Blur

Last few days have been a blur.  So here's a recap:

Thursday:

1 - Madi competed in the Geography Bee at school.  She was nervous because she hadn't had much time to study.  I just told her to do her best.  That there were no consequences tied to how she performed and that she should just give the answers that she thought were correct and do the best she could.  Then told her I'd be there to cheer her on.

There were 28 students from fourth and fifth grades competing.  She got her practice round question correct.  The next two rounds she did not answer correctly and as students are done with the Bee after two incorrect answers, she had to then sit out.  There were about 5-6 students who missed both of their questions right away.  She was disappointed, but handled it very well.

At the end of the day, I told her that I was proud of her for doing her best and for trying.  She said that she felt really great about the fact that she was chosen to participate in it and that she tried.  Then she said something awesome.  She said that she was really proud of the two girls that won first and second place because they deserved it and were so smart and knew the information so well.  Thought it was awesome that she felt proud of them.  It's the first time we've heard her express verbally that she was truly happy of someone else's accomplishments and she was very sincere and kind when talking about it.

2 - We went to Riley's holiday concert at night.  Was very cute.  Kids sang some songs and did some cute motions.  Riley was completely loving it and did amazing.  Knew every word and every motion.  I had talked to Madi after school and let her know that it would be really nice if she could find one thing about tonight to say that would compliment Riley.  Something like "Great job!" or "I really liked such and such a song" or "You did a great job singing."  I told her that Riley looks up to her and that it would really mean a lot to her if she mentioned something to her.

Madi wasn't really excited to go to her concert, but we're trying to find ways where the girls can encourage each other and cheer each other on.  Looking outside of themselves and at least trying to be excited for others and especially each other.

So at the end of the show I asked Madi what she thought (trying to lead her towards a remark) and she said "it was ok."  So I just said "do you remember what we talked about earlier?"  And she goes "Oh yeah" and then quickly mumbled "Riley you did a great job."  But it's a step in the right direction!  And Riley still heard it and was excited.

3 - Madi has had an awesome week this week.  She did great in her studies, awesome at getting ready and going in the mornings and doing her chores.  The new checklists have been the best ever.  It's so nice to not have to feel like I'm nagging and reminding her what to do.  Takes the guessing out of it for her and she knows exactly what she's supposed to be doing without having us ask her "What do you have next?" or "Do you have everything you need?"  She just looks at the list and knows if she does or not.  So as her reward, she got to buy an ice cream at lunch on Friday and play World of Warcraft after school on Friday.

FRIDAY:

1 - Madi had a great day.  She loved eating the ice cream.  She was invited by a friend's mom to watch her friend Madison perform in a local children's theater production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."  We had a party at a friend's house so the girls had a sitter and then when Madi got home, she and our sitter went to go in Riley's room because Riley really wanted her to sleep with her in her bed.  So all three of them fell asleep in Riley's bed.  Don't blame them - it's really comfortable and the sound machine is helpful too.  Erica, the sitter, said that Madi really enjoyed watching the musical and that she told her all about it.  The local children's theater will do another performance in the summer next year so I'm going to find out a little more about it and see if Madi would like to do it next year.