A hiccup..

It;s called ‘Pneumonia’ and is very debilitating, especially for a young child. Kylee had three weeks of it, time away from school, and it has left her a little behind in what her class has been doing.

She will catch up of course, being a smart child with an unwillingness to come in second to anybody, but it is going to require some hard work on her part and an insistence on ours that it is done.

She calls her illness ‘ammonia’, and yes, pneumonia is every bit as distasteful as ammonia.

Sometimes, her expectations bring her down. An example: She recently started skating with a view to being a figure skater, and her expectation was that she would soon be on TV performing a ‘double Salko’ and a ‘triple Lutz’.

It’s a difficult situation because, on the one hand it is good to encourage her to do things, but on the other hand it is easy to put a child off doing something because it is going to take years of practice. For somebody who likes instant success, it is even more difficult. So I will say this.. 

Kylee, you can do it, but it may not be tomorrow..

It’s back to school..

.. Grade 2 no less. Kylee was a bit upset about going back, I understand, maybe misgivings about not liking the new class teacher, but after the first day, it was all smiles and I don’t doubt that she is well on her way to becoming teacher’s pet.

Apparently, there was no learning of anything, just talking about different things. I would imagine that the new teacher is quickly trying to remember names and make an initial assessment of each child.

Kylee thinks that the new teacher is ‘awesome’, btw.

Grade 1 is over..

.. and guess who received a glowing report? All a’s and b’s again. Kylee also received a certificate, and incidentally the only one given in her class, commemorating her ability to speak French in class almost all of the time.

Each child also received an album containing photos throughout the year showing a variety of class activities, and Kylee’s teacher, Mme. Nolan wrote that she would miss her ‘little ray of sunshine’, something that she has been to her Granny and myself since she was born. The funny part was that she had no idea what a little ray of sunshine was, but assumed that it was a positive thing.

I note that she also did well in the ‘skipping endurance’ part of physical activities. They say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but this old dog managed to teach Kylee the trick of how to skip with a rope enough that she could manage over 50 continuous skips when she put her mind to it.

Yes, I am still as biased as ever but what grand-parent wouldn’t be.

Grade 2 will start September of this year, and if Kylee continues to improve at the rate she did through Grade 1, her next report might be all a’s, a far cry from my school reports, I can tell you..

A new pin..

.. a second pin has been set up because the old pin is full. Full of what? Diamonds of course, and after the seventh diamond is attached to the pin, you get to take it home and a new pin is started. Now do you see what I mean?

You get a diamond for being good, actually exceptionally good, a role model no less. After Kylee got her first ‘Bravo’, she had already won double the awards I ever got at school and she is not even out of Grade One yet.

Getting to take your pin home is no easy achievement but I would imagine that Kylee makes it look easy.

Another success..

Guess who doesn’t need trainer wheels on her bicycle anymore? It doesn’t take much guesswork, and if you answered ‘Kylee’, you would be right of course, but there are no prizes for a right answer.

Kylee’s achievements to date show how far a person can go with kindness and a determination to succeed, and it will be interesting to see the grand total for the entire year. There are only five and a half months to go to her next birthday celebration and a lot can happen in that time, and I expect that it will..

One hundred days into Grade One..

.. and Kylee’s interim school report is glowing, all A’s and B’s. But wait, there is a problem!

Kylee is pleased to have A’s and B’s, but other kids in the class got C’s and D’s, and Kylee doesn’t have any of them. Zut alors!!

She is a competitive girl and does not like to lose out, even on low marks apparently. It was explained to her that C’s and D’s were not so good, and the tears that had started to appear dried up rapidly.

Destination Disney..

As I write this, Kylee is in Florida for her yearly visit to Disney, beaches and warm weather. The family first drive to Detroit and stay over in a hotel because the flight south leaves criminally early in the morning. For Kylee, this part of the journey is almost as exciting as Florida. If it were me at that age, I would be asking when we were going to be on a beach, not looking forward to a night in Detroit.

Swimmingly good..

On the ‘learning to swim’ front, Kylee is getting set to swim Lake Ontario, well not quite that yet, but certainly the ‘deep’ end of the pool at the ‘Boys and Girls Club here in London. The only problem is that the deep end is separated off from the shallow end by a solid divider, and it is considerably colder on the other side.

Even with tears in her eyes, and swimming against the current made by the circulatory pumps, she made it from one side to the other, a truly supreme effort.

Gymnastics..

Kylee likes it but she lacks a ‘quality’ that all gymnasts have.. fearlessness. Whether swinging from bars, hanging from rings or ‘flic-flac’ floor exercises, gymnasts put a lot of faith into the landing, and Kylee doesn’t have what it takes to do that. A ‘flaw’ perhaps as far as gymnastics goes, but her fear works for her in everyday life. Safe, soft landings is her bag, and quite honestly, I think that is a good thing.

She recognizes that she is not quite the gymnast that some in here peer group are, but she enjoys the exercise and that is what counts.. 

