Duck & Cover

Olivia had a busy day today practicing fire and severe weather drills. She came home insisting that we practice "Duck & Cover" in case of a hurricane. We had to close all the doors in the hallway "in case the wind blows out the windows and glass is flying everywhere." We, apparently, 'are not allowed to take lovies or anything that we don't really need' in the hall with us - 'just our bodies.' As you can imagine, she was very serious about this little project.

Assume the position...

McIver was not taking this excerise as seriously as Olivia intended!

Also, for the record, this was the first night that Olivia was not a complete BEAR after school. A kindergarten-teacher friend (and O's summer reading class teacher) of ours told me : "This is my theory on the complaining issue.....I think that Olivia is trying so hard to following the rules to the "T" that by the time she comes home, she's done. It comes out and you are the one that has to deal with it. I tell parents all the time that you would rather have them complain/misbehave at home than at school. The first week is the hardest because we are trying so hard to set the standard high for behavior. Any negative behaviors that we haven't eliminated in the first month, we will have to deal with the rest of the year. Sometimes I feel just like Olivia does......"I'm not getting up today!" etc. etc. It only gets easier; thank God!!!"

As you can imagine, this made me feel a lot better knowing that Olivia is definitely a people-pleaser and does not typically like to draw negative attention to herself. In fact, she has been coming home (when she's in the sharing mood) talking about a boy in her class who is a 'trouble-maker.' I was more prepared for whatever Oliva could dole out today and thankfully, this was a good day!