It all started the week before school started. We let her throw a back to school sleepover to solidify the friendships from middle school and remind each other of friendships and loyalties before they got separated in the New Tech Academy vs Regular School program.
Back to School Party:
Back to school shopping, momma may have went a TAD overboard.
That's just part of it. lol
The kids in the program she's in got macbooks this year instead of ipads and there were several meetings at school about the new program and construction that was going on fixing "their wing", a school within a school.
Since she no longer hangs out with K all the time after all the drama at the end of 2015, we suggested she not go all in on one person this time and that she should juggle so she's not taken advantage of again. She has a bestie that she loves as much as K, but she is inviting different friends based on the activities.
First activity of the year was a spoof of Beauty and the Beast at a dinner theater only an hour from here. It was hilarious and the girls loved it. She took "twin" to this one. We like twin. She's very low maintenance.
This was "the beast" and after beauty fell in love and the spell was off, not only did he turn into a really weird looking guy instead of a handsome prince, the castle turned into a doublewide.
It was very interactive too and the cast came into the audience several times and used people, including taking off my hubs hat looking for a perfect rose.
The girls got to have their photo taken with the cast after the show.
The following week, we took "wild child" friend to Cirque du Soleil. She's cute and funny, but really rambunctious and doesn't have very good manners. I know it's part of her lack of being able to do things, I know her parents don't have the finances available to take her places, so we overlooked it and tried to teach her a few things. She's not somebody I hope she'll take too many places, I like her in small doses. :) However, it is fun taking somebody somewhere they wouldn't normally get to go.
Her mom messaged me the next day and said "wild child" hadn't shut up about it and loved the show and hanging out with monkey butt.
The next week we took KL (can't think of a nickname for her that really works for this yet) to a rock concert--Make America Rock Again. We had front row seats and I've never seen a child so excited about going to a concert in my life. The girls had a great time. This friend is funny, polite and really enjoyed herself.
The following week we took KD (can't think of a name for her yet either) to see Carrie Underwood. Very outgoing and silly. Monkey butt said she loves her, but she's one that she can only take in small doses. I enjoyed her at kiddos birthday party and I think she reminds me alot of kiddo, except that she totally forgot to even say thank you. I could tell she appreciate it though, so it was forgiven.
That was girls night. Hubs can NOT do country music. Major trigger for his childhood trauma so I suggested I take them alone. The girls had a ball and were all squeals.
What was funny was "twin" aka this years (and probably long term) BFF ended up going to. Her mom ended up getting tickets for her birthday and used the other ticket on BFF, so they got to see each other, although we had much better seats.
She enrolled in a parenting class this year and she had to keep a robot baby over the weekend and respond to it's needs. Her grade will be based on how well she tended to babies needs and how she responded.
She said that baby was annoying and not to worry, that made her realize she definitely will be waiting a LONG time before she has real babies. She "apologized" for waking up during the night as an infant. She actually really enjoyed tending to her during the day, but she doesn't do well with her sleep getting interrupted so that got on her nerves bad.
Last week, the tech academy finally opened their wing and kiddo and her classmates moved from the auditorium to their wing. They had an open house and it was amazing. I wish they'd had a program like that when I was in school and facilities like that. I wanted to bring the chairs home with me.
Not only do they sit at tables with a group of kids instead of individual desks, they also have rolling chairs with a saucer on the bottom for storage. I spun around in it and it's more comfy than my chair at home or work and I thought I had a nice chair both places.
They even have a little coffee bar in their area, free to the tech students and they sell it to the regular students to help fund their needs.
To learn more on the program she's enrolled in.... https://newtechnetwork.org/impact/
I ran into the secretary from the middle school the other day and she asked how monkey butt was doing. To see her face when I told her how she was doing and how she fights us when we can't get her appointments for after school hours, when at middle school she'd beg for it to be slap in the middle of the day so she could have the most time off possible.
I think she's genuinelly learning too. The things she tells us from time to time indicate she's actually getting something out of school now. It's not about teaching to the test. But, more importantly she's grown in her attachment, but also grown in her comfort level with her peers and has a more rounded childhood.
Her English teacher told us at the open house that our child is awesome and she wishes all her students were as well behaved and attentive as her.
Well, that's August and September in a nutshell. October has more rest time than the last two months.
October began with a career fair field trip. One of her friends posted 2 videos on my facebook wall of the trip. We let monkey take her phone for photos while she was gone that day. We normally require she keep her phone at home so it's not a distraction at school. She took tons of selfies with her friends that day. Her happiness is so fun to see.
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