Thankyou

I got this note after:
- I got a shock when I saw Ella had left the mice cage wide open and spilled mice food all over her bedroom floor
- I told her that I was too dissapointed in her to even talk to her and ignored her until she cleaned up the mess without prompting
- I acknowledged that she'd made up for her mistake
- I helped her with the spelling of most of the words

-

After she gave me her "card", she told me that I should keep it just in case we would ever leave eachother after all.

Kindergarten Semester 2 report

I am so very pleased with Ella's report. Not the "academic" stuff, though I am very glad to hear she is above the expected range in all areas of literacy. She's only average for maths apparently, so maybe I did just imagine that she is good with numbers.

But the things that please me most are her being described as a "courteous listener", that she follows instructions carefully, shows empathy and helps others and - probably my favourite - participates enthusiastically and confidently in a variety of activities.

There were some less positive things in there which were all about how she deals/dealt with conflict with friends ("she often requires teacher assistance to resolve social issues in the playground") and being bossy ("she is reminded to allow others to assist in the decision making process"). The first one will hopefully not be an issue anymore next year when she is in a class with different kids (and a different teacher).
The bossiness... only child, what else can I say. Hopefully she'll grow out of it one day.

But apart from those little issues, I felt very proud indeed when I read the report. And some of the things that were mentioned are so "Ella". Like "She has demonstrated an extensive general knowledge and regularly shares information with the class, especially concerning animals".

Grumpy toys

It was way past Ella's bedtime and she was still getting ready.

Ella [sad]: Mum, I put Whitie* in the bush outside, and now he's not there. (*Whitie is a stuffed white tiger toy)
Me - You must have taken him out and put him somewhere else. Think! Noone would've stolen him from the bush.
Ella - Because he looks so grumpy?
Me - No, because there are no people bad enough here to steal a child's toy from their front yard.

She looked so terribly sad at the prospect of going to bed without Whitie, that I decided to forget about the whole learning through consequences thing and offer my help. But not for free.

Me - I'll tell you what, I bet you that I can find him in 5 minutes or less. How much?
Ella - How much do you want?
Me - Well, I always prefer if you do something for me instead of give me something. So what will you do for me if I find Whitie in less than 5 minutes?
Ella - Help you make dinner for a whole week.
Me - I think that's a bit much. Make it one day.
Ella - No, a whole week.
Me - One day.
Ella - A week.
Me - If you're going to help me make dinner for a whole week, I'll have to find him in 1 minute! If it takes me 5 minutes, you'll help me with dinner tomorrow. Deal?
Ella - Deal!

By then she was laughing through her tears and I send her off to bed while I got up to start the search. I think it took me 30 seconds to walk from the bedroom to the kitchen where the first thing I saw on the messy kitchen table was Whitie. Looking grumpy.

 

Weirdo

We had Tai, the neighbour's girl, over for a play today. They were busy blowing bubbles outside while I was cutting the hedge and commenting loudly on my handiwork.

Tai - Ella, is your mum weird?
Ella [very hesitantly] - Er... no.
Me - But of course I'm weird! I've always been weird. Mots of my friends are weird. In fact, I think that if you're not weird, you're probably boring. Don't you agree?
Tai and Ella - Um... yeah.

Silliness

I was saying goodbye to Ella in front of a friend at school and as usual, she requested a 'lift-up cuddle'.

Then she said to the friend:

Ella - Mum can't lift me up properly because her back...
Me - Because you're so fat!
Ella - No, mum can't lift me up because her back...
Me - Because you're as fat as an elephant!
Ella - No, because her back...
Me - You're as fat as an elephant and way too heavy for anyone to lift up!
Ella - ... because her back is sore.

Oh how I love childish humour!

Fluffy

We had the usual argument about how many soft toys Ella could take when we were packing for her weekend at the coast. I told her to just take her 4 smallish favourites. But then she came back in with a larger teddy and asked:

Ella - Can I take this one too?

Me - No, he won't fit. He can stay here to keep me company.

Ella hugged the teddy tightly, her lip started quivering and she just managed to say in a very dramatic voice:

Ella - But, but, he's so flu-uffy!" [starts to cry loudly on the last word]

You probably had to be there but it had me in stitches. And the more I laughed, the more she cried, the more it made me laugh, the more it made her cry. I can't even explain why I found it so funny, but now hours later every time I even think the word 'fluffy' I still chuckle.

At least she didn't get angry with me this time. But she wouldn't show a sad face when I took a picture of her and the teddy for the blog because "she didn't want anyone else to laugh at her".

PS: "Fluffy" went to the coast.

Scratchie*

Not sure if I've mentioned it here before, but Ella has had a bit of a rough time at school finding the balance between being loyal towards her friends and letting them walk all over her. I tried my best to give her the skills to stand up for herself and make better choices when it comes to whom she hangs out with, but after she came home almost every day in term 3 telling me her best friends had been mean to her all day, I'd pretty much given up on this year.

But something changed in term 4. And it turns out it was a new game called 'Scratchie'. I'm still not very clear on the rules or the aim of Scratchie. But there are a few things I most definitely like about it.

I know it's girls against boys. But for a change it's the girls chasing the boys who apparently are happy to run away. Which may not be that surprising when you know that the girls try to scratch the boys. I probably should cut Ella's nails more often. Or not...

Apparently Ella's team has been approached by boys who want to be promoted from scratchees to scratchers. But I'm not sure if the girls have agreed to sharing their role of power in the game with the other sex as yet.

A very welcome and unexpected result of the game is that the friend Ella clashed most with - but has been unable to tear herself away from for 3 terms - does not like the game. And so the friendship triangle that has somewhat spoiled the school experience for so long has finally been broken. And everyone seems to be ok about it.

I also like that it's an active game, as Ella has appeared to be a bit reluctant to play running games for reasons that are not always clear to me.

And it is a team-game, which is always good. They have code names, have secret meetings and work out strategies together.

But the best thing is what Ella told me today about playing the game:

Ella - When you get hurt your mind goes "Quick, quick! I don't want to be sad today!" and then it sends it to your body. Because we can do that.

Meaning that it's regarded as very uncool to get upset over getting hurt and she's finally realising the power of mind over body. Which I happen to think is very cool.

So I am a Scratchie supporter all the way.

* I couldn't decide whether to call this post 'Girl power' instead. But now I've said it: Girl power!