Monday, May 30, 2011

Signs of Preschool Readiness, Exhibit A


I think Sody is going to be a pretty well-adjusted little kid. In general her adaptability in various situations, different places, or meeting new people is great...she pretty much goes with the flow, and seems to like doing just that. But my latest piece of evidence comes from last week when we visited a preschool. Now before you get excited, this was not a preschool visit for her. I do not have my sh** together nearly enough to have even started searching for preschools for the dear (which induces total panic in me, especially when you hear of insanity like mothers going on preschool tours WHEN THEY ARE STILL PREGNANT...not to mention the cost of preschool is basically going to be like having another rent to pay) but we were tagging along with her friend Kyler who is about to start at said preschool. Just a quick visit of an hour or so to play and hang out and check out the lay of the land. It was as eye-opening for me as it was Sody, as this was the very first preschool we have gone to together.

In a nutshell, I loved it. Loved the house it was located in, loved the location, loved the kids, loved the mix of employees, loved the outdoor space for the kids, loved the tiny little english muffin pizzas they got for snacktime, and *really* loved how well behaved the kids were: everyone goes as a group to line up and wash hands, then everyone sits nicely and waits their turns for snack, and everyone raises their hands quietly if they want more. It is ADORABLE. I wanted to hang out all day. I want to get a job there.

And guess what, Sody loved it even more than I did. My first indication was that as soon as we walked in to the place, I basically lost her. We were talking to the director a bit, hi-how-are-you-blah-blah-blah, and before I knew it Sody had blasted off to the backyard where all the action was. She jumped in to joining the other kids' play so fast that when I found her she was over around the side of the house, trying to get onto a bike with another girl. Absolutely no qualms about leaving my side, about who all these kids were, about what this magical place was. She just jumped in and tackled it all. She tried everything out, sat with Kyler for snacktime, answered the kids who asked her what her name was. (p.s. Do you get to hear a lot of not-prompted-by-adults conversation between preschoolers? It is pretty awesome. Non-sequiturs like you wouldn't believe.)

The visit reinforced for me that she is going to adore going to preschool. Sure, it will be different when I actually leave and when she actually goes to a school for many hours of the day...but this was a good start. A good sign. I am definitely going to be the one who is crying more when I drop her off on her first day, whenever that day is. The best part of our trip was when she saw us getting ready to leave, putting on jackets and backpacks and gathering things. She was across the yard playing with some block type things with other kids and she looks over and goes, "Not ready, Mommy." Ha! Not ready to go. Want to play more.

I know, Babe...I am not ready for you to go, either...

Saturday, May 21, 2011

May Roundup

Well, OBVIOUSLY, I am having a hard time keeping up-to-date here. Is there anyone out there even checking this anymore? Apologies to my two readers for disappearing...but we are still here! We are alive! We are busy! The past few weeks have mostly been full of babysitting. Lots of work this month but soon will be down to just a trickle...which is fun for the stay-at-home mom part of my life but terrible for my pocketbook. But that is a whole other blog post for another time. For now, here is my shorthand for what has been happening during our May:

*Discovered, fell in love with, and repeatedly visited an all mac-and-cheese restaurant in Oakland

*Elvis Costello concert on Mother's Day. SO fun. Thank you to Doo, best present ever.

*Sody had her first non-family babysitters put her to bed when we were at the concert. Apparently she was a champ. Thanks Ian and Celina!

*Working on potty training. Some hits, some misses. Literally.

*Sody started climbing out of her crib so we switched it to a "big girl bed" (take one wall off the crib and voila!) It's going ok so far...only been a week but she has yet to spend the entire night in said bed.

*First trip to the dentist!! She did great, of course, and I could have cried seeing how big she looked sitting in the chair.

*For the first time, all three of us got sick at the same time. It sucked. Who goes out to buy the juice and soup when everyone is sick?!

*Tantrums. A few more than usual to make us we see how two-year-olds get their reputations. On the whole she is still the World's Best and Most Perfect Child (of course), but I will admit it is wild to watch her go from happy as a clam to completely destroyed in the span of an eyeblink. Usually over something like, oh, her sock getting twisted wrong on her foot. It's really hard not to laugh sometimes...but hey, it's hard to be 2.

*Yesterday I got my first "Go away, Mom." HEART BROKEN. Also, Daddy is apparently a "bad guy." WHA WHAAA? Where does this come from??




Monday, May 2, 2011

"Babymarch"






...is what Sody said all day last Saturday when we did the March of Dimes "March for Babies" walk in San Francisco. Gorgeous weather and a gorgeous route to walk along the water towards the Golden Gate Bridge that morning. Sody walked a good portion of it, but of course 2 year olds don't exactly stay focused on the task at hand. She wanted to run on every grassy area we passed, jump off every rock, and run on the beach and roll in the sand. So we took our time - about three hours start to finish. A great day, a great cause, and a reminder of how lucky we are to have our healthy girl.

Also - have you tried those Plum Organics fruit sauce-in-a-pouch thingys? They were one of the sponsors so they would give out samples along the route and Sody discovered a new favorite snack. She must have had five or six of those pouches that day. Loving free food - she gets that from her mother, definitely.

Easter Sunday

Easter was a low-key affair around here. We convinced Sody that the Easter Bunny dropped by while she was playing in her room and she just happened to miss him. Amen to gullibility at this age. So we had a small egg hunt and a basket hiding in our room for her. She definitely had fun but was most interested in throwing Easter grass all over the living room and getting all the jelly beans ("gee-wee beans") out of the eggs and into her mouth. The girl has a one track mind when it comes to jelly beans.