School Days

I am fortunate enough to spend a lot of time at Kaia and Gabby's school.  Between drop offs, pickups, art docent, helping in classrooms on Wednesdays, and helping with parties, I get plenty of opportunities to catch a glimpse of the classroom, and recess dynamic that each of my daughters are a part of.  

Kaia is independent and is usually sought out by her peers.  She does't tend to play all the typical school yard games, but usually makes up her own or just reads and chats with whoever happens to follow her around.  She dabbles in the jungle gym play structure from time to time, although it doesn't thrill her.  She has her favorite friends in the class; all of which are "good students", "nice", or "funny";(most of which are asian or indian. Kaia respects a quiet listener with good study habits).  She doesn't have an acute awareness as to what is "cool", trendy, or popular.  We do our best to brainwash her with anti-Hannah Montana propaganda.(She'll tell you that she is a skanky girl who sings bad music-yes!)  These days, Kaia really likes a girl named Sam (short for Samantha), Marcus, Chloe, and Jason.  She spends a lot of hang time with Michael Gaumond and Hannah Bennet, being that I chat with their moms at drop off and pick up.  They are great kids.  Kaia is a hardworking student with a desire to follow rules and please her teacher.  Her only flaw is that she can zone out, get tired, and daydream.  She is a HUGE doodler; she scribbles the most creative drawings on her worksheets!

Gabby is a very energetic and enthusiastic student.  She loves to dive into that kindergarten classroom and get to work.  She has more highs and lows than Kaia.  She is usually a very charming, and positive over-achiever.  About 10% of the time, she falls off the wagon, and crashes.  She can get very grouchy, arbitrary and discouraged. She has gotten disciplined a few times this year, for not following a concrete direction, pushing a kid that ticked her off, ect.  Luckily, both of her teachers are second children themselves.  They LOVE her.  When she gets moody...they smother her with love, hugs and encouragement (as opposed to making it a power struggle).  They think she is so funny, and creative, and, ofcourse big sister Kaia paved the road for her, by charming the teachers herself, in past years.  They love her outfits, her accsessories( like her colored church keys on her belt loop), her boisterous stories, and how she ties her own shoes and ties her own pony tail!  Mrs. Riley told me, the other day, that Gabby would end up being my easiest child, because she will insist on going her own way, and therefor, she will know herself so well.  She will fight her own battles and not let anyone take advantage of her.