Well, that rounds up this entry..

Now we are ‘Six’..

Kylee had a special birthday party two days before her official date. It was held at home and was a properly organised ‘princess’ party headed by a professional Cinderella.

Cinders made her an ‘official’ princess as part of the closing ceremony, and Kylee’s face was priceless. To be honoured in such a way was more than she expected, especially as she thought that Cinderella would be way too busy attending balls to even show up for her birthday party.

The birthday cake was special too, having been made by Aunt Mel (it was good, Mel. I would have eaten more of it but had to leave some for everybody else) and in Kylee’s favourite colours, pink and white.

In attendance were classmates and friends she has had since being able to sit up without the assistance of a Jolly Jumper. It was three hours of less raucous fun that I expected. Surprisingly, there was not as much screaming as one might associate with 17 little girls and one boy chasing each other around the garden.

Being ‘six’ brings other joys of course. Grade One school involves more learning than play, and she has the task of learning 32 new words, ‘en Francais s’il vous plait, je crois’. I will do my best to help out even though my memory of French is limited to mainly grammar and having to cast my mind back a ‘long’ way into the past.

Other than that, Kylee is adapting to being older very well.

Today, she gets to see her new car booster seat. It is one of these.. see the photo?

OK, well its time to get ready to greet her from school. Until the next time..

Grade One..

Thirteen days from now, Kylee will be 6 years old, and is now in Grade One school.

She was worried about a couple of things prior to moving up and out of Senior Kindergarten

1. With having school Monday through Friday in Grade One instead of every other day as per JK and SK, what would she do in the event that she became tired?
2. Would it mean that she would be too old to love her favourite stuffed bear, Rainbows?

Needless to say, she is coping admirably with the ‘stresses’ of 5 day per week school, as she will cope admirably with the extra weight of ‘homework’ beginning tomorrow. Don’t worry.. she will not be expected to write 10,000 word dissertations just yet. It will be all simple stuff.

‘Bravo’ badges are becoming the norm too, and if you knew her as we do, you would understand why we are not surprised, pleased for her of course that she gets recognition for being one in a million, but not surprised that she does.

On a slightly sadder note, we as grandparents don’t get to see her anything like as much as we did. We are down to picking her up from school on occasion and the odd baby sitting stint into early evening.

Yes, she is missed.

This October sees her start back at ‘Kidlets’, a theatrical group for aspiring actors and actresses, where she can really play out her skill for comedic timing and ‘drama’. If she doesn’t end up doing something on stage in later life, I will be shocked and may ‘turn over’ a few times in silent protest.

On the computer front, she now knows how to reset a wireless connection on a PC having watched me do it just once. Scary stuff, eh..

It is her birthday very soon, and so I will break from this blog temporarily while I consider what to buy her for a birthday present.

SK comes to an end..

The report: All good, including being kind, taking leadership, participating in everything, trying really hard to be the best that she can.

Oh, she does part of it in French too..

I would like to say that I have been a large part of what she is and can do, but the truth is that she was born that way, and I have learned more watching her grow up than I have ever taught her.

So, the start of the next year is not far off, and it is Grade One all of the way. The culture shock is that Grade One is school every week day, not every other day. It will be interesting to see what she can lean in a full week because she has astounded at times with what she has picked up part-time.

I asked Kylee what she thought about going up to Grade One and her response was tearful. She was scared that as she got older, she wouldn’t love Rainbows, her favourite bear, or be able to do all of the things that she does now. Strange how kids think, eh. We told her that life is not quite like that, so now her only misgiving about Grade One is the possibility of getting a bossy teacher.

Kylee has also been learning to swim and is at Level One, having completed the test which included doing a width of the pool unassisted. If she would stop talking, she would be able to swim more, but she likes to discuss her progress with the coach, entering into fairly lengthy discussions re her weak and strong points. The strongest point is that as with everything that she does, maximum effort is always applied.

Go, Kylee go..

The transition from JK..

Junior Kindergarten at Kylee’s first school was all play, and this is how it should be. Unfortunately, we all have to grow, not just in height and weight, but also into responsibilities, and one of the responsibilities of school as we pass through the stages is to learn.

Senior Kindergarten has come as a bit of a shock. Apart from playing, there is now a definite element of learning involved, and not just in the English language. Of course, when shocked, we all tend to recoil somewhat, and Kylee has done this too.

While she was generally more than happy to go to school, the move to French Immersion has not quite gone the way that she had imagined. Her teacher is a little more ‘fierce’ than the predecessor, but I suspect that much of it has to do with a class population some three times larger.

As I pass the school buses in the school parking lot, the noise being generated from within gives me an inkling of what Kylee’s teacher is up against when trying to control a bunch of five year olds.

Needless to say, Kylee is making progress and pretty much always gets a ‘bravo’, the French for awesome, from her teacher.

I can’t say that I was in agreement with Kylee attending French Immersion because none of her family are even close to being able to converse in French beyond ‘hello, how are you’, and the best way to be conversant in French or any other language is to be able to converse on a regular basis.

