Mali Moments

Yesterday we had Mali's parent/teacher conference at pre-school. She is doing great. Mrs. Knapp evaluated her and said that she was ahead of most of her kids, primarily because she is the 2nd oldest in the class. Mrs. Knapp even recommended that, if we wanted to, she could attend 5 year old pre-k next year instead of 4 year old preschool. We are going to pray and seek wisdom on that before we make a decision though. Mali can write her name and recognize her name and spell her name. Although recently she started writing it backwards. Eric and I are a little concerned about this because she also reads right to left, even on the digital clock. The other day it was 11:55 and she said "s, s, 1, 1". Any of you early childhood people out there, feel free to comment on that one! Mrs. Knapp said that she tests limits and is a show off, but that she would be worried if she didn't do that because she is 4! She also said Mali is very active and needs physical activity and to be challenged. Mali makes friends well and approaches others to engage in play instead of waiting for others to approach her. She also prefers to play with the kids in her class that are older. Mrs. Knapp also said that Mali expresses love for God and Jesus and shows love for others. (That is except for me, or whomever disciplines her!:( )Mali is really doing great in school, we are very proud of her and thankful for her teacher Mrs. Knapp. At home, she is doing good, she battles constantly and I feel like I'm just not giving her something that she needs. I'm praying for wisdom and that God would show me what I can do to make her feel loved and not act out. She has shown great hostility towards me. Thankfully, I'm pretty thick skinned, but it is draining me. Over Spring Break, Eric and I plan on really making a plan to cope with her behavior problems. We'll see how that goes. When she is sweet, she is sweet. We've enjoyed some fun times of playing at the park and playing outside with all the warm weather. Mali has shown compassion towards our dogs and spends a lot more time with them outside doctoring them. I'm pretty sure Aspen is traumatized from it all. Yesterday was ballet watch day. I was so proud of her. Mali IS following her teacher's directions so much better this semester and showed such personality in the dances. It seemed to me that tap was Mali's thing (Mimi was a tap dancer when she was little)! I loved watching her have fun and be so happy.