{Rite of Passage}

For our kids there is one very important rite of passage that they have to go through before we let them head off into the world called kindergarten.  That passage is called the "You must learn how to tie your own shoes" passage.  Miss Lauryn was no exception to this family rule.  Unlike her predecessors though, she was not as excited about learning.  Which surprised me.  She loves to tie knots in anything with two ends.  In fact Meysa called her the knot Nazi, after Lauryn tied about a hundred little knots in Meysa's doll's ribbon.  I died laughing and then I wondered how Meysa learned how to use the word "Nazi".  Anyways, Lauryn took a bit of convincing that learning to tie her shoes was "neat", "cool", and only for "big" five year olds.  I would have to show her a few times and then let her practice and then drop the subject and try again in a few days.  Slowly but surely each time she would have mastered a step and she could see her own improvement.  

While we were hanging out waiting for Irene to blow over I thought it would be a good time to give Lauryn her final test in tying her shoes.  The next day was the first day of school and she couldn't go unless she was able to pass her final (I of course would have sent her but she didn't know that!!)  She put on a shoe that was too small for her foot (apparently she had grown over the summer) and whipped out her mad tying skills and she wowed all of us!!  She was so fast I had to have her do it again, more slowly so I could take pictures for documentation.  She was so proud of herself and so excited to be going into Kindergarten!! 

This is what success looks like!!