Wednesday, September 7, 2011

First Day, Second Day...

James is loving it.

He's coming home bubbling over with all that he is learning at the "Academy" with his friend Peyton.

It is a perfect fit.

The first day I didn't even try to do anything with Missy. She was not happy and regressing to baby behaviors including messing her pants... Funny how when you make it clear that she is tied pretty close to mom because of immature antics, she at first regresses further towards babyhood. This was her shell of protection in the past. Being a baby incapable of doing for herself was her way of seeking out attention and her protective covering to hide her insecurities in. I pretty much ignored her "stuff" and kept her out of the lime light yesterday.

This morning was a whole new idea!

She was up and at 'er early, bed made, dressed, showered, animals fed, etc... before ever I  greeted her. Christina was encouraging her along and braided her hair before breakfast. She and I had a nice time doing several different kindergarten activities and she was as pleasant and as cooperative as any could ever wish. She even learned!! Ha! Imagine....

I'm completely at peace that this is what the twins each needed. He needed some direct teaching in an environment away from his chaotic and competitive twin, and she needed the one-on-one devoid of the temptation to make attention getting  a competition and the whole point of existence . I'm so excited at the possibilities.

So, all my hard work this summer of trying to get everybody to breakfast at 8 am has paid off - in a way. Breakfast now has to be at 7! If Missy had not finally learned to show up at 8 we could never have even begun to work towards a 7 am breakfast. Eleven AM suites her fine, though Nine works for her.... but of course that doesn't work for anyone else, so she  had to be stretched, prodded, pulled and her attitude reworked.

So far, so good.