4 Going on 14

Luna recently turned 4 years old, and the lucky girl got a whole week of celebrating. On her actual birthday I took her to Daylight Donuts for breakfast as a surprise. She chose Golden Corral for dinner, and we were joined by my parents and brother. We ended the night at home with Luna opening her presents from us and her different sets of grandparents.

The Saturday of her birthday week we had a friend party for Luna. Our dear friends from our apartment came. It was really low key. The kids played, and the adults ate and visited. It was really fun. Then on Sunday, we had Luna's final birthday dinner at my parents' house (everyone in my family gets to choose Sunday dinner the Sunday after their birthday).

It does not feel like Luna is 4 years old. Not just because time flies and I emotionally can't handle her growing up, but because she is cognitively advanced. She was speaking in full sentences by the time she was 2. She could sing the alphabet by the time she was 3. Not only could she recognize letters, but write them as well, and she can write her name. She took a preschool admittance test back in June, and the teacher told me that she has never met a 3 year old who can confidently sing the alphabet by themselves on command to an adult. Luna knows her last name - another thing the teacher said was rare in 3 year old children. Luna knew all the shapes, colors, and numbers. Luna can count to 100 by herself. The teacher said at the end of the test, "She is definitely ready for school." But Luna was not accepted to the preschool because she scored too highly. They wanted to focus on preschool students who needed more help in order to prepare them for kindergarten. Luna doesn't need help preparing for kindergarten, she just needs to go to kindergarten.

Unfortunately, for Luna, regardless of how ready she is, she might not get to attend kindergarten for another two years because Luna will turn 5 years old 2 days after the deadline date for school. I had heard of parents getting their children into kindergarten via early admittance, so I emailed the principal of the school Benjamin was attending at the time, and asked if Luna could be admitted to their 4 year old preschool a year early since I planned on applying for early admittance to kindergarten. The principal said that Utah law did not allow early admittance, so there would be no early preschool nor early kindergarten for Luna. She said that I could apply for her to take a test the year she was scheduled to go to kindergarten to skip kindergarten and go to first grade. I didn't feel like that was the best option for Luna because she needs to be in a classroom now. So I went to the school district and asked if Luna could be given that test but for kindergarten. I told them all of Luna's cognitive abilities. They said the same thing as the principal, that Utah law won't allow it. They said that private schools are allowed to accept early admittance, and I could go that route and then transfer her back to public school for first grade - but she would still need to take a test to get into first grade a year early. I knew we couldn't afford private school, and I didn't feel like I could take Benjamin to one school and Luna to another. I then searched out this law that the principal and district administrator had mentioned. This is what I found:

Index	Utah Code
Title 53G	Public Education System -- Local Administration
Chapter 4	School Districts
Part 4	Local School Board Powers and Miscellaneous Duties
Section 402	Powers and duties generally. (Effective 1/24/2018)

“

“ (6) Except as provided in Section 53E-3-905, a board may enroll children in school who are at least five years of age before September 2 of the year in which admission is sought.”

I interpreted that wording to mean that the decision was actually in the hands of the district, unlike what the principal and district administrator had claimed. I decided to email my representative in the Utah State Legislature, Marsha Judkins. Not only is Marsha my representative, she also has over 20 years of experience in public education before she ran for the State House. She spoke with the State lawyers and told me that yes, my interpretation of the law was correct. She further explained that the reason why many districts choose not to is because they do not receive funding for a student until the correct year they should start school. So, most districts don't want to educate students that they aren't receiving funding for. I understand that, I don't like it, but I understand. Marsha said that she would look into the possibility of changing that policy. It's been several months and I haven't heard back from her. I was really excited at first, but now I'm not holding my breath anymore. I'm not mad at Marsha. She's a freshman representative, so she probably doesn't have a lot of power right now. Gerson said, "At least you can tell Luna that you went all the way to the government to get her in school early." And we joke that Luna will be valedictorian one day. (Coincidentally, that's exactly what Gerson did. His birthday was 3 days after the deadline, so he was the oldest in his class. And he was a good student and graduated valedictorian of his senior class in high school.)

We have since moved to a different school district. Now that I'm more knowledgeable than before - and due to a casual conversation with someone in this school district - I'm going to see what I can do here, and it might be possible now. I'm not getting my hopes up too high, but I have to at least try so that I know I did everything I could for Luna.

Luna has the cutest imagination. She loves playing dress-up; and rotates between playing doctor, school, and princesses. She wears either her princess dress-up or Doc McStuffins dress up all day long. Whenever we go out in public I make her change into regular clothing. She loves Elsa, Tiana, and Ariel. She also has 4 favorite hair styles: down, ponytail, an "Elsa braid", and an "Anna braid."

Luna is very artsy. She loves to color with crayons and markers; and her absolute favorite form of art is to paint. She tears out coloring book pages and paints the image. Then when it is dry, she cuts the image out and glues it to a blank piece of paper and hangs it on the fridge. She is so proud of the picture she colors in Primary every Sunday at church. She retains everything she learns at church, and tells me all about it on the way home.

I am so proud of her, and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father entrusted her to me. I love my little Luna girl.

Family History, A Conversation With Grandma

A few weeks ago, I visited my great-grandma Virginia Hegstrom - she is my children's great-great-grandma! A couple of years ago I shared her love story with my grandpa. Throughout the weekend I got  to ask her questions about her life. I got a small snippet of the wonderful life she lived when she was younger, and I hope to get more information on future visits. Our conversation wasn't a formal sit-down interview - my aunt tried that a while ago with an audio recorder, but it was too uncomfortable for my grandma. So throughout the weekend I would ask my grandma questions about her younger years that connected to whatever was going on around us.

