Amelia

Daisypath Happy Birthday tickers

This blog captures my thoughts and observations of Amelia since there are so many wonderful things I want to just bottle and enjoy. Time doesn't stop and while I will have memories, it will be nice for both her and me to have these in-the-moment snapshots of her life.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Summer Evening

Right now, I am listening to Amelia singing and talking to herself in her room. I think she is playing the music from Tad. She should be asleep by now but she spent the entire day at home playing with daddy and then, after I got home from work, me. It's more enjoyable and clearly not as tiring as playing at Nana's or going to school. And that's okay. Soon she will be a teenager and I will miss these years.

Earlier this afternoon Amelia also played computer games in her room. I let her play them in her room once last week due to bug spray in the kitchen - dang flies! - and now it's her new favorite place to play them, on her Pooh table, which she will outgrow soon, I am afraid. It seems she has suddenly outgrown a lot of things, and many more are very close to becoming a part of her past.

For parts of the past two days, I've been trying to clean out her closet and her room. Yesterday I found Uno Moo and asked Amelia if she thought it was too babyish for her. She said, "Yeah. It was more fun to play when I was 3 or 4." Such a grown-up sounding answer to me! Wow. Today I found her wooden number and alphabet puzzles. She had fun trying to make words with the letters of the alphabet puzzle, and large numbers using 2 and 3 of the number pieces. But I know those are outgrown, too. *sniff sniff* The time really does go by ...

She has just become such a little girl all of a sudden. Every day of her life I love her to death just the way she is, and that's how I feel right now. But I also can't believe I am finally coming out of the toddler/preschooler tunnel. I am sentimental about it, yet also happy to have survived and moved on. I think motherhood is full of these contradictions, although that's not quite the right word for it.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Father's Day Weekend: First Play, Reading in Church

We took Amelia to her first play yesterday. It was the 3 Little Pigs at Barter Theatre, about 90 minutes away. They did a really nice job and Amelia enjoyed it. She especially liked Maxie, who was Wolfie's assistant and wanted to re-do his lair because Maxie "just wants to make everything beautiful."

Today she read in church for the first time. In my effort to interest her in what goes on during church, I had pointed out the teens that read. That day on the way out she asked the pastor if she could read sometime! She really wanted to do it! I was shocked. He chose Father's Day and I was a little anxious that it was too soon and she would be distracted by the microphone or the people watching her but we decided to go for it.

This morning I was thinking of it being Father's Day, getting ready to make breakfast, all the normal Sunday stuff and she came in the kitchen and said, "I can't wait to go to church because I get to read today!" It was all she could think about. Just before the service she told Jacob, "Today's a BIG day! I am reading!!"

She did a great job and loved it so much she wants to do it again. She read Genesis 1:1-5 and did the entire thing before looking up and giving the biggest smile. People started to applaud and she got really shy and flopped on the floor (which is something she does when she gets embarrassed by attention from others). She got right back up and went to her seat. She was so herself and it was great.

[photos dated 6/18 and 6/19/11, respectively]

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Last Day of School

Amelia is no longer a kindergartner! Yesterday was her last day of school and I took her picture by the sign, which I had also done on the first day of school. Different angle, though. Much different emotions, too. In August, it was full of expectations and now it's like, "What just happened?" Seriously ... we're done? I also took her picture with her teacher and the helper.

We also found her pillow pet. She managed to take it every day since at least Christmas and didn't come home with it Monday. I didn't notice until Tuesday morning and when it wasn't at school, I mentioned it to her teacher who told me she didn't remember saying good-bye to it the previous afternoon. (Ha! I didn't know until then that Amelia has Ms. Mary say good-bye to it each afternoon! How cute.) I emailed Daddy who thought he had seen it the night before when he was tucking her in, but that proved to be a different critter. After she went to bed Tuesday night, I got to thinking about it and realized something was up because Amelia didn't seem concerned. I don't want her to be too materialistic so I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but then I started wondering if someone took it from her and she was afraid to tell me. So when she woke up yesterday I gently asked her what she thought happened to her pillow pet. "When I'm waiting in the pick-up line at school and Emily is behind me, she always plays with it but sometimes she forgets to give it back." Ah-ha! But I thought Emily was a bus rider ... turns out it was an Emily in Ms. Betsy's class and when we got to school and stuck our heads in Ms. Betsy's class, what do we see right in front of Emily? Yep, the pillow pet. Amelia was thrilled. Emily said she found it on the floor and we thanked her. (Ms. Betsy later told me she was glad she brought it back because she doesn't always bring things back.)

