Allison’s Summer School Adventures
Allison wrapped up her two weeks of summer school last Friday. I was very thankful that these two weeks were relatively uneventful, with the exception of a couple teary goodbyes the first week and a bathroom incident the second week.
As Allison’s teacher observed, “she seems fine when you drop her off…” ๐ After talking with her, Allison told me somberly, “I’m not going to cry,” and she didn’t.
What did she do? Lots of practical life works, some stencil drawing, letter writing, and sensorial. Allison was determined one morning to “write her letters” and exclaimed to her teachers, “I know my letters.” She came home that afternoon with her name on paper and was very proud.
One day, she told my mom a reassuring story. Apparently, my mom asked about the other kids. This prompted Allison to tell her how one boy in the classroom wasn’t very nice – and had been a bit physical with her in the playground. But, the teacher told him, “You need to be careful with Allison. She’s very little.” (Yes – she was the smallest kid in the class.)
Eating her snack pre-pickup with the other kids was a very big deal. Everyday I would pack Allison several snacks, like fruit, crackers and a bar, and water bottle. She dutifully put it in her locker and would pull it out before pickup. At pickup, I would find her sitting with her snacks carefully arranged in front of her on her placement. When I would ask her to pack up, Allison took great care to put everything back in her lunch bag and clean up.
After her last morning of school, Katherine and I picked up Allison who was sitting on the grass eating lunch with the other kids. The teacher said, “Goodbye Allison; we’ll see you in September!” at which point all the other kids chimed in with “Bye Allison!!” It’s good to know that she made friends this summer and had a good experience.
Katherine and the “Redmond 545”
What did Katherine do while Allison was in summer school? She became acquainted with all the places that the Redmond 545 bus would take her with Patty. For a whopping $2.50 each way (for Patty), they rode to the Pacific Science Center one day. Another day after Katherine asked Patty to take her on the bus, they visited the Arboretum. Apparently, the bus driver was very nice to Katherine on the return trip from Seattle, even letting her sit in the driver’s seat while they waited for the passengers to arrive and board the bus.
Allison was a bit bent out of shape to miss the adventure. But, Patty reassured her that they would try the bus someday and have an adventure too.
The Company Picnic
Every year, we head out to the Company Picnic to check out the rides and entertainment. And, like every year, there were ups and downs for the kids.
They loved the popcorn, the lemonade and ice cream. The bouncers that they did ride were fun, and we watched a very exciting motorcycle show.
The biggest bummer: Allison was about 2″ too short for almost all the kid rides. She couldn’t ride the Ferris wheel, almost all the bouncers…just about everything she wanted to do and probably could have easily done. The helpers told her to go to the toddler section, which was really too young for her. So, after walking Allison around 6 rides, comparing her to the height bar, and realizing she was too short, we headed home. :<
“Wollipops”
One of the biggest attractions for getting their haircuts is the post-cut lollipop bin. Given their long manes, haircuts were long overdue. I took Katherine last week while Allison was in summer school. This caused a ruckus, especially when Katherine painstakingly described her lollipop to Allison. Well, turnabout was fair play a couple of days ago. Katherine and I took Allison to get her hair trimmed up (looks very cute now). Allison got the lollipop and sucked it all the way home – which drove Katherine just nuts.
Storm Game
Thanks to some friends, we attended the Storm game last night. Before the game, the kids and I went to Dick’s for the first time. Despite eating their entire burgers, the kids were hopping up and down for popcorn, pretzels, dibs and thunder sticks once we got inside. Allison was sooo excited to wave hers around, with Katherine and I ducking whenever the sticks would pass by. Oh yes…We also watched the game, which the Storm won. ๐
