Tip Tuesday
This week we have started preparing for Lydia starting Kindergarten. I am really not looking forward to getting up at 6:00 every. single. morning....for the next, like, 20 years or so! Eek! This is definitely a new chapter in our lives - one that will continue when Gideon starts school, and then again when any other children we may have start school. Plus there's extra curricular activities before school, after school, on weekends! Wow! And I thought the terrible-twos (and threes, and fours) was difficult!
Here are my Tips for Getting Ready for Kindergarten!
- Talk About It: Last week we started talking and talking about getting ready for Kindergarten. We went school shopping as a family, packed up her backpack and have it in the living room. We talked about how we have to get up early and get ready, get dressed in appropriate school clothes, have our hair fixed and ready to go each morning. Lydia does really, really well when we talk a lot about a major change/big activity beforehand. When she finally got rid of the pacifier at 4-years old, we have talked and talked about throwing them all away the day of her birthday. Well, when that day came around, she handed us her pacifier and said she was four now and didn't need it. The same went with potty-training. We talked about it for several months before we actually started. And she was potty-trained in a week. So, all summer we have been talking about Kindergarten and how it is so much fun, how she will have a nice teacher, she will me new friends, play on the playground, etc. She loves talking about Kindergarten. She has said that she will be shy at first, but then she will have fun.
- Planning Outfits: Sunday afternoon I organized Lydia's closet and her dresser drawers. I got rid of clothes that we out of season, or that she didn't fit in anymore. I organized her dresses (she has a ton), moving dressed off to the side that were for cooler weather and keeping good, school, dresses toward the front. I then brought Lydia into her room and explained how we are going to pick outfits out for the whole week. I fought many a battle with Lydia about clothes during preschool (picking school-appropriate clothes, etc.) and I don't want to fight this battle everyday during Kindergarten. So, we picked out a dress for everyday, Monday thru Friday, plus undies and spandex shorts to go under the dress. She loved deciding what dress to choose. I hung the dresses (with panties and shorts on the hanger, too) off to the side, in order of the day. So far, (and it's only been two days), this has worked super well! She knows exactly what to wear and loves putting her outfit on.
- Planning Hair: I haven't quite done this yet, but plan to during the school week. Lydia is determined to grow her hair out long now. Earlier this year I cut her hair short (a little below the chin) because she kept screaming and crying when I brushed her hair and wouldn't let me do any cute hairstyles anymore. Now she wants to grow her hair out long again. So, our deal is that she has to let me brush her hair and fix it in different styles each morning - or I'm going to cut her hair really short. She doesn't want that to happen. So, yesterday and today I have done new hairstyles and she has really liked them. I am planning on picking out a few hairstyles online that she can choose from and deciding when to have those done each day next week. That way, I already know how I'm going to fix her hair, and she's prepared for the hairstyle (and had a voice in what her hair will look like). Hopefully simple pony-tail days will be few and far between. I have learned how to French braid and am getting better and better with cute hairstyles.
- Bedtime: Lydia is really, really good at convincing us to let her go to bed late. She will ask to watch another show, or be in the middle of a movie, or just take forever getting teeth brushed and pajamas on. So, we have decided that we will start getting ready at 7:00 and hopefully be done by 7:30. This way, if she wakes up between 6:00 and 6:30 she got 11 hours of sleep. I would really like it if she woke up between 6:30 and 7:00 - giving me plenty of time to get ready on my own each morning. I plan on getting up at 6:00 each morning with Brian, just in case the baby needs to nurse, and then Brian can help with the kids while I get ready. To practice this week, I have been getting up when Brian gets up...and letting Lydia get up then, too. I don't wake her up, but when she wakes up I let her stay up. Poor Gideon doesn't get to cuddle with me in bed anymore. This is getting all of us ready for early mornings next week.
Those are my tips on getting ready for Kindergarten to begin. Hopefully everything will go smoothly next week since we've already practiced our "routine"!
