End of Year Update

Where do we begin?...

Let's start with school. Originally Sophia was suppose to repeat preschool because she wouldn't be able to start kindergarten in the fall of 2016 due to her birthday being in October (Michigan passed a law requiring students to already be 5 prior to starting kindergarten) but when we found out that we could sign a waiver and have her tested to see if she can start kindergarten in the fall of 2016, we decided to have her move up to preK this school year.  That was definitely the right decision because at a recent parent/teacher conference, Mrs. Holt said she is doing great in school even though she's the youngest in the class.  Mrs. Holt said she helps other kids zip/button up their coats, she's really good at following directions and she's always one of the first to finish her work. Mrs. Holt even has to prepare extra stations for her and a couple other students because they finish all the regular stations so quickly.  The classroom assistant also mentioned that Sophia's so good at putting puzzles together that when it's time to clean up, she always asks Sophia to help with the puzzles because its so much quicker when she helps.  Here are some pictures from school - first one is from their classroom halloween celebration, second one is a more recent picture of her in her school uniform, followed by one from a class field trip to the apple orchard (can she be any sassier with her pose?), and the last one is of her at her "best friend's" (Stella) birthday party.

Sophia loves her arts and crafts.  Our family room coffee table has become her arts and crafts table.  I think she's there at least once a day working on her masterpieces.  She's drawing, cutting, glueing, taping, coloring, writing, and creating all types of artwork and gets mad when she finds any of her stuff in the recycling box.  With attitude, she'll say "Hmmph!  WHY did you recycle my picture?!"  Here are a few pieces of her artwork:

I'm not sure when this conversation took place, but Sophia has a very sensitive side in her.  She was working on another one of her masterpieces when I asked her to do something (can't remember what exactly) but she responded with much attitude "Why do I ALWAYS have to do something for you?!  You NEVER do anything for me!"  I was a bit angry with how she responded to my request and probably reacted a little harsher than I should have but I basically told her that I do everything for her (cook, clean, drive them to school, give them showers, buy them clothes, help them with homework, etc etc) and that she should not respond like that to me or daddy or anyone in our family because that is disrespectful.  She ended up leaving and going up into her room.  After about 10 minutes, she was still up in her room so I went upstairs to check on her.  I apologized for being mean but explained to her that what she said really hurt my feelings because I do a lot for her and that she was being really selfish with her attitude.  I had to explain to her what being selfish meant and at the end of our conversation, she started to cry - keep in mind, I was very calm and not angry when I had this conversation with her.  I asked her why she was crying and she sobbingly said "I feel bad that I hurt your feelings."  I was extremely surprised that she was so cognizant of the fact that she hurt my feelings!...and felt terrible that she felt bad for it.

Earlier in the month, we went to Genesis House with our church to spread some Christmas cheer with the women and children at this shelter.  We were sitting next to a mother and her two children - a boy who was a little more than 1 year old and a little girl that was in second grade.  I brought some of Sophia's coloring activity books and markers with us because I knew she would be able to sit through all the songs and sharing and praying time.  Sophia was nice enough to share her stuff with the little girl that we were sitting next to.  At the end of the evening, I had suggested to Sophia that she should give her markers and Hello Kitty coloring book to the little girl because they don't have much living at the shelter.  I could tell she really didn't want to do it because Hello Kitty is her favorite but I explained to her that these kids don't have a lot of toys and that it would be very nice of her to give this to the little girl because it would make her so happy.  She took out the page that she had been coloring and asked me if it was okay for her to keep just that page and then proceeded to give the rest of the book and markers to the little girl.  I was so proud of her being so giving!

Because I'm not diligent enough to post more frequently, I could go on and on about this silly, sassy, smart and sensitive daughter of ours but instead, I will leave you with some videos and pictures (first one is our "Anna" from Halloween and the second one is her dressed up for her school Christmas concert).