What about Tessa?
I haven’t updated on the girls in awhile. So, Tessa. What to say about this one? She is going to be my challenge in life. Tessa marches to her own orchestra (drummer would be too ordinary for her). She does what she wants, how she wants, when she wants. She can be so sweet it makes my heart ache. And she can be cuttingly mean 10 seconds later. She is curious about everything when she isn’t living in her own little made up world. She loves to snuggle with me in a way that Sabrina never has. But she does it on her terms when she wants to. Tessa is hilarious in both words and actions. She kind of reminds me of a cat.
We are currently struggling with whether or not to put her in kindergarten next school year. She meets the age requirement. Her only skill that I worry about not being up to par is fine motor skills (in this case read: holding a pencil and writing). They expect a lot of out of kids in school these days. She could likely do the work but we worry that she isn’t ready yet. She doesn’t want to follow the rules of others – not that another year will likely change that but perhaps the maturity to understand that sometimes you need to? She does well in pre-school. Her teachers say she is a leader and often offers comfort to others when they get upset. She never gets in trouble for behavior so it isn’t like she can’t conform. I’m just not sure how she will do all day, every day. (She goes 3 days a week now.) And here is where I get a little more honest and admit I’m not sure if she isn’t ready or if I am not ready. She is my last baby. I love spending Tuesdays and Thursdays with her. (But will be glad to be rid of preschool tuition so there is that.) I love snuggling up with her on the couch and watching some stupid TV show in the morning. Now that she is older, I even enjoy taking her along on my errands usually. (Never would have believed that even a year ago.)
She still sucks her fingers and takes her froggie with her every where. How can she possibly be ready to go off to school? I never imagined this would be a decision I would struggle with. The calendar should make the decision for us. We don’t know what we are going to do yet. We’ve decided to hedge our bets: deposit on her seat for preschool next year and register for kindergarten and make the call when we get closer to August. A lot can happen in 5 months.
My son didn’t make the cutoff so choice was pre-determined. He is the oldest and it’s good for him. I struggled with all of these decisions with Emily. She made the cut off but I didn’t know if she (or I!) was ready. Now that she is in 5th grade there are days when I wondered what I was thinking about holding her back and there are days when I think homework type situations would be easier had she had another year. She holds her own for being one of the youngest in the class. But it seems I have a Tessa on my hands as she is either completely happy or really really frustrated! There is no right or wrong answer. Whatever you feel in your gut is what you should do! 🙂 Easier said than done but Mom’s intuition will be the right answer! 🙂
We just made the school decision for Olivia and struggled with many of the exact same issues. In her case, it was half-day 4K kindergarten or all-day 5K kindergarten. She tested into the 5K academically, but we were very concerned about her ability to make it all day, be mature enough to follow the rules all the time (and not be stubborn & have tantrums) & her motor skills (which are just starting to improve a bit). In the end, we decided to let her be a kid a little longer (although she will be going to a Montessori school with a multi-age classroom, so that helped the decision a bit) and send her to halfday. And that way, I still have my lunch buddy too!