School Days!

I often get asked how Joelle likes school.  Well, I think these pictures say it all…

She really does love EVERYTHING about it.  She loves waking up to an alarm and cuddling with Papa before getting ready.  She even loves tucking in her shirt (to her panties I might add!), and brushing her teeth in the mornings.  From the second she walks into the building, she is as happy as a clam.  Sure, there are days she is exhausted, and could use a little more sleep, but overall she never fights me in the morning.  She is an independent little soul who wakes herself up, gets herself dressed, and has even started fixing her own hair… well, sprucing it up in the mornings, ha!  I do the puffs each week!  The only battle I have to fight is her little chatty-self because I’m not quite ready to talk five minutes after waking up!!  

I realize that school probably won’t always be this exciting for her, but I am so thankful for these days.  We are thankful for her teacher, for our school, and for all the little friends she has made.  Oh, and the friends… she just loves her little friends.  She giggles every time she tells me stories about her little group of friends.  It’s precious!

As far as she is doing academically… we couldn’t be more thrilled.  She loves to read and write.  Joelle actually has pretty neat handwriting.  She would prefer to read, write, and color over playing with any other toy in our house.  She has a really good memory, and is normally able to tell us all about her lessons at school.  She’s recently learned about 2D and 3D shapes and can identify all of those, she can write to 100, make patterns, and do basic addition.  More than all of that, I am thankful that she is learning how to be a friend, how to love others, and get along with others outside of our home.  

We are still working on building her vocabulary.  There are several words she just doesn’t know because she’s never been exposed to them.  When she is reading and someone corrects her or tries to read it quickly for her, I try to remind them that she’s only been speaking English for 1 1/2 years.  And that would be the equivalent of them knowing how to read when they were one year old!  Patience is the key, and realizing that some things will just come with more time.  

She’s still spunky, full of sass (in a good way!), and has the biggest personality.  The Lord has blessed us with a pretty precious little thing!!!