Whitney

Whitney has loved school so far and it is wonderful.  I have flashbacks to last year when it was misery and we both cried everyday!  Mrs. McCloud seems to have good control of her classroom and likes structure, which does Whitney good!  I'm thankful everyday that she comes out of the building with a smile on her face.

Part of the wonderfulness about school is her buddy.  As some of you know last year was awful.....heartbreaking for Whit and this year is the complete opposite.  Ill rewind back to last winter when I was at my CRHP retreat and my table leader was an amazing lady named Shannon.  She just had this calm about her that made me feel happy.  I shared with her the problems with Whit's buddy and she was devastated too, as her daughter was in 7th grade and could really give the support Whitney needed.  She and I prayed about it and she also gave me some advice about how to handle it with her teacher.  Fast forward to this year and the day Whitney was to choose her new buddy was a big day for us.....me mostly because it was too much to see her in pain and scared everyday last year.  

Apparently the first graders are told to go to a person they know or that they may want to work with and say hello.  Whit was walking towards another girl when Jolie said hi to her and asked her if she wanted to be her buddy.  Lo and Behold this amazing Jolie girl is SHANNON'S daughter!  This sweet, tenderhearted eight grade girl has been loving on Whit and making her happy and I only have God to thank for that one.  We sit very close to Jolie at church, we've not spoken to her in years past, but we recognized her immediately.  It is awesome for Whit to see her every Sunday and to know that she has such a great family too!  Answered prayers for sure!

Whit had a little bit of trouble a few weeks back with her nose.  Every time she took a drink of water, she would try to swallow but it would come out of her nose!  It freaked us all out and even her ENT dr. didnt know what to say.  We are awaiting at test at childrens, a swallow study, to see what is going on.  My guess is allergies or her first sore throat after her tonsil surgery...she just doesn't know how it feels because they were so big before!  We started her on claritin for her allergies and it hasn't been too big of an issue, although she is still only taking small sips.

Whitney also started taking gymnastic classes this fall.  She is taking them at premier dance and tumbling.  She first started in a hip hop dance class and after a few weeks didn't really like it as much as she thought she would.  So this tumbling class is perfect for her.  The main focus is on arm strength, cart wheels, hand stands and round offs.

She is a reading and writing machine.  We bought a pack of Judy Moody chapter books and she has already ready three of them in a week!  Her teacher is a real stickler for handwriting and Whitney is taking it in stride, she already has good writing but is doing her best and it shows!  Her first spelling test (which her mom didn't help her study for....we studied the wrong words all week haha) was on spelling as well as proper form and spacing of her letters/words.  She got a perfect score and an award!  Wahoo! :)

We sure do miss her when she is at school but it just does my heart good to see her excelling and being so happy go lucky!