-Talk of kindergarten is frequent. Lots of questions--about friends, about teachers, about location. Big questions. Matt dropped the bomb on our little evangelist last week and informed Jillian that she is going to public school, which means that the teacher will not talk about Jesus as she teaches. This did not go over well (her response started with her typical, "Whoa Dad."), and Jillian clearly had no clue that this wasn't the case in every single school. I have to admit that it made me waver on our decision a bit. But, Jillian was relieved to know that SHE could talk about Jesus to anyone she would like. This might be an interesting transition for her. Friday is a big day, as she will be dropped off at 'the big school' for a half day kindergarten assessment and tour. I got a lump in my throat when I read the letter. Big stuff for our big girl.
-Friendships are important. She has a special friendship with Ella, and then of course there is Jonah, to whom she believes she is engaged (I could write novels about her questions and proclamations about love). When she and Ella are together and other kids are involved, I have to do lots of coaching about including everyone, not leaving people out, etc, as they are like two grown up BFFs who act like they haven't seen each other in ages, even though they are together every day at school. It is so precious and it breaks my heart at the same time--simply because they will not be at the same school next year, and then Ella's family will move away for good next summer.
-Reading is on the radar. Jillian can read some BOB books, knows a bunch of sight words, and is good at sounding out those she doesn't know. She is impatient (like both her parents, unfortunately) and gets frustrated if she doesn't get right immediately. She is awesome at using the context clues of pictures to tell the story and guess words.
-She is desperate for chores. Yes, that's right. She is desperate for me to get her official chore chart made. I have had the supplies for months. But, we are working on some very basic daily responsibilities such as clearing the table after meals, putting placemats/napkins out, putting her laundry away, helping Adrienne get dressed, and cleaning her room. I was mortified to learn that Jillian thinks the cleaning lady is responsible for cleaning her room--so, I remedied that by asking her to no longer attend to Jillian's room at all, and wouldn't you know it, Jillian does in fact know how to make her bed and vacuum her room. A couple weeks ago I asked her to put all the shoes in the garage into the cubbies (because the garage entry and mudroom are high on Daddy's list of things that make him feel relaxed when he comes home) and then gave her the shop vac to vacuum the indoor/outdoor rug by the garage steps. She was delighted and proclaimed, "Now these are the kind of chores I am talking about!" I'm hoping to build some momentum off this current excitement.
-Discipline topics center around disrespectfulness. The current biggest issue at this stage seems to be back-talking and general disrespectful comments, mostly toward me, though she doesn't seem to censor that much for Matt either. I hear shouting, exclamations of "You did this to me on purpose!", "How could you do this to me?" whenever I start to reprimand or discipline her. She is a door slammer of impressive skill, and by my estimation will soon no longer have a bedroom door to slam because I am going to remove it. She is always one step ahead of me and fights for the last word. Every. Single. Time. The day after her official half- birthday she was sent to her room for awhile because of some disrespectfulness and aggression toward Adrienne, mostly in response to me reinforcing some limits on safe play in the house. When I went upstairs to discuss the incident (after I heard the door slamming, yelling, and screaming die down) I gently talked to her about the rules and asked her a couple of questions about her behavior. Her response was classic Jillian--fast and smart, with smooth delivery and reason. "Well, Mom, you see I have only been 5 1/2 for like NONE days. And it's really hard to be 5 1/2, and I just don't know exactly how to act now that I'm 5 1/2. I'm learning, Mom". Do you see why I am in trouble? Big, big trouble. Love you, Jillian.
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| Um. Who is this grown-up looking girl? |
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