However, I am really hoping that Kylee stays at the present school, not because I want her to suffer, and not because I want her to learn French. She has to learn, just as we all did, that we don’t always get what we want, and that success which comes despite the odds is a very valuable lesson indeed.

So, other than teething issues, Kylee is doing well.

Bravo..

Almost 5..

But not quite yet. Another four months to go.

The year has been interesting and Kylee has continued to charm. She refers to herself as a ‘four’ and uses the term in the context of ‘Fours can do that’.

One of the things that ‘fours’ can do is pick up a book, open it and not use the story as written. She looks at the pictures and then uses her imagination to create a new story. The great thing about using her imagination in this way is that one book never becomes a bore because the story changes every time.

While we as adults may see this as a get-out from reading proper, it shows a great ability to adapt and overcome. Full marks for that.

What else do Fours get up to during the day? Apparently, accidents are all part of a Four’s day, aren’t they Papa.

Kylee is by no means the nimblest child on her feet, and it is normal practice to pick up a small injury during the course of the day. She is not the bravest child when it comes to climbing frames, and is often shown up by kids younger and smaller than herself, but that is no bad thing. The alarming part is that she can fall while jogging along. Excitement gets the better of her and she does not look in the direction that she should be looking.

Now for a major triumph.

On a recent weekend trip to the family cottage, Kylee was introduced to the art of fishing. Set up with a kiddie fishing rod, her Mom placed a worm on the hook and Kylee dangled the line over the edge of the boat jetty. Her Uncles, Mom and other Grandfather, all big into fishing, baited up and cast their own lines.

So who caught the big one? The biggest fish ever caught by any member of the family? Expressing concern that she had caught something and would need help, her Uncle Darryl took on the job. The fish was so big that it broke Kylee’s rod, but Darryl fought with what was left of it and finally a four foot fish was landed.

Kylee really did catch one <……… this big………..>. Never underestimate a ‘Four’.

School for the coming year will be ‘French Immersion’, and we are all hoping that she does well. She is a very smart kid when she applies herself, and being bi-lingual, even in an eminently English part of Canada will help her get work later in life, especially in government jobs.

The only downside is that nobody else in the family knows much more than ‘Merci Beaucoup’ and I doubt that they could even spell it. As with any language, if you don’t get to hear it much, it will be forgotten. It always helps if one or both parents are Francophone and neither are. Oh well.. 

Her first trophy..

Kylee has for the last year been a member of a local hockey team. She is the youngest and smallest of all of the players. The team received trophies for the 2011-2012 season, and today she brought it with her such that she could surprize us all. A magical moment..

Almost as magical as watching her skate, stick in hand, falling occasionally but always getting back up on her skates and ‘shaking it off’. She is so small that she can’t manage the step between the ice and the bench, and if she does try it, there is the inevitable fall. Fortunately, the coach or trainer lifts her out onto the ice most of the time.

I would like to think that I would have had the courage to go out on the ice, but I don’t think that I could have done it. Kylee’s mum is an exceptional player, and Kylee thought that she too would be exceptional from day one. It has at times being very frustrating for Kylee to accept that it is harder than it looks, but she still perseveres. The trophy will spur her on to her second  season later this year.

On the general front..

Kylee does well at school, is liked by many and thoroughly enjoys the experience. She can count to 100, and can spell and recognise a lot of words.

She is still progressing on her computer too, even teaching her 3 year old cousin how to do it.

Having learned about ‘earth day’ at school, she instructed me on which lights I should turn off and which would be ok to be left on.

Her demeanour is quite unlike any child I have ever come across. She is a star, a ray of sunshine, casting light and smiles wherever she goes. Words do not do her justice. Now she is a star with a trophy to prove it.

Kylee goes to school..

Just Junior Kindergarten for now (three days, two days over two weeks), the age when school is fun and one makes new friends daily. She is growing up quickly now, and it will not be long before peer influence starts to show.

For sure, I will miss seeing her on a daily basis throughout the week, but we all have to learn to learn, not just academics but how to co-exist and work as an individual and as a team.

I can honestly say that I am amazed at how quickly kids pick up on what we do. I am sure that I was never as aware of my surroundings.

This is Kylee shopping in the local mall’s Dollar store. See how she examines products before depositing them into the basket. There was a time when she would see cookies, and just drop them in. Now she studies each pack. This photo was not posed and she was not aware that my cellphone had photo ability, by the way.

At  little under four years of age, I don’t remember ever doing this. Maybe I wasn’t allowed to pick stuff, or I just wasn’t interested enough. I do know that Kylee was putting the same amount of care into product selection as she does with everything else, which is why I think that she is so remarkable.

She has an old head on her at times, but equally displays the fun and exuberance one would expect from somebody so young.

And yes, we bought everything that she put in her basket.. and no, she didn’t buy the whole store, just a few carefully selected items..