Registered and Reading: The Madison Update

Madison is definitely growing up. This past week, I got her all registered for kindergarten, and she will start August 16. She is SO excited. I'm going to my first PTO meeting on Wednesday night, and she's thrilled she gets to go and see the school (ice cream social for all the families). We drive by the elementary school everyday here on post. It's across the street from her preschool, and it's the "Big Kid School" she's dreamed about for a long time. She wants to start on her birthday, but I told her they are out of school for summer vacation then. She already knows the name of her new teacher, as they have been talking about it at preschool. I hope her enthusiasm continues.

Madison is also doing really well reading. Her skills in that area have just exploded. We have worked through a book called, "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and have both enjoyed it. We haven't done every single lesson, but it's been a nice tool to use. I might be a teacher, but I don't claim to know how to teach a kid phonics. That combined with the great instruction she is getting from her preschool teacher, Ms. Carol, she's doing really well. One of her favorite things to do is just ask random word questions such as, "Mom, book is spelled b-o-o-k." She sounds out the letters and asks about each one as she goes. She loves to figure out how words work. I love seeing her joy of learning.

Telling time is coming along really well too. She knows 3:00 for sure :) because it is snack time! Seriously, she loves, loves, loves to figure stuff out, and I think she's going to really enjoy school. My how my sweet girl is growing!

On the t-ball front, she's doing well too. Her biggest hurdle right now is figuring out if she wants to both bat and throw right or left-handed. She clearly writes left-handed. We have been working with the coaches (some of our friends here) to figure out which hand she uses better. We definitely all agree she bats better left-handed, but she can do it right-handed, so maybe she'll be a switch hitter eventually. She seems to throw better right-handed, but she wants to throw left-handed, which is fine...like anything, she just needs practice. Good thing we have both right and left-handed gloves.

Madison was thrilled with my big purchase of the day. As the kids and I shopped at Target (after the 8:30 AM t-ball game), we came across a display of clearance kids' cleats. Lucky for us, most were pink and black stripe in color. And the bargain shopper in me found them to be 75% off, ringing up at $4.97. They are really nice cleats, fit well, and were stocked in several sizes. Let's just say Size 12 wasn't my only purchase seeing as she's going to start soccer in the winter here. I "sort of" cleaned them out in sizes 12-4 :) and, I was a good Samaritan and called my neighbor, Elizabeth, who also stopped in (from the same t-ball game) and bought some too :)