I was curious to see how the pictures turned out because the last picture his teacher took on the "Meet your teacher day" was of Michael glowering at the camera! He absolutely hates getting his picture taken and since birth, he has rarely been cooperative in front of a camera. Naturally, Krista was quite the opposite and unlike Michael, I have a ton of pictures of her!
Then I flipped his folder over and what I saw cracked me up...! Take a look...
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| Michael's brain: Why is that strange person telling me to smile for my picture? What is THAT thing and what is he going to do? It doesn't look like Krista's camera or the iPhone camera...? |
I'm certain that instead of this dazed expression he would have glowered with hostility had he known his picture was going to be taken (I'm pretty certain he was trying to figure out what that machine
would do as the photographer was sweating bullets trying to make him
smile for his picture) !!!
He looks so much older in his school picture compared to this one I took the other day (yes, he caught me taking a picture of him with my iPhone!)...
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| I caught him with my iPhone cam before he had time to duck under the table! |
Anyway, after seeing his school picture, I knew exactly how I would introduce myself at the luncheon! It's the kind of picture that's guaranteed to make you smile and laugh out loud---especially when you're having "one of those days!" Not to mention the fact that it will make you feel better about your child's school picture!!!
This has been a banner week for Michael because he has been the "Star of the Week" and on Tuesday, he was "Helper of the Day!" He was thrilled to pieces because no one else has been "Star of the Week" AND "Helper of the Day," too!!! We had a big "About Me" poster to color and fill in with his favorite things and he's looking forward to bringing it home soon.
Yesterday was our first parent/teacher conference with Michael's teacher. I love his teacher! God gave Michael the perfect teacher that's just right for him and he adores her and Kindergarten! Jacob moved a meeting so he could join us and he got to hear how Michael is doing in school, too. Michael is adjusting well to Kindergarten and is helping his friends when they're struggling with their school work. We saw his journal and were amazed by the difference in his penmanship and artwork from his first journal entry to his most recent one.
It's amazing because last year when we were working on Kindergarten through CAVA, he hated penmanship! He loved everything else (especially math and Science!) except for writing and drawing. Now, his favorite center is handwriting and he loves making his letters "perfect." He now also loves drawing and adding detail. It's so much fun drawing and coloring with him now! We've been noticing he has an eye for color combinations and interesting design composition so I'm curious to see his creativity grow.
I love how the leaves are bursting with their fall colors even though my allergies have been going c-r-a-z-y!!! What I dislike about this time of the year is Halloween and all the scary images that are everywhere as we go out and about. Michael gets scared seeing all the gory images and I dread taking him into stores as I run errands. Ugh. In school, the children will get to come dressed in their costumes and Michael confided that they had to write down what they would be for his teacher. We had this conversation...
Michael: Mommy, we had to tell Miss Wallis what we would be for Halloween. She said we can dress up and wear our costumes to school.
Me: Oh, so what did you tell Miss Wallis you would be?
Michael: I told her I would be... happy...for Halloween. I'm not really into costumes or wearing stuff for dress up, you know.
Me: That's great, Michael! I love your answer!!! Your friends will dress up and that's fine for them because it's their choice, right?
Michael: Yup. Every family does things differently and they make their own choices.
So, there you have it. Michael is going to be happy for Halloween---especially when he gets all that candy!!! I love how his brain works, don't you?!?
I love that he doesn't care that everyone else in his class will be dressing up as something and wearing costumes. It's never easy choosing to be different and making choices that go against public opinion, right? I think of what Paul says in Romans 12:2 and I love how The Message puts it...
"Don’t become so well-adjusted to
your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix
your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily
recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the
culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity,
God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."
I pray that both of our children will learn to stand strong for their convictions and live their lives as God pleasers and not as people pleasers.
