My Soon-to-Be Second-Grader

It has been a little over a month since the last day of school. I am a little embarrassed that I have not gotten around to editing and creating a scrapbook page with these photos. I said the summer was going to be my time to catch up… and … well… it has been slow. My 11 month old is super clingy and will not let me out of his sight. Most times he wants me to hold him, no matter what I am doing. While he is attempting to take up my attention, I am steadily watching my little ladybug.

She is quite the little 7 year old. During their last week of school, her class got a chance to sit with the second grade class and ask them questions about the upcoming school year. My daughter had 3 questions listed on her paper: (1) Do you go to gym? (She LOVES to exercise.) (2) Do you have 2 recesses? (As long as they are caught up on work for the day and on good behavior, her class usually went to recess twice.) (3) Is Math harder in 2nd grade that in first? (Math seems to make her nervous.)

All of the answers were ‘yes.’ She told me she was very excited about going to 2nd grade but also very nervous because she would meet new kids. For the most part, she will have the same group of kids in her class and most she has met through recess or gym or a field trip. Hopefully it will not be as bad as she thinks. She always says she is shy when meeting people. Each of her teachers and the recess and lunchroom staff always say how nice and polite she is and how she follows directions. One lady made told me that Aida talks to her every time she sees her. She may just get the jitters like her mama about meeting new people. She handles it much better than I.

Another thing she has been so good at lately: being a big sister. I thought the “he’s so cute and I just love him so much“ phase would have worn off by now. It has not. Aida has such a gentle and caring sense about her. I sometimes wonder if she is really my child. If he is crying, she always tries to console him. One night she told me I was letting my baby suffer because he was sitting on the bed crying. Not much mama can do if he is fighting sleep. I told her how she was at bed time (crying and rolling around on the bed, anything to fight sleep). I am sure she did not believe me but it was true. She hated bedtime. Brayden just stays up past his sleepy point from time to time and cannot handle it. 

As we made our way to Georgia last week to visit my sister and her crew, I realized something. My little ladybug is not so little anymore. I mean, she is little… small… but she has gotten taller. Sitting in her booster in the car, her feet are just a few inches from the floor. I know she kept saying I was moving my seat back to much when I was trying to hand things to Brayden, but I had no idea. WHEN DID MY BABY GET SO TALL? I know some of her old pants were too short but .. geez… I am not very tall (maybe 5’1″) so she has to be getting the height from her dad. Even if she gets to be taller than me, she will always be my little ladybug.