Show and Tell

Today was Amelia's snack day/show-n-tell day at pre-school (and my day to volunteer). She needed to bring something in that started with the letter E, F, G or H. I explained it to her and asked her if she wanted to bring in an elephant, a frog, something green or a horse. Without any significant pause she replied, "Grandma and horse!" Wow - I totally didn't think of Grandma for G!

When I went rummaging around her stuffed toys to find her two horses so she could decide which one to take I also found Eeyore and so I added that to her options, just in case. She still went with her horse, the puppet one that whinnies when you press its nose.

So we took a picture of Grandma (and Amelia) and a horse. I put it in the designated bucket the teacher sends home and placed it on the table so it wouldn't be forgotten. At lunch I looked over and couldn't help but think of The Godfather movie.

Last month she didn't do well with show and tell. She was very tired (they do it at the end just before playground time, and it's an afternoon class, too). She said she didn't want to share her toys and when encouraged to do so, she threw one at a child. Totally inappropriate behavior. She wouldn't answer any questions about her toys, either. Yesterday she was looking mighty tired at the end, putting her head down on her arms on the table at snack time, etc. But when we brought out the picture of her and Grandma, she was more than happy to tell them who it was. When Ms. Donna asked about her horse, she blurted out, "It neighs!" and proceeded to demonstrate. She very nicely shared it with each child, too. She was a little concerned about getting it back by the time the last child had it and she did her little grunting thing while holding her hand out towards the child. She hasn't done this in months, and then she only did it because she didn't have the word for what she wanted. (Since then she will ask for 'something' or the 'blue thing' or something along those lines, kind of like how she calls someone person if she doesn't know who they are, as in there's John and person.) I told her she had to use words and to say, "Eliza, may I have my horse back now, please?" She surprised me and immediately repeated the phrase word for word, except for the last one. So I re-prompted her on "please" and Eliza handed the horse back.

And despite being completely exhausted, she did not nap. However, she did not want to wear a pull-up for naptime, insisting on panties. Then took herself potty and pooped! (She usually waits until she is in a pull-up to poop, even though she has been doing fantastic otherwise.) So we had a little peanut M&M party and called Daddy so she could tell him herself. I wanted to make a big deal of it so maybe she'll do it again in the near future.

And the naptime thing isn't something we even try for much around here anymore. Mommy is less stressed if we just go with the flow and play, unless she demonstrates fatigue like she did yesterday. She winds up in bed by 7:30 pm, though. The other night she came to me at 6:30 pm and said, "Amelia wants to go to sleep." I put her in pj's, had Daddy read stories, then let her drink milk while she watched Pooh, our normal routine, just done a little slower. This took us almost to 7:30 pm - I was worried going to bed any earlier would give us a 4:30 am wake-up call courtesy of Amelia!

Today was also picture day. I had no idea they would be doing class pictures for pre-school, and didn't find out until we had already done her 3-year shots somewhere else. Since I opted for her hair down for those (and of course it wouldn't do the ringlets so her hair looks a little wild in them), I opted to put her hair up for yesterday's pictures. We did the class shot outside and Amelia wanted to look everywhere but at the camera and after about 3 seconds she would take off for somewhere else, too. (This is not unusual for her.) So the photographer, the teacher and I keep yelling her name and the photographer says, "I feel like the paparazzi, Amelia, Amelia, look here, Amelia!" I thought that was funny! Since the wind was blowing away from the photographer, I took some leaves the next time he counted to three and threw them in the air and all the children - even Amelia - watched them. Hopefully that shot came out good.

After that we all went to the room where he had set up a white drape and a little white rocker and explained to the children what was going to happen when it was their turn and then we all went back to the classroom to play. They didn't want any parents in there because the children tend to look at the parents instead of the camera/photographer, but exceptions were made if the child wasn't comfortable. When it was Amelia's turn, she did not want to go with him by herself (which I was glad about, honestly), so I tagged along until she was was seated and then stepped out. But I hung back where I could watch her in the reflection of some glass and it was so delightful. She was sure to cross her little ankles and put her hands on her lap - she looked so prim! And then he would ask her questions that could be answered with one word like, "Are you going to dress up for Halloween?" And when she said "Yes!" he snapped while she had the cutest and proudest looking smile on her face. When he asked her what she was going to be for Halloween she had to think for a minute so he prompted her with some choices like princess and then she said, "Kitty!" (That's news to me.) She did get up a few times because she just couldn't help herself, but she would always go back and sit, carefully cross her ankles and place her hands in her lap. I was really impressed with his ability to get her to sit still and smile - and probably not having me in there helped, too. It's also fun to watch your child when she doesn't know you're there.