Parental Pride

So...it's no secret that the past couple of weeks have been challenging around our casa--not to mention the past couple of months that have been full of transitions and changes.

But.

Amidst all the new and the chaotic and the difficult, there has been lots of wonderful--and one of the most wonderful of the wonderfullest (yup, I'm makin' it a word) has been Chica's acclimation to kindergarten.

She is happy. She is engaged. She is firing on all brain cylinders. And yeah, sure, she's exhausted and unstable and overwhelmed at times. But she is thriving.

And though my Mama Bear tendencies make me insane in the membrane with curiosity over what she does all day, every day, when I only get, like, a three-minute synopsis after school, I'm working on trusting that all is well. Because of the thriving.

So imagine my glowing, astronomical levels of joy when we got a letter in the mail from the school principal this week, informing us that Chica would be receiving an award...

Because she has demonstrated what a positive mindset looks like and has shown great respect to teachers and peers during our first quarter of school.

I mean, I literally cried. No joke. 

This is truly a new sort of parental pride I have yet to experience.

Because this was Chica, on her own, being the beautiful and good human being that we are striving so hard to raise.

Apparently they give out these Cougar Pride Awards every quarter to two students per class. And we were invited to join the all-school assembly today to witness the granting of the awards (which was a surprise to Chica and all the other students on the receiving end).

It was chaotic and we were wrangling Chicklet and Little Man with a poor angle for pictures, but here are a couple of my girl (wearing a pink dress and white sweater) filing in, and then returning to her seat after collecting her award:

She received this badge in recognition:

I mean, seriously, it just makes my heart burst.

Because you never know when you send them off into the world without your supervision and unique sense of love and discipline how they will react. What sort of tiny human they will be when you're not around.

But this--this--made me feel like she's thriving, not just as a student, but as a person.

:)

Happy Weekend, peeps!

P.S. I just loved the fact that the other student in Chica's class to receive the award was the boy she's reported as her "boyfriend." He must be a good egg, hehe. So let's hope that bad-boy attraction kicks in, um, never, thabkyouverymuch.

Over and out.