L-O-G-A-N

Every day when I pick up the boys from Ms. Brenda's I find an assortment of papers in their cubby. These papers will range from color by number/shape, matching, rhyming, tracing and writing letters---they run the gamut. & on every single page the boys must write their names. First it started out with just a couple of letters...

but after a few months of practicing and learning more letters he came home with this last night...

We were so insanely proud of him and he beamed as we told him so. Now once again, I would love to take the credit for this or even give it to my husband but the truth of the matter is Logan can write his name all because of one individual, Ms. Brenda. I am sure Logan would have learned to write his name at a daycare center but he would never receive the one on one attention that he gets when he is in Ms. Brenda's care. In home daycare may not be for everyone but for us, being introduced to Brenda has been the best thing that has happened to us as a family. She loves our boys as her own & truly, without a doubt, wants to help them excel in every way possible and it is so apparent with all the wonderful work that comes home with them. 

In fact, just this morning as we were driving into work Kaden and I were working on his site words. I didn't have flash cards to show him the words, he was doing it all from memory. He successfully spelled three site words before we moved onto the alphabet and he and Logan took turns letting me know what each letter "said". 

It's kind of scary to think where the boys would be academically without Ms. Brenda in our lives. She keeps them in line and focused, case in point...

& you know what, I think I LOVE seeing this as much as I love seeing a sticker or a happy face on their work---okay, that might be a stretch but the fact that they aren't allowed to just phone in their work makes me happy. She wants to see them give their best effort in whatever it is they are doing and so do we. Sure, he is three, but it's never to early to learn valuable life lessons and being proud of something YOU did on your own, no matter the mistakes, is one of those lessons I'd like them to learn. Or better yet, that asking for help, isn't a weakness, it's a strength and something a lot of people don't know how to do.

With Kaden heading off to Kindergarten next year and Logan not being far behind him, our time with Ms. Brenda is starting to wind down. It's a day that I don't really want to think about because every time I do I start to get a little teary-eyed but it's just another chapter in this book of life. I guess we will just have to find ways to ensure we incorporate her into our future chapters...