Kennedy Says - Part 5

 

72. Kennedy opened a fortune cookie that said an admirer was thinking about her.

Kennedy: I don't have just one admirer. Three people have crushes on me.

73. Kennedy: I think I'm the smallest first grader of all time. But that's okay. It's just how I was made.

74. Kennedy (as she was tucked into bed last night): I'm just so excited for our new house, and I'm so glad I came to earth, and I'm in this family.

75. We celebrated Amanda's birthday last night, with her favorite: chocolate cake AND chocolate ice cream.

Kennedy: Does Her have any normal ice cream, like vanilla?

76. Kennedy continues to be by far the smallest in her class and probably in the entire 1st grade. She is perfectly healthy, just petite. 

Kennedy: Some boys were teasing me. They said I'm so small they could pick me up and use me as a hockey stick. 

Shulamith: How did that make you feel?

Kennedy: Sad. I don't want them to use me as a hockey stick.

Shulamith: Well, they won't. They were just teasing you.

Kennedy: I know. They probably couldn't even lift me.

77. At Kennedy's school, (like all elementary schools), there is a program that offers extrinsic rewards to students for good behavior. They earn points, and then they can choose what they want to spend them on. One choice that costs 25 points is to eat lunch with the teacher.

Kennedy: Why would anyone want to do that? It's so dumb. You just eat your lunch, but your teacher is there, so you don't get to talk to your friends. I can't believe so many kids chose that one.

78. Kennedy tends to be a bit of a perfectionist, something I understand all too well. So this incident made me (and my mom) laugh out loud. Kennedy has soccer practice on Wednesdays at 5:00 p.m. But last week, Shulamith and I (and Seth and Isaiah) had tickets to a Jazz game, our first in-person game since before COVID. Matt is never home from work by 5:00, so Shulamith told Kennedy she would miss her practice just this one week.

Shulamith: I'm going to be gone that night at a Jazz game, so you can miss this one practice. It's okay.

Kennedy (melting into sobs): Fine. I guess I'll just never get good at soccer.

(In the end, Kennedy was so distraught that Shulamith asked the kids' grandma if she could take Kennedy to her practice, and she did. Whew.)

79. Kennedy has played soccer this season and worked so hard! Her last game was yesterday, and she so badly wanted to score a goal.

Kennedy: I just need some courage today.

(She must have found that courage because she scored not one, not two, but THREE goals in her final game.)

80. Kennedy's dance recital was also yesterday. Beforehand, Shulamith was showing her videos of past recitals when she was younger, and in one, she was searching for the 'X' on the floor, where she was supposed to stand.

Shulamith: When you were little, you always worried so much about finding your 'X."

Kennedy: I still do! It's very important to me.

81. Kennedy is a true Webster girl and loves fashion and cute clothes. She also love surprises. Recently, Shulamith bought her some shorts and just left them out on her bed. She was thrilled. She told Shulamith how much she loves "surprise clothes." So the next week, I got her a new dress and left it on her bed. Later, she talked to Shulamith about it.

Kennedy: Her picks out the best surprise clothes. You should only buy me clothes when Her is with you.

82. Shulamith was jumping on the trampoline with Kennedy.

Kennedy: Mom, you are forgetting the most important part - pointing your toes!

83. Shulamith: Do you think maybe you should do something else now; you've been watching you phone for quite awhile?

Kennedy: Why?

Shulamith: Because it's not good for your brain to be watching a screen all day.

Kennedy: No, It's find. I still know stuff.

83. Swen is a bit obsessed these days with washing machines. Talks about them almost constantly.

Kennedy: Talking about washing machines all the time is actually a lot weirder than you think.

84. We took all three kids school shopping with money Great-Grandma sent for school clothes.

Me: You're gonna be the best dressed kids at Mountain Point Elementary.

Swen: Nope. We won't. We will be well dressed. But we won't be the "best" dressed kids.

Kennedy: Yeah. We are just a middle family.

85. Shulamith: I really shouldn't have to clean your room for you when you are the one who made the mess.

Kennedy: Moms are always servants.

86. Kennedy has been playing soccer this fall. She enjoys the social part, talking to all the other girls, but unlike dance and gymnastics, she doesn't exactly excel at soccer.

Kennedy: I don't like being crowded in that big group of girls running after the ball, so I just stay on the outside.

87. Speaking of gymnastics, Kennedy is getting stronger and better all the time. In her current class, she is ahead of the other girls, who have just started, so the coach often asks her to demonstrate the skill for them.

Me: Do you like it when your coach asks you to demonstrate for the other girls?

Kennedy: Actually, that's my favorite part.

88. Because we have several of us with mental health issues, we talk a a lot about brain chemistry. Swen knows that he has ADHD, which means his brain deals with things a bit differently than is typical.

Kennedy: Swen, I don't think your brain is weird; I just think you're weird.

89. Kennedy: Let's go to Seagull Book!

Shulamith: We can't. It's closed on Sunday.

Kennedy: But it's ABOUT Sunday.

(Note: Seagull Book is a bookstore here in Utah that sells church books, paintings, etc.)ome

90. Swen: Someday, when Dad is rich, maybe he can buy my own laundromat. 

Kennedy: Swen, Dad will never, ever be rich.