Success!

I'm happy to report that our trip to Denver went off without any major problems or whining. Penny slept the whole way there. But once we went to "Auntie" Eed's and "Uncle" John's house Penny was very alert. She warmed up to their dog, loved their Thai food and instruments and really seemed to enjoy herself. Afterwards we went to a baby shower held at a fancy hotel. She didn't complain at all. In fact, she was excited to win a prize for winning a game. And after that she was really excited to buy some ethnic food at a Lao market and best of all, her favorite Thai band CD, which she played in the car the whole way home. The whole weekend she seemed to be on an emotional high. But, on Monday, when she went back to school her emotions went way down. But, all of her friends and her teacher came to her and asked her why she was crying. One boy managed to make her laugh again with his silly antics. And after that, all was well again.

She did a great job with her Wax Museum speech as Rosa Parks. I managed to get over to her school during my lunch break to watch her perform. She breezed through the first 11 sentences. She struggled a little more with the last four sentences that had words like "segregation" and "congressional" in them. But, I'm very proud of her and her teachers gave her an A+.

Friday was a very long day since Penny had a 6th grade Bash. It was kind of a last "Good-bye" party for all of the 6th graders moving on to middle school. In the daytime she and her classmates took a field trip over to the middle school to get a look around. She thought it was okay but said she likes Shepardson Elementary better. Thankfully, most of her good friends will be going to the same middle school. And our local middle school is also planning to add the "Newcomer ELA (English Language Acquisition) program" this coming Fall. Perfect timing! We're so thankful for how our daughter's needs are being met.

It may sound silly but yesterday was one of the most fun days I've had, yet, with Penny even though it was so simple. She slept in and woke up in a great mood. She wasn't concerned that I had gone out to run errands without her. When I got home she wanted to go out shopping with me. She was in a great mood the whole time at the new Walmart Superstore. She wasn't begging and demanding for everything in sight. When we got home she helped unload the groceries. After supper we played several games of Uno and when I asked her to help me with the dishes she said, "Sure!" She got to call her friends in Thailand as we found out about a new long distance deal with Startec that makes a call to Thailand only 3.9 cents per minute. She went to bed giggling. It was such a great day with my daughter. I don't care if I get any presents for Mother's Day. This was a wonderful gift today!