The battle begins

Well, if I were being completely honest, the battle has actually been going on for quite some time now.

The battle over whether or not to send our Cran to kindergarten next year at school.

Maybe every parent goes through this, and in fact it is a natural process of not wanting to let go? I'm thinking maybe it is indeed just that. Maddie isn't even in kindergarten yet, and I'm already feeling the emotions of 'letting go' syndrome. I can only imagine how hard it will be when other bigger things in life arise with these three precious girls of ours!

Preschool has never been an option for us. These girls can learn everything-and more- right here from the comfort of home, and with us. Maddie is an incredibly bright little girl. She's extremely quick to pick up on things and wants to know the answer to EVERYTHING-- from the simplest of explanations, to the most complex. She has a memory that astounds, and a drive to want to try new things and excel at what she tries. She is extremely, extremely social and loves meeting new kids and playing with her best friends here at home, her sisters. She is extremely loyal and loves her cousins and friends who matter most to her. I'm thinking she would do really well in a school environment.

And yet, she tells us she does NOT want to go to school. She is very adament about this. I'm thinking of calling the school over Christmas break so that maybe the 4 of us can go with her to see what the school looks like and she can kind of get a 'real' idea of what it might be like to be at school. And, before I know it, kindergarten registration will be here in February.

My internal battle is whether or not to do the school route or homeschool for as long as possible? It can be hard to juggle the needs of my three here, but yet it is a very satisfying feeling to know that our girls are learning and doing right here before our own eyes. I'm not completely sure that I am ready to hand the reins over to somebody else- a complete stranger to us and to our dear Crannie- and put my trust in somebody else that she will be well taken care of while she is away from us.

I guess I'm already starting to stare the 'letting go' process right in the eyes, and despite this perceived step being "only" kindergarten, it's still something I am not sure I am ready to tackle quite yet.

Random Crannie-ness

Maddie's been writing her name from right to left lately, and I couldn't figure out why she was doing this.

I finally realized that it's because she's been trying to write with her right hand instead of her left, and when I asked her why she was doing that she said, "because I want to be right-handed like Faith." Hahaha.

Memory that amazes

Maddie's memory is awesome. It amazes me all the time.

She picked a Halloween book the other day at the library and it talks about 13 rooms and goes to the tune of Christmas' "12 Days of Christmas." We've read it to them about 3 times, and the girl's got it memorized. She was singing it to Faith over and over and over today in the bathtub, and took it with her to bed to sing it to Faith again. It's so funny because it reminds me of how I used to try and persuade Tia Rosa to learn the complete list of AKC dog breeds, and Maddie tries so hard to get Faith to memorize these lines also.

She honestly remembers so many little details that it's crazy sometimes. I tell her all the time, "you are so detail oriented" and she'll ask me "what are details?" So now when she sees Faith coloring or drawing well, Maddie will tell her "wow Faith, you are so good at the details!"