Clint and I had made the decision we were going to have her repeat kindergarten last December, but had a little bit of a struggle getting the school to be on the same page with us. Academically Lillie did fine. Socially she struggled a little in areas we hadn't even thought about. While she still made friends easily and was very outgoing, we noticed that where she had always shown leadership characteristics in the past, she quickly became a follower who was really concerned about fitting in. Her sweet heart was broken by a few not so nice kids a couple times throughout the school year and overall a majority of the kids in her class were just a little rough we thought. (Her teacher agreed saying that every couple years a rougher class then most would work there way through.)
While her teacher thought she would do fine over the years, she understood our point of view being the mother of a late August baby herself. She was kind enough to arrange a meeting for Clint and I to discuss our reasons for wanting to retain Lillie and let us know to be prepared, that we had a little bit of a battle ahead of us being that she technically passed kindergarten. It was a little more work then I thought it would be, but we were passionate about our decision and did not waiver. In the end, after several meetings and more then one person trying to persuade us to let her move forward, we won the battle.
Lillie has officially been in full day kindergarten for a week now and is loving it! She has another amazing, yet completely different teacher then the one she had last year. Her class is full of kids who seem to be super sweet and she is making friends easily. Her teacher stated that Lillie definitely seems to be one of the leaders this year and is often the first to have her hand in the air when questions are asked or volunteers are needed. While I was a little nervous that she might be the tallest in her class, she's not. She fits nicely right into the middle and has no idea that doing full day kindergarten isn't supposed to be the next step after half day kindergarten.
As for Clint and I, we our beyond excited that we get to keep our little girl home with us one year longer. We will no longer have to worry about sending a 17 year old off to college, or having our child be the last one of her friends to get her drivers license. Yes, it was a little tough to think about holding one of our children back a year in school, but now that the decision is made we are at total peace and couldn't be happier with our decision and sticking with it.
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