Spring 2006

National honor: Cameron was initiated into the National Honor Society on May 31st after having maintained a 4.0 GPA and completing and documenting over 15 hours of community service for the first three quarters of the school year. Some of the service hours were earned by helping with a neighborhood Halloween party last October, but most of them were accumulated while tutoring seventh and eighth grade students in math on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings at school.

Oh well... back to the routine:  After only three weeks in daycare, Sofia is taking a break. In fact, because of illness, she spent only two weeks (that is, 6 half-days) in daycare in April. Although we liked the facility we had chosen and felt that, given the adjustment time that all children require, it would have been a good fit for Sofia, at least one day a week the daycare had more than the number of children in Sofia's room for which it was licensed. We were not comfortable with this larger number of children, believing that Sofia (and the others) were not getting the attention they required. We spoke to the administrators, who explained the reasons for the problem and the steps they were taking to solve it. So Sofia will remain at home again through May, and if the daycare has solved this issue, she'll return in June.  

New beginnings for us all: On Monday, April 10th, Sofia began daycare. She will attend three mornings a week, for a total of 12 hours. The daycare is 5 minutes' drive away, and we are confident that it is high quality and will be both stimulating and safe. She is in a room of 10 to 14 other 2- to 3-year-olds with two teachers and many different kinds of toys and activities to keep her busy. Her mornings there include a breakfast snack, circle time, a hands-on art or "science" project, outside playtime, and lunch. (We sure hope that watching other children eat a larger variety of foods will inspire her to do the same!) Sofia's first week went well. The first day, we stayed with her the entire morning to reassure her (and us). The second and third days, she cried when we left but quickly calmed down and enjoyed herself. In fact, the change was much more difficult for Jan! (But he'll soon be enjoying his new hours of time for himself.)

Great solo work: On Saturday, March 25, Cameron participated in the Lake Washington School District's Solo/Ensemble Festival for musicians. All day long, groups and soloists from junior high schools around the district played before judges, who provided written and verbal comments, as well as an overall rating. Cameron participated with classmates in a quintet and a sextet, as well as playing a trumpet solo ("Lilacs" by H.A. Vandercook) accompanied by our favorite piano teacher, Tara Wootten. On Monday the band instructor announced that Cameron was the only student from Kamiakin Junior High (out of the nearly 70 from his school who participated) to receive the judges' highest possible rating, a 1+. 

Chilly family visit: Our visit to Holland from February 23rd through March 7th was cold only because the weather in Zeeland, although mostly sunny, was windy and bone-numbing. Fortunately, the warmth of family and friends made up for the weather. We celebrated Jan's father's 75th birthday with the complete family, then spent a week visiting with aunts, uncles, cousins, and family friends. One day was spent in Venlo, where a special treat was taking Sofia to the Toverland indoor amusement park. Shopping for gifts and Dutch comestibles (and, of course, way too much eating) rounded out the low-key visit. For the first time, we rented an apartment, intended primarily for summertime beach  visitors, and it was nice to have our own home-base from which to operate for most of this extended trip. Saying goodbye, although always sad, was not as difficult as usual, since we are able to look forward to seeing everyone again in May. For photos and more details, see Sofia's Album.