Lilly's World

On March 30th, Lilly turned 5. So I thought that now would be as good as time as any to catch you up with what has been going on in Lilly's World.

For starters, she is an official preschooler. Here is a picture of her on her first day of school, back in September.
We had always intended on home schooling Lilly, but when we registered Alexander for school in California we were asked if we would be interested in sending Lilly to school as well. The school district was willing to scholarship her into preschool because they feel that it is very important for siblings of "special needs" children to have the opportunity to socialize with "typically developing" children. Once we found out that the preschool program was only 2 days/week, for 3 hours/day, we agreed.

Within a month of starting school, Lilly's teacher asked if we would be interested in sending her to school 4 days/week. Apparently she had become the model student and was helping other children in the class come out of their shells and be more social. We were told that she has a special gift, where she is able to bring all of the students together (even those who don't normally play with one another) and that she had become the classroom leader.

This was working out great for us. I was able to home school Lilly in the mornings and then send her off to school, enjoying a couple of hours of free time. Plus she was starting to make friends and I was able to meet other mothers who live in the area.

Then Kindergarten registration came up. Hector and I were at a loss. Do we send her to school, which she loves, like all of her friends, or do we pull her out at the end of the year and go back to homeschooling? We decided to way all of our options before making a final decision.

First we attended a Kindergarten Readiness workshop for parents. Here, we learned that Lilly was more than ready to enter into Kindergarten, both socially and academically. Next we had a conference with her teacher. Lilly had mastered 24 out of the 25 areas that needed to be mastered by the end of Kindergarten. When we discussed sending Lilly to Kindergarten, her teacher mentioned that the academics would be much too easy and recommended placing her in either a private school or loading her up with a lot of extra curricular activities to keep her stimulated. When we mentioned the idea of homeschooling, her teacher lit up. She thought that it would be the perfect option for a child like Lilly.

Lastly we met with the Home School Advisor for Brea Public Schools. Brea has just started a brand new home school program to serve the needs of local parents. They have a classroom for the students at one of the elementary schools where the kids can share their work, have computer lab, art, and give presentations to one another. The teacher is very enthusiastic and has set up a schedule where the parents meet with her once a week to go over the curriculum and progress of the child.

After all of this, we have decided to go the home school route. It will be a lot of work for me (and I will greatly miss those few hours of quiet time each week), but we are very excited for the opportunities that it will afford Lilly. Hector and I often joke that we have 2 very difficult children. One who needs help keeping up with the world, and another whom the world has to keep up with.

And now back to my baby girl who has just turned 5.
The morning of her birthday, we woke her up before Hector had to leave for work to present her with her baby book. Alexander often looks at his and Lilly has often asked for hers. Being the second child has meant that her baby book has been left untouched since she was 2 months old. A couple of weeks before her birthday, Hector had arranged for us to get together with a coworker of his who is addicted to scrap booking. I spent 1 hour organizing all of the things that I had collected for her baby book, 2 hours choosing photos, and 2 more hours writing down what had happened during each month of the first year of her life (with Hector's great help). Then we spent 5 hours on a Saturday morning with the scrap book king (Hector's coworker), to complete the book. Lilly was thrilled that her life as a baby was finally documented on paper.

Later that day I made brownie and strawberry kabobs for her to share with her friends at school. Then that evening we had the family over for dinner and cake.
Lilly was thrilled to wear her new birthday dress (which took me until 2am to finish) and receive a special birthday meal. She asked for Lasagna with red sauce, bread and a chocolate cake with strawberries.

But her favorite part of the night was opening presents.


And her favorite present was Kanani. Her very own American Girl Doll, just like she always wanted. (Or at least has wanted since seeing her in the catalog about 6 months ago.)
And of course Kanani wouldn't be complete unless she had a matching birthday dress and Barksie the dog....and Lilly always has to have the complete set!