Kelsey's First Day of Preschool!

So, today was Kelsey's FIRST day at Preschool.
I was SO excited!! Oh.. she was excited too.
Last week we dropped by the preschool to check it out. Its a preschool that I started looking into about 1/2 a year ago and was hugely disappointed to find that they only take kids once they're 2 1/2. They claim that, in general, they're not ready for the structure before then. In the case of Kelsey, I think she would've been more ready for the structure half a year ago, and is more likely to rebel and throw tanty's about structure now.. but they're the professionals.
Anyway, a friedn of mine sends her 2 girls there as well, so I asked her a lot of questions  and liked what I heard. Its a Christian preschool. And its fairly structured. 2 HUGE pluses in my eyes. So, last week I brought Kelsey for a look see and to see if they ahd any spots available. They had 1 spot available - a Friday morning. That worked out great since that's the day that my friend's kids go as well. So, for now she'll go one morning a week.
She has been talking about preschool ever since that visit. "Go to preschool today?" "Play with kids today?"
So, finally today dawned. It was the last thing she talked about before sleep last night and the first thing she talked about this morning. I don't know if I've ever seen her wolf down her breakfast so quickly. And it was the only mornings I didn't have to struggle to do her hair (ok.. it was a little lopsided, its hard, Alright?)
Marco happened to be home from work this morning, so off we went as an entire family for Kelsey's first morning of preschool.

As soon as she saw the building, she knew where she was.. off she marched from the car, confident as ever up to the preschool house with her backpack on her back. Inside, Marco met the main teacher - Mrs Maria. Mrs Maria showed Kelsey the "coat" room where Kelsey could hang her backpack. Then off to see the other kids. Kelsey's friends were already there and Hannah asked Kelsey if she'd like to go outside. So, off they went. I don't know if Kelsey even knew we were still there. After watching her play for about 5 minutes, Maroc and I decided to head off on a little date of our own (with Morgan, of course). So, a quick goodbye and all was fine. Mrs Maria took kelsey to see the swings to  make it a bit easier for us to get away but there it was. My firstborn is growing up and LOVING prechool.

I picked her up 3 hours later (it was the quietest morning - it was incredible!!) I'm a bit of a loser as I was so excited to pick her up that I forgot to even debrief with any of the teachers to see how she did. I tried to get some info out fo Kelsey - but it was hard to get anything useful out of her. I did learn that they played with water (mostly because her hair and clothes were sopping wet), she may have done some painting (there was paint on her shirt), she listened to a Bible story (I think Jesus was a baby), and the most important thing - she had fruit for snack!!
Iwas pretty embarrassed that I had forgotten to talk to the teachers, so I called them during lunch time (there's a lunch session and an afternoon session as well). Mrs Maria assured me that Kelsey did GREAT!  She says that Kelsey has huge self-confidence and the only problem was that she didn't want to stop playing when it was mat time - but she assured me that this is completely normal with the 'littlies' or newbies.
I'm so proud of my little/big girl and I'm SO happy that she can finally go to preschool. Now.. I wonder if we can manage a couple more mornings a week......

Glimpses of Glory

For anyone who knows me (as aparent), you probably know that I'm struggling (a bit) with this whole 2 year old thing. The 2 year old is a morphed alien like creature. Unable to reason. Unable to discern language. Able to throw fits and change moods quicker than superman can change clothes. But what I'm discovering about the 2 year old stage is that they also (somehow) manage to be cuter than a puppy (at times).
Kelsey is 2. But I've seen remarkable changes in her - especially in the last month (or so) - and since I failed to talk about her last month.. I figured I should do so now.
Firstly.. the most exciting news. I/We checked out a preschool last week - and she starts next Friday!! Woot woot!! They only had one morning space available but it happened to be on fridays which is the same day one of her friends form church goes too. So.. hopefully that'll help. my goals for preschool - develop some social skills and leaern how to interact around adults and children alike (who aren't family - ones who actually expect you to act reasonable!) Academically, she's way beyond what I noticed the other kids are (I don't know them all, but just what I noticed in theri play). But socially.. she's way behind. She just watched dumbstruck as they sang a song with actions (even if she knew the song), she kept trying to talk to me as the teacher was telling a story. Perhaps it was because I was there, but she kept asking me permission instead of simply listening to the teacher's instructions. For example, after story time the teacher excuses each child individually from the sitting mat. Each of the other kids knew to get up and run off to play.. Kelsey truned to me to ask if she could get up. I'm assumign however that it was simply because I was there. No doubt she'll be best friends with all of them within the month and inviting herself around to their houses.

