First Full Week of Kindergarten ... a Success!

Amelia made it through her first week just fine. She bounded out of bed each morning ready to go back. I think she really has enjoyed all the new stimulation. She also has renewed enthusiasm for doing coloring books and workbooks at her desk. Her new things seems to be using a marker to draw shirts on the coloring book characters but putting lines for the neck, arms and waist, and then coloring them with a crayon. Often she just colors the shirt. She will tell us that she is going to do her work and then disappears to her desk for long periods of time. Here she is today, so serious, doing "her work".

She did have an accident Monday which was her second day of school. Her teacher said she didn't think Amelia went potty when she told her to go after their outdoor time. I was concerned because Amelia didn't seem unhappy about having had an accident and it was just the second day of school. I was afraid this may be the first of several if she thought it was okay. After we got home I asked Amelia if she went potty after outdoor time like Miss Mary asked her to. She said she didn't need to go and so I told Amelia that she needed to go potty whenever a grown-up tells her to go, even if she doesn't think she needs to go. She needs to try. And if she ever needs to go when someone hasn't told her to go, she just needs to ask. I reiterated these 'rules' to her the next morning and she did fine the whole rest of the week. In fact, she hasn't fought me at all when I've told her to go ... so maybe something has finally clicked for her.

She also had a fire drill this week and said that they line up on the asphalt, "but Miss Mary and Miss Merita call it the blacktop".

Tuesday she came home and it was all about having an "art center" which she made in the middle of the kitchen floor. (Tuesday is art day.)

She also had her school physical/5-year check-up Tuesday afternoon which Daddy took her to and I met them later. She is 42 lbs., 42 inches, which is funny because for the longest time last year she was 38 lbs. and 38 inches! She also got four shots ... ouch!

Wednesday morning she came in our room and said that Caden had kicked her the previous day. After determining it wasn't a hard kick I asked her why she thought Caden kicked her and she said, "He wanted me to stop messing with him." So I said, "Hmmm, well, maybe you should stop messing with him," and she agreed. It was a pretty cute exchange and I like seeing how she seems to have started figuring out some of the socialization aspects of kindergarten. (She plays with Caden on some Wednesday afternoons at Mimi's, so they know each other. I think she tries to annoy him on purpose because he doesn't like to be touched.)

Wednesday was P.E. and they went to the gym and played some games which Amelia came home and tried to replicate. Very cute.

On Thursday Amelia was all excited about her music class. She said Miss Robin (who is a recently retired elementary music teacher) from church came to do their music lesson and she changed her name! She said her name was Mrs. Smathers!! And then Amelia laughed and laughed. She still thought it was so funny.

Daddy wasn't home Thursday night so we ran some errands and stopped off at McDonald's. For the most part she was happier playing with the Littlest Pet Shop toy that came with her Happy Meal and less interested in the Playland. She sure loves their parfaits and I still get a kick out of hearing that word from such a little girl!

Yesterday she told me the parts of a the book - including the spine. So apparently that's what they did at the library on Friday.

She had a little bit of a stuffy nose Friday, more of one yesterday and seems a bit better today although her voice is croaky. I don't know if it's from being at school (all those kids, all those surfaces, etc.), a new schedule, the shots, or germs from the Playland at McDonald's. But she is still going strong and her appetite is holding up, so I've just put her to bed a little earlier tonight and last night so she can hopefully get back to 100% sooner.

Yesterday was a fun day ... I took her to a Wal-mart that was doing a Dora party so she could get a free cupcake. I thought the email notice said Dora would be there, too, so I purposefully didn't tell Amelia in case it was a madhouse. Well, since it turned out to be just free cupcakes, it wasn't crowded but Amelia didn't seem too excited either. She enjoyed her cupcake that came with a free plastic Dora ring, but otherwise it was just another Wal-mart trip as far as she was concerned. We picked up some Pooh toothpaste and Dora band-aids and then headed to Belk since they had advertised a Kidfest yesterday, too. Amelia tackled the poor Chik-fil-A cow who was probably mentally going through his/her other job options by the end of his/her shift. Amelia was all into high fives and hugs. Then she spun a wheel and won "free chikin". She wanted to go down to the Food Court immediately and get four chicken nuggets, but I distracted her with the coloring table. (Food court at the mall on Saturday, yep, let me just pull my hair out now. We'll wait and use the freebie coupon this winter when we are looking for indoor things to do.)

[pictures dated 8/14 and 8/15/10]