My Tru-Tru

This post is mostly to document some of the feelings that Truett is experiencing right now. Pre-K is going through a lot of transitions, doing "harder" learning work, and getting the kids ready for kinder. This transition is tough for Truett, because a lot of the memorizing does not come naturally to him - it has also been a good reminder for me that I need to work with him (can't be a lazy mom), and help him learn/memorize his new material from school. He is also very sensitive and jsut going through emotional growing pains so there is the added factor of that. This is also making me find ways to help him help himself cope, and hopefully get to a point where this transition isn't very rough. He's an awesome dude and all the text below was from an email I sent another mom. Long version: So after we talked at karate I talked to Truett that evening at home. I asked him, “are you really sad about karate and swimming or is there something else going on at school that is different?” I am sure there is always a little anxiety/nerves before his karate or swimming class but nothing to the point of how he had been behaving…I think that was just a result of bottling up emotions/anxiety all day at school over the past few weeks (tonight will be the truth – he has swimming). Anyway, He opened up and told me school was “boring” (code word in his language for something hard or something he doesn’t want to do), because he said all they do is “count to 50” and “count by 5’s” –later I found out they were having the kids do these skills in front of the class and I think Truett was embarrassed he couldn’t do them all. L (I’m still not clear if kids were making fun of or just making comments or if he is just beating himself.) Then he also told me they “talk about kindergarten all the time” and I asked him if that makes him nervous/anxious…to which he said yes. I think the talking about kindergarten + the skills that he hadn’t mastered and had to do in front of the class really shook him up and probably caused him to be mentally distracted at KrK (and so not paying attention but sitting there quietly means a lot of that went unnoticed until it became so bad L) – and poor guy was bottling in all that anxiety. I talked to Ms. Kim and Ms. Linda Friday morning and they both told me they had noticed a change (basically a regression) in Truett over the past few weeks too which nearly broke my heart! I am SO thankful you and I had that conversation at karate or I may have never gotten to the bottom of it. I talked to friend who is a previous Pre-k, kinder, & second grade teacher and now an assistant principal. She had some great advice for me and the teachers, which I shared with them Friday afternoon (I can tell you more just didn’t want this to be a larger novel but let me know if you want more on that). It sounds like all 3 teachers are definitely on board which is always great…I know they are doing the best they can and this was truly an experience of “being my child’s advocate” so dang early on in his education. Ms. Michele told me yesterday that the 3 teachers talked about it and they are already making some changes that will hopefully help. I think all these kids just process things so differently so what affects one of course might not affect the other. I also took Truett to Scanlan Oaks on Friday to tour the school and to see kinder, so he can visualize it when they talk about it at school instead of having so much anxiety about this unknown-mystical-place called kindergarten. I am SO glad him and I did that…that for sure helped almost immediately. So, in a nutshell I think tonight at swim and Thursday at karate will really be a test to see if some of our new methods are helping him cope with the changes and still building his confidence for and at school. I just hate that he is so young and had to experience fear/shame/anxiety/embarrassment/etc L – there is such a short window of time when they actually want to and like to learn and I really don’t want this experience to block that window for him.

Pictures from my moms birthday.

Weekend Update

We had a fun but exhausting weekend. It is Monday and I am pooped!! I just want to veg out right now... Friday night was grandma's (my mom's) birthday and we celebrated at Los Tios with all the aunts and uncles and counsins. Truett and Mila even spent the night with all of them at grandma's house. What fun memories for all the kiddos!! Saturday we hosted a couple's baby shower at the house so we were busy with that all day and well into the evening. I was in bed with a sleepy Mimi by 7:30 PM. That felt glorious!! Sunday was another full day - church in the morning, HEB, haircut for Ted, birthday party for Mila, then a fun backyard party with friends. When we got home it was crunch time to make a few healthy options for the weekly lunches and dinner and then into bed we all went. Truett had a super awesome weekend and after spending the night at grandma's house he went to BB and Pappy's lake house over night. Doesn't get much better for him! Back to the grind on a Monday - at least we have no events planned tonight so we will all just take it easy - make in the front or back or it's too chilly nad the kids are too tired we will all jsut hang inside. Fine by me. :) Operation summertime workout schedule started this weekend too. I'm trying something new. After a year of focusing on running, then 2 months of doing Insanity and barely any running, I am going to merge the two and do 3 days of running with 3-4 days of Insanity. I'm hoping for some good results. Of course, also trying to stay mostly gluten-free and mostly sugar free. What that means is I eat GF foods to the best of my knowledge, and no sugary treats during the week, only on the weekends when I absolutely cannot help myself (you know, such as buttercream icing at the baby shower), white wine, and sneaking 2 cookies at the BBQ. :P

I'm blogging again!

That.is.it. I am going to start blogging again!! Not even sure where to start. Truett is 5 now and Mila Kaye is 3. Where has the time gone? We are SO busy! Truett is trying out karate, he plays soccer (Ted coaches), has done t-ball (not this season though), and is taking swimm lessons. Mila takes dance, gymnastics, and swim lessons. These kiddos are the best. Mila has always been clingy, whiney, and mommy's girl - that hasn't changed much. ;) BUT, she has also turned into a daddy's girl and her pet name for her daddy is Beast and she is his Belle. Precious! She is a very, very smart little girl and definitely acts and knows more than most her age, but on the same coin, she very much behaves like a 3 yr old. You know, epic tantrums, no reasoning, etc? Yeah, that. :) She is a beautiful, healthy, outgoing girl that also loves to sing, is very animated, and loves her little soul-mate boyfriend, Davis. She is VERY girly. It's adorable. Totally all on her own...she adores dress up, make up, tea party, playing house (being the mom or sister of course), anything "pretend", and of course pink and purple are her favorite colors! Truett is the biggest sweetheart you've ever met. He is very well-behaved at school, and at home he isn't so bad either. ;) He is learning to listen very well, follow directions, and starting to do chores at home and helps his sister a lot. He loves his ipad, playing with the neighbors Aidan and Trey, his buddy Garrison, and loves trucks, cars, sandbox, riding his bike (without training wheels!!), and art. He also plays pretend with Mila and they can be very goofy and silly and sweet, and then they can turn on each other just like brother and sister, I suppose. I am working hard to help them have a close, loving relationship instead of one that is saturated with a childhood of sibling fights. He is learning all kinds of things at school, such as abcs, sight words, how to read and say letter sounds to read, adding, subtracting, etc. He would make any mother proud and I am so lucky he's my little man. Something that has started, probably about a year ago, is he loves sleeping in our bed these days...I actually love it too but I realize he needs his own bed and we need our own space...I'll keep working on enforcing that. For a while I had been very good about having Friday nights as "family slumber party" for all 4 of us, but slowly Truett has made his way into our room a little more often. Stinker! Let's see...as a family update Ted and I are still both wokring full-time. Ted is still doing his video work and other side stuff as time allows, and I stay busy with my workout/running obsession (it's kind of morphed into "workout" with running being a piece of that instead of all-consuming). We have all been going to a church for a while now and everyone seems to love it. Mila and Truett are learning prayers and it's just about the sweetest thing ever. Last night Mila was praying and she started out, "Dear God, I am sorry I screamed at mommy." Then she looked at me and said, "Ok, now you say you're sorry for not being nice." LOL! OK, that's all I have time for now but I will try to report back more often. :)