                                                 Kelsey's "happy" face

Some days the things that come out of her mouth, just crack me up. Lately at the supper table, she's started this thing (copying me, of course) where she asks everyone, individually, if its yummy. "Mommy, yummy potatoes?" And she says it with a completely serious expression - like she really cares what the answer is! The other night we had a friend over for dinner, and she kept asking him (like 5 or 6 times), "is it yummy?" poor guy.. I hope he didn't feel the need to lie.
She's thouroughly enjoying the fact that her sister moves around now. She's discovered that going into a room and calling "Morgan come here!!" doesn't work nearly as well as getting down on the floor and crawling into the room while calling for Morgan. So.. this is what she does now. Unfortunately, its usually followed by slamming the bedroom door right before Morgan gets there. But alas.. we'll focus on the positives today.
I was just reminded of something weird she's been doing over the last couple months. Between 10 and 11 pm suddenly we'll hear kelsey crying - this isn't every night, maybe once a week on average - we'll rush in (she doesn't cry very often anymore) and she'll be sitting up almost disoriented - once or twice she's been standing in the middle of her room. We'll simply lie her back down and she'll pop her thumb in her mouth and go back to sleep. Its so bizarre.
Oh.. and I think we've tackled the eating supper issue. Well, for now anyway. In a what I believe to be fairly typical 2 year old manner,  she would often decide before dinner that she wasn't hungry, or that she didn't like something, or that she just didn't want to eat stuff. We are NOT the type of parents to make stuff to suit our child's whims and desires but you still want your child to develop well and eat the right foods. So.. for a while (probably a month or so) I was just not making a big deal out of anything food related at the dinner table. I only put a small amount on her plate. If you eat that you get more, if you don't want to eat it, that's ok, but that's all there is and you wait till we're all done before being excused. No arguments, no bribes.. just that. Happy conversations ensued around her. I was also watching when she did like a meal, how much she could eat - if its spaghetti, she can eat almost as much as me. One day, I talked it over with Marco, and we knew that he'd be home for dinner for a full week (he was working mornings), so we started part 2 of the plan. "Kelsey, you're a big girl, and big girls eat everything on their plates." (this won't be our rule forever, but with her, its necessary for now) "So, tonight, you're going to eat everything on your plate" It was a fairly normal meal - a meal that she likes everything, but often decides that she doesn't. Then we proceeded to eat. If Marco or I saw her playing around and not eating, we'd tell her to eat. If she threw a fuss at all (basically did anything except put food in her mouth), we gave her a 2 minute timeout.  When she came back, she had to eat immediately. The first night she got maybe 4 timeouts. In fact, we even finished the meal (did devotions and everything) and left her at the table to finish her plate. She knew we were serious. It was finished by 6:30 (we had started at 5:30). The next night she had 2 timeouts. and for the rest of the week she tested us every single night with 1 timeout. Now we've had 3 meals in a row with NO timeouts. she jsut buckles down and eats. Even stuff that I know she's not too keen on (salad, rice). I'm  SO excited. I know she'll test us again and I know I have to use my mommy wisdom to determine if she really can't stomach something - but its not like I'm serving up spinach - and even that.. its just a mindset.
Anyway.. its late now. I'm working on a video of kelsey being cute.. (its hard to get many clips of it  tee hee!) I'll post it soon.

Oh.. just thought of a cute (love my little 2 year old) story. a coupel weeks ago, I was sick. REALLY sick. Pounding headache. Sinus infection. I was lying downon the couch  feeling incredibly sorry for myself, blanket pulled up high around my chin, eyes closed (I'm sure Marco was watching the kids). A tear slipped from my eye. I didn't realise that Kelsey was watching me. I feel a hand on my shoulder, "Don't cry mommy. Its ok. You OK mommy?" Aww.. why can't she be like that ALL the time...