Medals Can Do Amazing Things

The past few days have been busy, full of end-of-year programs.  Thursday was Shelby's awards ceremony in her class.  Not gonna lie- this year has been a struggle for me, as it was for several of the other parents in her class.  Their teacher was known for being the hardest in 2nd grade.  It was very hard as parents to bite our tongues.  It was especially hard for me in the beginning of the year when I was worried about Shelby adjusting to a new school.  I am very proud of Shelby and her positive attitude during the entire time.  She easily made friends and persevered through the tough subjects.  She got All A Honor Roll for the entire year, perfect attendance, the Art Achievement award, and the Gummy Bear Award- for always being sweet to others.

Shelby and Ms. Sipriano

 

Then on Friday we had Joey's class performance of "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and then her awards.  It was soooo cute.  Joey froze up a little in front of everyone.  She sang all the words but didn't want to do all of the motions.  She got her pre-k certificate, the award for "Stellar Storyteller", and she also got perfect attendance.  At Joey's school they got medals for perfect attendance.  She was SO excited to get a medal.   She brought it home and was shining it with a baby wipe.  Later she saw something on tv and asked Jeremy if she could have it and said, "And don't say no.  I'm the attendance girl.  I've got a medal."  More on this later.

Joey and Ms. Lynch

Joey and Ms. Bankston

(I had to double click the video to open it to full screen to get it to play correctly.)

Later that afternoon, Jeremy took Shelby and Joey swimming while I worked and Lucy napped.  They were there for a good three hours before Lucy and I made it over to join them.  When I got in the pool with Joey I asked if she wanted to try swimming without her floaties.  (Much like Shelby was at 5 yrs old, Joey has been deathly afraid of taking off her floaties, even if I am holding her.  With them on, she's a fish, all over the place.  But she won't take them off.)  She looked at me like I was crazy and I said, "Remember?  You won a medal.  That means you are brave and courageous."  She looked at me and said, "OK!", then took her floaties off and proceeded to swim under water, without me holding her.  It was really quite comical how quickly it all happened.  That's all she needed- a medal!  Now we have to be super careful though.  She thinks because she swam on her own for a little bit one afternoon that she can swim all over the pool without one of us standing there. 

On Saturday, Joey had her mini gymnastics meet, where she got another medal.  When you are five years old, there is nothing better than getting a medal...except for getting another medal the very next day.

I tell you what, those medals have done some amazing things.  On the way home from church today she asked if they could ride bikes after lunch.  I told her we'd have to see and she said, "Good! Cause I want to take the training wheels off my bike."  Well, we didn't ride bikes today, but it's definitely on the agenda this week!