Virginia was born in 1925 and has lived her whole life in the Nampa, Idaho area. In fact, the house that she was born in is still standing; but the house is no longer in the family, it was a rental. With the information that she was born in that house, I asked my grandma if she had her babies at home or in the hospital. Her response made me giggle, "Oh I'm not that ancient! I had them in the hospital."

The house that Virginia currently lives in was built on land that has been in her family for several generations. It is decorated so beautifully, and I told her that I have always loved her house. I learned than an interior decorator designed the inside for The Parade of Homes. Since Gerson and I just bought a house, and the purpose of our visit was to pick up some furniture that my grandma was giving us, we talked about my new house frequently. Gerson and I lived in three different apartments over nine years before we bought our house. I asked my grandma if she ever lived in any apartments in her early married years. She said no, that they lived in two houses in town before they built the house they have now - which used to be surrounded by farmland, but it is slowly being developed. There is now a neighborhood surrounding my grandma's land, and a hospital across the street.

When I was a kid, my grandparents adopted a stray cat that they named Jack. A few cats tend to find their way onto my grandma's farm, and she will feed them, and they call the farm home by returning. She has never let them into her house, but they can stay on the porch or in the shed. Jack was definitely the most friendly of the farm cats in my lifetime. He was always on the porch and let all of us pet and love him. The other cats trust Virginia only. I asked her if she has always had a pet. She told me no, that she's not a great animal lover, but they did have a family dog on their farm growing up. Even though she claims to not be an animal lover, I think my grandma at least enjoys the cats since she feeds them and allows them to be in the shed.

Virginia attended elementary school in a two-room school house. The first room was on the first floor, and the second room was on the second floor. Grades first through fourth were on the first floor/room and grades fifth through eighth were on the second floor/room. I asked my grandma if there were multiple teachers or just one per room. She said it was one teacher for each room/floor. I asked her if the teacher would apply the content to each level, and she said she couldn't remember those details. That was still definitely different from how school is now a days - even in rural areas.

Virginia went to Kuna High School for her secondary education years. She told me that she wanted to go to Nampa High School, but was in Kuna boundaries, and that made her angry. Kuna is where my Grandpa Elvin, her husband, grew up and lived at the time. When she told me that she had been upset to go to Kuna, I said, "Well, it looks like it all worked out since you met Grandpa, right?" She chuckled and said, "Yeah, it looks like it."

What got us talking about her high school was me asking my grandma if she drove, walked, or rode the bus to school. She said that she walked to elementary school, and took the bus to high school because it was so far away. Because women have been denied other rights and privileges in the past, I asked my grandma if there were any social problems with women driving cars when she was young, she said not at all. She learned to drive when she was very young so that she could help her dad on the farm. I asked her if teenagers had their own cars when she was in high school, like many do today. She laughed and said no, that there was only one family car in most families.

Virginia grew up in a very religious family. She told me that she was in a guitar club and part of the uniforms were slacks, which her dad would not allow her to wear. He did let her wear the slacks for performances, but that was it. Elvin grew up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Virginia converted to the Church several years after she married Elvin. I ask my grandma if Idaho was like Utah with a lot of members of the Church. She said no, that she didn't know that much about the Church before she met my grandpa. It didn't bother her that he was a member, and based on her words, I don't think the difference of religion was a hindrance to their relationship and marriage. I asked my grandma if the missionaries came and visited her when she became interested in the Church. She said that my grandpa just taught her and would take her to Church. Their oldest living daughter (they had three babies that went to Heaven early), my grandma Linda, was around 7 or 8 years old when the family got sealed, and she remembers going into the temple.

Virginia has been known as an excellent cook by her children and grandchildren. I asked her how she learned to cook. She said that she just watched her mom cook and learned from that. I wanted to ask her for more detail, but we got interrupted, and didn't get back on that topic. My mom told me that Virginia's mom, grandma Vassar, made homemade egg noodles that were delicious. The next time that I get to talk to my grandma I definitely want to talk to her more about her cooking experiences.

I have always had a good relationship with my grandma. While we were visiting, she got to see that my children have a similar relationship with my mom. I asked her if she had a good relationship with her grandma. She said, "Oh yes, but she lived far away." It turned out that "far away" was only five miles. I thought that was such a great perspective to learn, because my parents live 9 miles away, and I consider that pretty close. Virginia spent every summer with her grandma, and my mom spent every summer with Virginia, and Benjamin, Luna, and Lily spend every weekend with my mom all year around!

In one of the bedrooms of Viginia's house are some really special 4 generation photographs. The first photo is of my great-great-great grandma Bertha Bodle, my great-great grandma Bessie Vassar, my great grandma Virginia Hegstrom, and my grandma Linda Peterson (who was a baby at the time). The next photo is of grandma Vasser, Grandma Hegstrom, Grandma Peterson, and my mom Debbie Larson (who was a baby at the time). The next photo is of grandma Hegstrom, grandma Peterson, my mom, and me (I'm a toddler). The final photo is the four of us twenty years later with Benjamin. I love this collection of photos. It's such a special tradition to do these four - and now five - generation photos. We also have some with Luna and Lily in them as well, they just aren't framed.

I'm so grateful that I was able to learn so much about my grandma and enjoy such a conversation with her.