Pool Time!

We went in the pool for the first time this weekend. Alice loved it!

Last Thursday, Alice had her 2nd round of tubes put in. Everything went smoothly - no problems at all.

We had a nice family weekend. On Saturday, we just stayed around home and played. On Sunday, the three of us went out for an early dinner to celebrate our anniversary (9 years on 5/19) then came home and went swimming. Lots of fun!

Being Played

I discovered this morning that my darling daughter is playing me like a fiddle. Every morning since she moved to the Early Preschool class she has been crying and squeezing me, in essence, begging me not to leave her. As each day goes by, it seems to get worse rather than better. This morning she was near hysterics and I actually thought she was going to throw up on me.

I asked the teacher how long it typically takes a child to get over this and she told me about a few weeks. She also told me that she thinks that I am prolonging it by sitting with Alice as long as I do (5-10 minutes). She said that I really should come in, say good bye to Alice and leave. She started saying that Alice knows what she is doing and knows that by crying, I will stay longer. She stopped talking and said, “Look at her face”…..

Alice had stopped crying and was listening intently to the teacher with a ‘who me?’ look on her face. WOW, I didn’t realize that I was such a sucker!

Paparazzi Darling

Alice is very used to the paparazzi in our house! She has started trying to disguise herself in hopes that we will not recognize her.

I think the pacifier adds that sophisticated touch, don't you?

Round 2

On Mother's Day, Alice painted pictures for ChaCha and GaGa. (She also painted one for Marshmallow). I am really glad that I decided to do this project outside. Thank goodness for water soluble paint!

On Monday the 10th, I took Alice back to the ENT for a check up. Of course, she has another ear infection. The doc had mentioned to me previously that he would not wait around for numerous infections before he scheduled tubes and he was right! Alice is scheduled for her 2nd round of tubes on Thursday the 20th.

Daycare is going well for Alice. I am still leaving each morning with her in tears but the break through this morning was that she let me put her feel on the ground....she usually climbs up me. She is picking up so much after being in the class for only 2 weeks. John and I are stunned and thrilled every day at what she can do. Such a smart, funny kid.

Sweetie, you are choking Mommy

Today is the 3rd full day that Alice has been in the EP class. The teachers tell me that she is doing pretty well with only a few exceptions. She cries her heart out when the class goes outside and comes back inside because her old class is right across the hall and she sees her old teachers through the hall window. The other time she cries is when she wakes up from her nap. It seems as though she opens her eyes and thinks..."Oh no, I thought it was a bad dream. I really am still here."

This morning, I carried Alice into the room instead of letting her walk in on her own. No tears but she clung to me so tight that I could barely breathe. Each time I tried to pull her off of me, she clung tighter and harder. I have to say that I love the hugs and the closeness since Alice is just not one of those cuddle-y kids but it breaks my heart to see her so upset. When I finally got her to let go, she started bawling..... I know that she was just fine 5 minutes after I was out the door.

One of her new teachers takes pictures of the kids all day. She posts them on a secure Shutterfly site so the parents can all see what the kids do during the day. She told me that she is making sure to take pictures of Alice smiling. Here are a few of the pics from that site.

Such a great pic!

Alice being a monkey!

My mom says that Alice looks like me in this pic - that makes me happy.

A new bedtime ritual? Hope not!

Last night, while John was reading Alice her bedtime story, she got a hold of a new roll of paper towels that was on her dresser. She ripped one off, rubbed her nose, and gave it to me. Then did the same thing two more times. Once the story was over, I took the paper towels, put them back on her dresser and picked her up to put her in the crib. She got upset with me and kept pointing to the dresser - she wanted the paper towels back. I figured it could not do any harm so I gave them back to her. She settled into bed and gave me a wave. I turned off her light and closed the door.

