Enthusiasm

Even though she had a rough start, Malayna loves school. She's excited about going each day, likes doing homework (most of the time), and has made lots of new friends. When we asked her what her favorite part of school is, she said, "learning time." She's starting to read and often interrupts us when we're reading her a book to point out words she knows. We read to her all the time, so I had a feeling she'd catch on quickly, but this is amazing! I certainly didn't expect her to be reading and sounding out words only a few weeks into the school year. It's so cool to watch her realize she can do it. She's a tiny bit obsessed with it, too. Everywhere we go, she's reading. Every time she looks at a book, she seeks out the words she knows. She's writing things on her drawings in "kid writing"(spelling things without a grown-up correcting it). She gets them so close! The other day she wrote "astronaut" as "astrnat." She tells everyone that she can read.

Before Malayna started school, Jimmy and I used to talk about what kind of student Malayna would be. So far, we were right. We thought she'd be excited about learning new things, being with other kids her age, and that she would follow the rules. We also knew she'd have trouble transitioning in the beginning and hoped that she'd get over that fast so she could see how exciting school could be.

Her teacher told me that yesterday, during a group activity, Malayna said, "Wow! This is so exciting! We've only been in school for a little while, but we already learned so much stuff!" Oh, how I wish I could bottle that enthusiasm and keep it forever.