I've discovered that Sam is shy. Painfully shy. I didn't realize how bad this was until kindergarten started. She had an amazing group of friends all through preschool, but none of them went to the same elementary school as her. It was time for her to start over. It's not like she was going to stop being friends with her preschool crowd (they will be friends forever!!), but she definitely needed to have a friend or two to hang out with during school. Sam needed to figure out how to make friends. Each day she came home from school, I'd ask her about her day and who she played with. Sam would shrug her shoulders and not really give me an answer. My Mama Bear instincts came out in full force and I was determined to make Sam a friend during Back-to-School night. As moms were filing into the kindergarten room I asked a few if they had a daughter or son in the class. Once I found a mom of a little girl, I said we need to get a playdate scheduled ASAP! It turns out that this mom also has a son who is in 3rd grade. Ian knew him and they've played together from time to time during recess. We scheduled a date to go bowling with all the kids. A friendship between Sam and her daughter, Michela was forming. Yay!
Sam started talking about Michela and another girl named Courtney. It was great hearing Sam telling me what was going in Kindergarten and hearing about these girls. Ian even spotted Sam braiding Courtney's hair during lunch one day.
We had TWIN DAY at school coming up. I never got into any of these themed dress-up days before with Ian. He always handled it on his own. Ian would coordinate which baseball jersey the boys in his class would wear and they would show up at school ready to go. For some reason I am much more protective of my daughter and was scared she'd be the odd duck out. I couldn't let that happen. I asked Sam if she wanted me to email Courtney's mom and see if they could dress alike. Sam said yes. When I sent the email I offered to go to Target and buy matching shirts. I said it would be my pleasure to treat Courtney. I got a pretty quick response from Courtney's mom. She was very receptive to the girls dressing like twins. Only my suggestion of keeping it easy by going to Target turned into a big-time shopping date at Gymboree at the mall. Sam was overjoyed when she heard her and Courtney could pick out their outfit together. We met at the mall on Monday afternoon (MLK day holiday) just in time before getting school cancelled for the next 3 days. Fortunately Friday we only had a 2 hour delay and the girls dressed exactly alike for TWIN DAY.
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| Sam and Courtney having fun shopping together for matching outfits. |
The cutest thing was when the phone rang on Friday morning. I answered it to hear to Ian's friend Jack, in a shaky, timid 8 year old voice ask for Ian to come to the phone. Jack wanted to confirm with Ian which baseball player's shirt they were all going to wear. The boys decided on Strausburg.
Sam and Courtney were the hit of kindergarten. I can now breathe a sigh of relief that she has a couple of friends. That is until next year when she ends up in different class than Courtney and Michela and I may have to start this making friends thing all over again. It's a good thing I am good at it. :)
As for 3rd grade math and kindergarten sight words, I am still in elementary school hell.
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| Sam in her TWIN DAY clothes. This is what the girls picked to wear. |
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