I'll start by sharing about hot lunch. This fall, something about hot lunch caught Allison's attention. She thought it might be something she would like to try. There was much discussion about hot lunch: How do you order hot lunch? What will it be like to go into the lunch room in the hot lunch line Where would she sit? What would it taste like? Despite all the questions, she remained optimistic and excited...until the night before the big day. She got out of bed after she was tucked in and was sobbing. Apparently, she was no longer sure about her decision. She wailed, "I'm scared! I don't want to get hot lunch tomorrow. I don't ever want to get hot lunch at school. When I go to college, what kind of lunch do they have? Will I have to get hot lunch? Can Mommy make me cold lunch at college?" She had made up her mind. No hot lunch. Not now. Not EVER. Now calm, I tucked her back into bed and we moved on with our lives. Until, seemingly out of the blue, Allison decided that she was, in fact, going to try ordering hot lunch again. Not someday. Thursday. She had 48-hours to process, and a similar discussion, as detailed above, ensued. I was prepared for a change in plans. This time, however, she had made herself a plan for her day-of jitters. She would ask to stand between 2 friends who were pros at ordering hot lunch and they could help her successfully navigate the hot lunch process. With a new confidence, Allison shared about her new experience afterwards and declared that hot lunch was, indeed, great! She will definitely be ordering pancakes for hot lunch again. ;)
In the afternoon of said hot lunch day, Allison started gymnastics. It's been a while since she has participated in any extracurricular activities. She has always loved her activities, once she is familiar and comfortable with the people and place, but starting new things is scary for her. I sensed almost no apprehension as the day approached. When the time came, she packed her bag, headed to school, ordered her above mentioned hot-lunch (maybe that had occupied her thoughts and so she didn't have time to worry about gymnastics), and then headed to gymnastics, after schoo,l for the first time, like it was no big deal.
Riding this new wave, cautiously, we ventured to try the "pick-up line" after school. Rather than parking the car and walking up to the school, where Allison could see me the second school ended, she agreed that she would wait for Peyton to get her and together they would stand with the other big kids, who were also patiently (or not) waiting for their parents to drive up to the loading zone. Success!
Most surprising to me, was her confidence and enthusiasm when she brought home a flyer last week about a Winter Cheer Clinic at the high school. She couldn't get that flyer out of her backpack and into my hands fast enough. Her words, "There's this cheerleading thing and I want to go. Can I?" I let it sit for a few days, but her enthusiasm was not waning. She was adamant that this event was for her. Yesterday, I dropped off the registration. Thrilled to have been granted her wish, she began prepping for the event last night and had herself ready and waiting first thing this morning. There was no hesitation, no second guessing, no last minute jitters. She couldn't tell me if she would know anyone when she got there, or even what, exactly, she would do. Allison just knew that there was no other place she would rather be today than in that gymnasium, with those high school cheerleaders! With her head held high, Allison walked right into the high school gym and never looked back. Tonight she will perform at half-time for the high school girls basketball team. She can't wait. Neither can we!
I don't have any recent pictures, but hope to capture her confident smile tonight.
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| Here she is over winter break enjoying snowman soup (aka hot cocoa) from her teacher! |
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