The Hannen Family

The girls were at a swim lesson the other day.  It was the last of a session so their coach was handing them certificates documenting the goals they had met.  Kaitrinn’s was covered with a list about how she was starting to swim on her own, was now going into the deep end, and could put her face under water (FINALLY!!!).  Shealyn’s was a bit more ’simple’ to put it tactfully.  It was a list of things like kicking harder and faster, “swimming” at the steps, and having fun.  Well Shealyn was beaming ear to ear and she proudly ran off with her certificate in hand.  Kaitrinn watched her leave, turned to the coach, and stated, “My goals may be harder and there are more of them, but that doesn’t mean they are any better than hers.”  Damn right kid!  I just blinked and asked the coach for confirmation of what I thought I had heard.  Lol… Looks like we’ve taught her well.

Okay.. so today was Kaitrinn’s first day of school. We just spent the past hour talking about her day and calling family to tell them about the new First-Grader. I then got an email from a friend to tell us Kaitrinn is in the news! Excuse me? Lol… Check out the link

Edit on July 11- There is a second picture of her here.  It’s #8 in the slideshow.  Silly Girl!

Okay so I finally convinced Kaitrinn to write in the journal Da made her for Christmas…. She had originally ’saved’ it because she already was writing in a journal daily at school. Why have two? I slipped it into her art supply stash the other day and was happy to see her tackle it. So what did she write? “I’m exsided that I’m going to ferst grade! It’s going to be fun.” Now why am I not surprised that this is what is on her mind? Lol… returning to school is all she talks about right now.

Kaitrinn informed me the other day that she is ‘done with Kindergarten.’ Apparently, she is bored and ready for First Grade. Silly girl! I told her to enjoy the last two weeks and First Grade will be waiting for her when it’s time. She has really done very well all year at school. She performs at above grade level in all areas and is quite the little bookworm! We have a hard time keeping up with her at times… keeping her challenged. A bored Kaitrinn is not a pretty sight! Lol

Kaitrinn and I spent time at Urgent Care yesterday. She started complaining about her ear hurting her again and I about lost it. She has had more ear infections in the last 6 months than in the previous 5+ yrs! The Dr. said her ears were actually clear but he suspected Strep Throat instead. Gee…. I would have rather it been another ear infection!! Argh… the culture test confirmed strep and we headed off to get an antibiotic.

Apparently, Gavin is the safest in the house at the moment as it doesn’t really infect children under 2. I wasn’t aware of that but if the Dr. and the nurse line at my peds agree, who am I to argue I guess. Now we just get to keep a close eye on Shealyn as well because she is likely to get it soon. That will really throw her Diabetes for a loop so I’m hoping we can avoid it!

Kaitrinn had a hard time understanding how ‘throat germs’ could make her ears hurt so that of course led to a science lesson at the pharmacy as to how it’s all connected. Lol

“I noticed at lunch that my tooth was bleeding and wiggly, so I went to mama [after school] and showed her. Mama tried to take it out, but couldn’t grab it, so daddy tried and IT WORKED!!!”

“Here I am! It was bleeding just a little, but it didn’t hurt.”

Louie and I recently went to a parent-teacher conference at Kaitrinn’s school. We knew she was advanced in several areas, but didn’t quite expect the results we were given. Lol! She’s actually reading at a 2nd grade level, but is currently rated at a level that puts her near the end of First Grade. She devours chapter books. She doesn’t like to ‘retell’ the story or explain the author’s message etc, so she will remain at a lower level until she is more comfortable with it. When asked, she explains that she gets nervous because the teacher is taking notes and writing down what she says. Oh Lord… is that all? Get over it and show what you know girl! =) When we explained that the faster she improves on that, the faster she will be given more challenging books, she was on board!

She is performing above grade level in Writing and Math as well. The teacher said she has no concerns- academically, socially, or emotionally. Sounds like a good report card to me! Kaitrinn is excited about heading into First Grade soon and we’re thankful her teacher continues to find ways to challenge her. Kaitrinn would be the type to cause problems as soon as ‘bored’ and we don’t want her to lose her love for learning.

Yahoo! So did you all hear the big ‘Yes!’ I yelled from the mailbox a bit ago? The track assignment letter finally arrived from Kaitrinn’s school. Her school is switching to the year-round schedule for the coming year.

Basically, the students go for 9 weeks and then get 3 weeks off. We had our fingers crossed in hopes of Track 1 and that is what we were assigned. She will basically get September, December, and March (as well as June for summer) off each year as long as we stay with this school. She starts school July 9th.

It was just nice to get something that went our way lately! Lol… The calendar can be viewed here.

So am I a bad mother if I bribe Kaitrinn with going to a birthday party so we don’t have to take her 45 minutes away to a ‘parade clinic’ this Saturday for her new dance class? Lol… She started a HipHop dance class a few weeks ago and has really enjoyed it. Apparently, some of the members are going to join in for the St. Patrick’s Day parade in a few weeks. We would have to order a t-shirt and pay for the clinic in order to march along. I showed her the calendar and explained that we also had a party we had been invited to and that I would honor whatever her choice was.

After further discussion with her, it became obvious that the sole reason she wanted to do the parade was to get the medal the coach said everyone would receive. Well that’s easy enough to fix! I pulled out our welcome papers and showed her the paragraph about the Dance Showcase in May where everyone gets a trophy for participation. A trophy trumps a medal any day in her book!