One Week Down

So, you heard about day #1...

Day #2: Pretty similar. Loosened up a little. Still not eating lunch or even playing near other kids.

Day #3: Screams and cries and clutches at drop off. As though she's realized "this is it, and it's happening every day..." I realized I wasn't giving her any good cue I was leaving since her drop off is on the playground. So, after talking to the teacher, we changed drop off to include walking into her room to leave horsey in her cubby and then a goodbye at the gate to the playground.

Day #4: Drop off at gate... went okay. Crying, but the teacher distracted her pretty fast. They waved goodbye and I could see by the time I was driving away her crying had stopped. She ate lunch today. But, except for the first day, she's been taking short little naps... She comes home a complete ball of social energy. As though all the shyness has only stored up all her need to play and socialize and so she explodes when at home in the evening. Today was better and calmer though, so we speculated this meant she got more socializing done at school.

Day #5: Drop-off was tear-free again. She ate lunch and took a tiny nap. Played "near" kids the teacher reported. Teacher, assistant and director all separately reported to us that today she was significantly more involved and engaged and less shy.

We'll see how coming off the weekend goes. Mondays she is home with me for mom-Kate time which I love. I work a hairdresser's schedule and while I miss the Saturday family time, I really totally love my Kate-mom time on Monday. Hopefully Tuesday will be okay and she'll pick up where she left off.

Other news...

Kate loves counting. Not necessarily counting accurately, but you'll hear her counting every few minutes. She also now points to words and says "AB Cs" and wants to know the sounds. She can pick out a "sssss" and knows that the "p" is for "papa." I think because she's such a bookworm she's just really interested in figuring the whole letter thing out.

We have noticed that she's learned to swing from the bar above the slide at school. I am waiting to see what else she brings home in her new bag of school-tricks.

This week she's starting to string together three words into phrases. For example, when she was talking to my dad she told him "Daddy boo boo boat" to let him know that we had some problems with getting the boat out today. Cracked me up. The other day we watched the metrorail go past us and I talked about how maybe sometime Kate and I can take the train. In response she specifies "Kate Mama Daddy train" so I don't forget Daddy P in the outing.

We are just soaking up her twos and loving all the words and personality and independence that she is flaunting. She's such a joy. Every day just gets better.

She dressed herself

School girl

Quick Child Care Update

Today went without a hitch. (collective sigh)

On the way to school Kate and I talked about what was going to happen. She was well prepped since we've been reading the "going to school" book that I wrote for her for a week now. (It has pictures of the school, and teachers, and is basically just a description of her whole school day routine including before school and who picks her up.) So, we got there and she knew we were going to first put Horsey in her cubby, so in we go. That done, she walks me to the playground since she also knew she'd be arriving at play time.

Then, she hesitantly plays, keeping close. After a few minutes she lets a teacher push her on the swing. I give her 5, 2 and 1 minute warnings, and then tell her I have to go to work. I kiss her, she walks into a "train" on the playground and I leave. That was seriously it.

Then I got in the car and choked back tears.

We got an email update from the director a few hours later that she'd warmed up a bit on the playground, but still kept to herself, and then took a good nap that afternoon. (Miraculous!!)

She apparently hadn't eaten lunch because she was so timid, but by snacktime after lunch must have been so hungry she devoured everything. The teacher sent us a nice note home detailing how it went.

When Daddy P arrived, she took his hand, walked him over to the teacher, and said "truck" since she was also prepped she'd have to ride the truck home since I'd have the car. With that, they gathered up horsey and came home.

She was tired tonight, but smiling a lot. She was making up for her shyness all day by babbling constantly all evening and being super duper active.

Hopefully tomorrow will go just as well!!

We're Rich! (Maybe)

You've heard of the goose that laid the golden egg, right? Well, how about the toddler who laid the silver quarter?

She might have eaten it... but if she didn't, man, we are on our way bay-beee!

Going Underground

Well folks, after almost two years of keeping up with this blog I am making it private. As Kate gets older and pictures get more location specific I get a little more weirded out about having everything out there for all to see. If you have somehow ended up a reader through a friend and want to continue checking in just let me know -- I'm happy to add you to the invite list. But in the next week or so we're changing this from a house party to a dinner party...

Thanks for reading, and hope you continue to enjoy in more intimate quarters...

