. Everyone took a turn and I love some of the pictures of their faces – they are working so hard at making a good swing!

When it finally smashed open, it was candy time!

On to the gifts. Sam couldn’t wait until after cake!

Pop Pop made her this orange pen, and got her a really cool vest.

Sam has been bugging us for ages for an American Girl doll, specifically, the Samantha doll. My mom bought it for her and she couldn’t have been more surprised, or more thrilled!

After all the gifts were opened, it was cake time. Sam asked me if she could have cat figures on her cake. I told her she could, and she asked me if she could have them on her family cake instead of her kid party cake. She is afraid everyone will try to steal them! I think she has enough kitties to make her happy, don’t you?

Samantha, Happy, Happy Birthday. You told me you had a wonderful day, and I am so glad. You deserve nothing but happiness, not only on your birthday, but every day. You bring us so much joy. We can’t wait to spend the next year with you, watching you grow, seeing all the amazing things that you accomplish. We couldn’t be prouder of you, or love you more.

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pamelamyers | September 22, 2017

I volunteered today for my first lunch helper gig at Scenic. I figured it would be a good day since it was the day before her birthday and it’s like an extra treat to see her mom. I was also curious to see how things are at her new school. Well, to preface things, at her old school, the helpers did a lot. We unpacked their lunch bags from the lunch cart and put them on their designated tables, helped the kids throw away trash (they don’t like the kids walking around a lot), took their lunch trays and put them on the appropriate counter so they could be washed, and then when the kids were done, wiped down the tables. All that besides the normal stuff like helping kids open things, and trying to keep them in place to eat. It was all pretty civilized. Well, as civilized as a bunch of first graders can be.

When I got to the cafeteria, the staff welcomed me and asked if I’d been there before, when I said no, I had only volunteered at the SLC, they told me that it’s very different, “the kids do everything.” Wow. What an experience! The kids definitely do everything, but that means they are constantly up and moving around throwing trash away, going to the snack line, talking…It was insanely loud and chaotic. I helped a couple kids get paper towels when the spilled their drinks, but other than that, I spent most of my time answering questions about whether they could go get a snack or go to the bathroom. The kids are left with wet paper towels on each table and they are expected to wipe the tables when lunch is over. They even have styrofoam trays so there is nothing to do there.

I am glad I went though. Sam was so happy to see me, and apparently so were a lot of her first grade friends. They were all waving hello and I even got a hug from Aidan, the little boy who liked Sam last year. 😉 Sam loves lunch at Scenic because they have better snacks. She already bought a chocolate chip cookie and a Dixie Cup. It’s funny, Sam thought Aidan was annoying last year and when I told her he hugged me and said, “He really liked you last year,” Sam said, “Hmmmm….I dunno, maybe someday I will go out with him.” OMG! Please. I can’t even. But seriously, if I wind up this kid’s mother in law someday, what a story that will be!

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pamelamyers | September 21, 2017

As I mentioned in my birthday post, Mark somehow hurt his back really badly. It was so bad, that we actually called an ambulance to take him to the ER. My mom stayed with her at home so that I didn’t have to drag her to the hospital. Thankfully, it turned out to be muscular, and not something with his discs or his spine. I took him to his primary care and he started physical therapy right away. He goes twice a week and has exercises he is supposed to do at home. Sam saw him and decided to help him by doing the exercises with him. She is so sweet.

The whole experience was very scary for Sam, even though she didn’t show it at the time. Boy, the next day, she really let her emotions go. She acted out so badly at bedtime (screaming, crying, hitting) that she wound up getting punished – two weeks with no screens of any kind. We do know that it was likely her fear making her act out, but still, you can’t let behavior like that go. It is understandable. Even though she knows Mark is fine, the last person who she saw leave in an ambulance was her Poppy, and he didn’t come home. And Mark was walking around with a cane when he got home in a way that was remarkably similar to how her Poppy walked around for the last year or so of his life. We did assure her that her Daddy is fine, and she knows that, but I think she had to let all that pent up fear out. She is definitely not like me in that way. Man, everyone knows how I feel, I don’t let anything stay in. Sam is not a screamer or a crier for the most part. She keeps everything inside until it explodes. I am trying to help her understand that when she has feelings she doesn’t know how to deal with, she has to tell someone. Hopefully, I got through to her. I want her to know she can come to us, that she doesn’t have to handle everything herself. It’s a hard age. She is trying to be grown up, yet she likes being my baby. I think she’s having trouble navigating those waters. All I can do is be here, and try to help. Hopefully, it’s enough.

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pamelamyers | September 19, 2017

As part of Sam’s Halloween costume (not telling what it is yet!) we want her to wear glasses. I stopped at Claire’s at got her a kid sized pair to wear and she is totally in love with them! She even wore them to school one day. It’s so funny, when I was her age, having to wear glasses was horrible! Now, all the kids want them, they even wear fake ones for fashion. Go figure. All I know is, if Sam does need glasses one day (and she likely will with Mark’s and my bad eyes), she looks adorable!

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