KZ

This is Kamiryn’s first year of public school {other than the brief stint in Kindergarten that ended badly} AND her first year of high school. 
Yes, we did in fact think this through. 
We talk a lot in our house, especially since Cassie came...and then went, about our “tools”.....what works, what doesn’t, how and when we use them, etc...Last night Kamiryn was telling me that she still has the can of study putty that Danelle was given in 8th grade from iQ academy and passed on to Kamiryn. She was saying how she could slip it out and use it and it works for her and nobody even knows. I was praising her good anxiety management and asked if a stress ball would work. 
She said “Well, the squishy foam ball kind don’t work for me and I’ve made a few DIY ones in the past by using several balloons filled with flour or rice.  But then I spent the WHOLE TIME using them, worrying that they would bust open and get flour or rice everywhere and make a huge embarrassing mess. So I quit using them.” 
I totally had to bust up laughing! 
I said “SOOO...your stress ball was GIVING you anxiety!?!?” 

She laughed too. This girl is hilarious and rocking it. It is hard. She dislikes large crowds, stupid and obnoxious people and has low tolerance for poor personal hygiene. She is working SO hard to just put in her two years, then finish high school off at our local CC with an AA like the oldest two. High school really has no appeal for her, but it has completely proved to her that she CAN do hard things and that she is right on track or ahead of her peer group academically. I think she was worried because she was always behind where her sisters were at the same grade, but she is our “youngest student “, being a full 6 months younger than the same grade Danelle, 5 months younger that the same grade Miranda and just 2 months younger than the same grade Madison, but that combined with the fact that she is the ACTUAL baby of the family, a Momma’s girl and just has a more tender and sensitive disposition overall when it comes to a lot of things has made this a unique challenge for her for sure.

-hh