About 30 minutes later, she started crying. I went up to see what the problem was and found her sitting up with paper towels EVERYWHERE. She had taken every shingle sheet off the roll and thrown it about her crib. It looked to me like she was finished with the towels and wanted to lie down but could not find an empty place on her bed to do so. I pulled all of the towels out and just threw them on the floor. (pic is from this morning) I had not turned on her bedroom light so I could not really see if I was getting it all or not. Once the crib was empty, she was content to lie down and go to sleep. Again, I closed the door and went down stairs. About 2-3 minutes later, she started crying again. I went upstairs to find her standing up in the crib with her hand out to me. I held out my hand and she gave me a tiny scrap of paper towel that I had obviously missed. Alice is obviously very detail oriented! We are going to have to remember to keep the paper towels out of her sight - this could become an expensive habit. :)

Moving on UP!

New and great things are about to happen to our favorite little girl! Today, Alice will start the transition from the Infant/Toddler (I/T) classroom to the Early Preschool (EP) classroom! As you can imagine, we are stoked for her. I will rewind a few days to tell you about the speech therapy evaluation and then I will tell you more about school.

Two women from Child Find came to our house last Tuesday afternoon and spent about an hour with us. John and I talked about Alice, what we thought her skills were, what she is doing, etc. They watched Alice play and interact with us and them. They asked Alice questions, looked at books together, and played a few games. Example: They opened a picture book and asked Alice to point to specific items (which she did quickly), they asked her to stack cups inside one another big to small (which she did quickly). She did not say any of her words but she was very vocal and expressive, as usual. When we talked about a bird in a book, she pointed outside (something that we had talked about previously - birds live outside in the trees). When they showed Alice a little cloth stuffed bear, she went over to get her bear. She knew that they were the same even though they were different colors, textures, and sizes!

The evaluators told us that her communication skills are great and that she is in the normal range of speaking for her age. They told us that by about 2 years old, she should have about 50 words and should start with 2 word combinations - more juice, pick up, big dog. They are very comfortable with the fact that she will be talking at the normal rate. They told us that they were very, very impressed with her cognitive skills and that her association was amazing. They told us that we are doing everything right for her and that she is clearly a very bright girl. Of course, we already knew all of that, but it is so great to get such nice reassuring from someone who does not know us and does not have any special interest in Alice. They even told us that they wished they could take John and me with them to other evaluations to be role models for other parents. WOW - what a pat on the back for all of us!

Last Friday, I met with the director of Alice's daycare. We discussed the fact that age-wise, Alice is ready to move from the Infant/Toddler (I/T) classroom to the Early Preschool (EP) classroom. Our meeting was to address any of my concerns and to help us (her parents) decide if we thought she was developmentally and emotionally ready to move up. John and I think that she is very much ready to move up. She is the oldest in her current class and while she is very happy, we know that she needs more stimulation. We have noticed the last few weeks that she has been sort of reverting with some behavior and we think that it is because she is watching the younger kids do things that she has already outgrown. For example, at meal time, she used to pick up her plate and dump her food. She stopped doing that months ago but has just started again. We think that she will start to develop her speech faster by watching the older kids. Kids learn so much more from each other than they do from adults, I think.

So today is Alice's first transition day into her new class. John and I are glued to the webcam to see how she is doing in the 'big kid' room. From what we can tell so far, both classes (I/T & EP) went outside to play and Alice stayed out with the EP kids when the I/T kids came in. I watched the EP kids come back in and have a snack. It looked like Alice was very upset because she was in a teacher's lap the whole time. After snack was story time, Alice sat on the mat with the other kids and seemed OK. After story time was playtime, it looked like Alice was off playing on her own in the corner but it was hard to tell if she was upset or not. I just peeked in to the EP class and did not see her - looked in the I/T class and saw that Alice is back in that room eating lunch. I am sure that she will nap very well today. Tomorrow, Alice will spend a few more hours in the EP room and will nap there too. On Wednesday, she will be in the EP class all day.
I hope my girl adjusts well, I hate to see her upset. So amazing to see her grow and change. She is such an awesome kid and is developing such a fantastic and funny personality. Hope she has a good week!