Prep for Child care

We spent the week preparing for Kate's transition to childcare. The school had "open house" days that lasted two hours each day in which the classroom was open for her to come visit. It went something like this:

Clutching, clawing, and grabbing at Mom. Burying head in my armpit. Avoiding all eye contact. No vocalizations. (20 minutes)
Holding tightly to Mom, sitting on her lap, facing out (10 minutes).
Sitting next to Mom, avoiding eye contact with others, but playing with toys. Eye contact puts us back at the previous step. (10 minutes)
Allowing a teacher to sit in proximity and talk about play, but no eye contact. (5 minutes)
Interacting with the teacher only if the teacher a) does not demand eye contact or physical contact, and b) if the teacher does not demand answers to questions. (Rest of visit)


By the last day she would wander around the classroom (avoiding other children) and allow the teacher to play with her. She still got really squirreley about it and made me feel as though come her first day I will be bawling in the car on the way home.

Phrases

Today Kate started using phrases in earnest:

"Mama's home!"
"Kate's music"
"Daddy book"
"Not mama"

Although I loved that "Mama's home" made the list of first totally understandable phrase, we ended the evening with "not mama" which feels a little less satisfying, but still exciting nonetheless.

Thunder in the Zoo

We went to Rainforest Cafe one night since we were a block away and we didn't want to get in the car. I had never been, but Daddy P assured me there would be lots of fake animals moving around, and all kinds of craziness. We prepared Kate.

"Kate, we're going to see ANIMALS!" (How do you explain "fake"? Couldn't quite get it across...)

"Namals!" she cried.

We went. She was a little freaked out. It was very dark, and very very busy, and there was a lot to take in for my sensory-sensitive child. But she enjoyed it. Until. Until she and Daddy P were walking around looking at the "Gorilla family" and the "thunderstorm" started. The lights flash, a lot of noise happens, and Daddy P said Kate grabbed hold of him and shouted "mama!!!" She returned to the table and clung to me through the rest of the meal.

(yes, we're in a mama phase, and yes, I'm totally eating it up)

The next time the thunder came on, she was less freaked out and instantly signed "thunder" and looked around to watch the flashes. When it was over she signed more and said "again" and then signed "thunder."

Today, we went to the real zoo. I was excited. I hadn't been to this zoo in ten years. I didn't remember it sucking, so I thought that we were in for a fun morning. We were getting ready, and again I'm talking about seeing the animals. Kate says "zoo!" and signs this weird thing that doesn't make sense to me. It kinda looks like drive, but not really. And kinda looks like plane, but her fist is closed. And then, it hits me. She's signing "thunder" because she thinks we already went to the zoo.

I started cracking up, and tried to explain that no, we weren't going to eat at the zoo, but we were going to see lots of animals and we'd be **outside**.

It was a ton of fun. It was super kid-friendly, and she loved the "children's zoo" exhibits. We survived the 100+ weather, and left around noon to avoid heat stroke. All in all lots of fun.

And no thunder.

Fun in H-town

Baby's first donuts, splashpad at the park, lunch with her mom's friend, and the aquarium. Oh and barbecue! Busy day!

I'll teach you teach

Kate came in this morning to hand me "my" horsey (her backup). In reply I said, "oh! You're giving me Dos!"

She signs then says "thank you" and points at me.

I say, "thank you" and she says "elcum" which Daddy P quickly pointed out is the Kate version of "you're welcome" -- a phrase she hasn't said to me before.

We are heading out to explore today. We hit the hotel pool and Rainforest Cafe yesterday. The pool is a huge hit. The cafe freaked her out a bit. She kept saying "zoo" so it will be interesting tomorrow when we to to the real zoo with real animals.

Vacation in H-town

My dad hooked us up with a suite on our weekend gateway in H-town. Here is Kate checking the place out. The first thing Daddy P said was "This place is bigger than our first apartment!" And, it very much is. Our first place didn't have a separate kitchen, let alone a separate bedroom, and was about 400 sq ft.

Ah to be a grown-up...with a daddy who has Hilton points...

Nighttime is dark?

We kept Kate out late last weekend to celebrate my birthday at a friend's house. While we were there, she was standing at the window saying "ark ark ark ark" very emphatically. After some confusion, we realized she was saying "dark" and that she had never seen it dark (recently) at night. We had to explain that it gets dark at night when we go to bed. We have curtains at night in her room since she goes to bed when it is still light out, and we aren't usually out that late. So we showed her what "real" stars are, and talked about the night sky. It was really funny.

The best part is that the day before she'd seen the moon for the first time -- at 9am. So she's pretty confused about the whole moon stars thing right now...