The McAvey Family Blog: June 2015

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Reaping rewards

Piper is on a new behavior reward system at home. It's based on earning rocks in her jar of water (we offered her marbles, we're not horrible parents - using rocks was her choice) when she displays the positive behaviors we want to see from her. When she reaches 10 rocks she can choose from one list of prizes, and if she waits until she earns 12 she can choose from a premium list of prizes. She's actually shown an amazing tolerance for delayed gratification and has twice now waited until she reached the premium list level.

The first reward she chose was to watch a tv show downstairs on the movietron with popcorn (on a school night!). This time around she picked going for ice cream with the parent of her choice. Much to my surprise she chose me and I was very honored to get to take her. (Especially since she told me today that she hates me.) (I told her that's okay, I'm the mom and sometimes you're supposed to hate me because my highest priority is your well being, not your momentary happiness. Since your highest priority is your momentary happiness, we're destined to be at odds on occasion - it's the law of nature really and I'm fine absorbing the anger.)

Piper decided on a bubblegum cone. She told me she'd never had a cone before. I guess that's true. I had mint chocolate chip. Then Piper also had (my) mint chocolate chip. We had fun - it's not often we have the luxury of hanging out alone together with no other agenda or task looming over us and no one else around who requires my attention. She told me about how excited she is for her field trip to the movies tomorrow. She said it's going to be her best day ever.

Piper thoroughly enjoyed Kaleidoscoops. It was a very fun reward for both of us.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Big kid bike!

Happy 5 Piper Mac! As your favorite t-shirt says, you are in fact 'made of awesome'. Keep it comin'!

Dear Piper: Take 5

What can we say about year four? So many things!!! Holy cow you exploded this year! We are amazed at the extraordinarily funny, clever, creative, sharp and very loving girl that you are.

Your fourth year began with a move to the Sharks - no more Dolphin room for you! You had two wonderful teachers to start - Mrs. Shauntae and Miss Stephanie. You shared a special bond with both of them. The Sharks was a great room for you - you learned a ton and made so many close friends. (As it turns out, about 20 of them ended up coming to your birthday party!)

What did you learn this year? Well, you learned to read and right now you can read just about anything. Well, maybe not anything... but a lot. We pretty much expect that if you need to read something, you can do it on your own. We're not sure how you learned to read - we think you're self taught. You just started doing it one day, and before long you were reading my emails over my shoulder :)

Your writing improved (you learned your last name and your address) and you started doing math problems. After Mrs. Shauntae and Miss Stephanie left, you got Miss Alexis and Miss Kathy for teachers. They loved you too. And you loved them. Miss Kathy had a parrot. She would bring it in sometimes. Miss Alexis thought you were just the funniest thing. You are. When you started reading to the other kids for story time, Lita decided it was time for you to head to the Polar Bears a few months early. (Actually, she decided that when you read the computer screen over Miss Alexis's shoulder about the 'magic' leprechaun and almost ruined the secret St. Patrick's Day game for everyone - you stinker!)

After you moved to the Polar Bears, you maintained a sort of celebrity status with the Sharks. As we'd walk Teagan back to the Butterfly room, the Sharks would see me carrying her and know you were with me and start shouting "It's Piper! Piper! Hey Piper!". After we dropped off Teagan, on the way back to the Polar Bear room I'd pick you up when we passed the Shark half wall and you'd wave like a queen waving to her loyal subjects, to more shouts of "Piper! It's Piper!!! Piper, over here!".

You've done well in the Polar Bears, and you have a best friend (a 'bestie' as you like to call it) - her name is Grace. You two are very sweet together. You take spelling tests weekly and always score 100%, and do some simple double digit math problems with ease. You know the oceans and the presidents, and one of your favorite new toys is your set of presidential flashcards with pictures on the front and fun facts on the back.

You like princesses and Barbies and Strawberry Shortcake. We're a little sad that you no longer like Thomas the Train, or assign us train names every day. But, you have to grow up and we know that. This year we watched the whole Magic Schoolbus series, and that was so much fun! You love to learn about the world and watch Miss Frizzle's class go on crazy adventures. Dad even got you the Magic Schoolbus monthly science kits, and you do experiments together each month when the kits arrive in the mail.

At four years old (just shy of five), you saw your first movie - Cinderella. You liked the movie well enough. You loved the candy and popcorn. I think you enjoyed the whole experience of it all. You also started going on field trip with TenderTime, and got to go on the bus! You did Sunday school again this year and had your favorite teacher, Mrs. Rachel and her assitant, Miss Katrina. Christopher is still at church and we hang out with his family after every Mass at donuts.

This summer you just finished Vacation Bible School (VBS), and boy did you have a blast! You were a little scared to go to something new by yourself, but man you were bold and brave! It didn't take more than a few minutes for you to warm up and it was a highlight of your summer so far! Grandma bought you the CD and you know all the words and have memorized the dance moves to all the songs.

What else can I say about four? You made up a fantastic word for pout/grumpy/sad- you call it 'mimp'. As in, when we tell you that you can't have ice cream, you 'mimp'. Sometimes you say, with a hurrumph, "mimp!" just so we know that you're doing it :) But we can usually tell. It's the perfect sound for what it describes. Great addition to your lexicon.

You're turning into a wonderful big sister to Teagan. You look out for her interests (they're often aligned with your own, but still) and are an advocate for her, especially when you're around other kids. You call her your 'little cutie!" and she definitely looks up to you. You help her do things and have shown her the ropes for everywhere we go and everything we do. You two are adorable together. I think you truly enjoy having a sidekick.

You still see your old friend Brady sometimes, and the Harrer kids, and you enjoy hanging out with our new neighbor John Michael. You're very social and not shy at all! You've even started going to birthday parties on your own, and you don't hang back a bit. I love to watch how comfortable you are around strangers.

So I guess that's four. You're funny, a spitfire, and fantastically bright and eager. You're amazing, and we couldn't be more proud of you than we are. We're so excited to see what five has to bring! We're sure it will be a wonderful adventure for us all.

We hold you so dearly in our hearts, and are thankful for you every day.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Piper's swim lessons

Piper started her swim lessons today - on her birthday! - at Foss. She did awesome! They're pretty aggressive there (they dunked her head under water) (in a safe, nurturing and fully acceptable way given that we're a) paying a lot of money and b) want to see Piper learn to swim and be independent in the water). She was a trooper, and her teacher said she had some great beginning strokes on her belly :) Go Piper! She was pretty proud of herself after class.