I came across this picture as I was looking for photos for our adoption profile. It was taken at the Phoenix zoo last summer. I love it. Athena was eating dark chocolate, which was all melty because it was most likely 110 degrees. I love my little family!
Athena has a terrific imagination. The other night we were driving home and she carried on a multi-character dialog for about 10 minutes. She changed her voice for each character, and the conversation was fascinating. I wish I could have recorded those few minutes.
Tonight she is acting out her other role playing that she made up one night when she was bored and lonely. She made up three characters: Mikayla, a little girl about 5 years old; Mikayla's Mother, and Mikayla's grandmother.
One night I was cooking dinner and I was visited by a really short old lady (Athena came down the stairs hunched over and using a baton as a cane.) She introduced herself to me as Mikayla's grandmother and wanted to see if Athena was available to play with Mikayla. I told her that Athena was upstairs in her bedroom, but she was welcome to see if she wanted to play. Later another woman came down the stairs and said she was Mikayla's mom. I had a nice conversation with her, and then she went upstairs to see if Mikayla was in Athena's room. Next Mikayla came downstairs and talked to me about playing with Athena and told me that Athena wasn't sharing her toys.
Athena now acts out these characters when she is bored and wants someone to play with, or when she is trying to avoid her chores, like cleaning her room. One day I will have to invite Mikayla's mom over for tea.
Today has been a sort of frustrating day. Both of my parents are not feeling well, so I have been bored. I went to my neighbor's house for about an hour and watched my friend Christina paint. Then we walked her dog Dakota around the neighborhood. When I came home my mom told me I have to clean my room before I can go play with any other friends. But I don't think that is fair. I told my Daddy, but he seemed to agree with my Mom.
It is almost the end of January and I have to make a decision about where to enroll Athena for Kindergarten. Seems simple, but it isn't. I have been researching charter schools off and on for the last six months. I currently have my list narrowed down to 3 possibilities, and I have now visited one of the three.
Tonight Athena and I went to an open house at the Sonoran Science Academy. The school is 4 years old, but the building is ancient. I liked the kindergarten and first grade teachers, they were both very nice women. There seems to be a lot of diversity, both in the the student population (based on the pictures hanging in the hallways) and in the staff. The school places a lot of emphasis on math, science and computers. Another bonus is that the prospective students take placement exams, and will be put in a classroom that suits their academic abilities.
The location of the SSA is both an asset and a liability in this decision. I like that it is about 5 miles from work, but it is 5 miles in the wrong direction. So it will take forever to get there in the morning, and it will tack on a bit of travel time at night too.
The before and aftercare programs are reasonably priced (at least this year, I don't know how much they will go up next year). They also have the longest extended care programs that I have found. The kids can be dropped off as early as 6:15 am and picked up as late as 6:00 pm.
I still have to check out the other two schools, but so far the SSA seems like a good match.
Thanks Amy E for sharing. I hope this link allows me to end-around the filter at work.