I am glad Amelia didn't have to end her school year with a her pillow pet being stolen, and I am sorry there are children that feel they need to steal. There's one in Amelia's class, too, who steals (according to the teacher). This same girl has begged Amelia for her pillow pet all year, and she has also bullied Amelia. I tried dealing with it at home by giving Amelia responses for Taylor, but finally had to bring it to the teacher's attention after she made Amelia put rocks in her mouth on the playground. (The teacher spoke to her and kept them apart and we had no further problems.) Prior to the rocks incident, Amelia wanted to give Taylor a different pillow pet from home that she never plays with. I was concerned at that time about setting a precedent for Amelia giving away toys to children who ask for them (especially these bully types), but I also thought it was sweet that it was Amelia's idea to give her the unwanted pet. We waited until the end of school to do it. Since Amelia still wanted to give her the pet, we brought it in Tuesday morning. Amelia was so excited about giving it to Taylor! (We brought it Monday but left it in the car since we were running a little late due to all the extra stuff for water day - extra clothes, sunscreen, etc.) It was sweet to watch her happily give Taylor the pet, even though I was a little worried that she may wind up with no pillow pets since her cat was missing at that point. But it all worked out!

Amelia has been a little less pleased with school over the past week or two since apparently they stopped doing a lot of their normal things in anticipation of the end of school. I don't know why they have to do that, and the last few days were especially unstructured. This past Friday they had a little celebration ceremony at 8:30 and when I dropped her off at 8 am (on my way to get Nana and return for the ceremony), I was told I could take her home after the ceremony. Well, of course, Amelia wanted me to take her home (and I would have loved to) but I was totally unprepared. Fortunately, Amelia wasn't the only one and there were 11 kids that stayed that day. The ceremony itself was nice with the kids singing a few songs and getting their kindergarten graduation certificates. Daddy noticed how they each handed it to the helper when they got back in line! We also got a nice memory book of pictures the teacher put together. Ms. Betsy is retiring after this year and they played a sad song while each child from each class gave her a carnation. Many of the kids were crying by the end, too. Kind of sad on an otherwise happy day.

She came home a few days ago worried about first grade. I think Ms. Mary has been talking to them a lot about how first grade will be different. I took her to see one of the first grade teachers and asked about their daily routine. Ms. Moore was so nice and showed her around the classroom and several of the other children helped her describe their day - how they have two snacks (kindergartners are required to go to breakfast, it's optional for everyone else), read and have homework and spelling tests, and all that good stuff. Amelia hasn't worried about it at home since!

I was waffling about getting her a yearbook and so yesterday morning I bought one and she got excited about her friends signing it so I left it with her for the morning. The helper said she would make sure it made it to Amelia's back pack and it is so cute with each kid signing their name in a different color on the inside cover. Amelia had fun looking at all the pictures of her friends and people she knows from this year. I am glad I went ahead and got her one. They did a nice job - the whole thing is in color.

We also went to the dermatologist yesterday since Amelia has a spot on her cheek from a band-aid that is still slightly noticeable after 6 weeks. The dr. confirmed it is definitely an adhesive reaction but should eventually go away (it's like a slight shadow). She also said that she has the type of skin that would probably develop rosacea when she is grown (which Grandma has so I guess it's hereditary). I had her look at a spot on the back of her knee from last year. Our family doc said it was just some odd skin thing and to put ointment on it. The dermatologist said it looked like eczema. It's cleared up now, but you can still see where the skin is slightly lighter. I was a relieved it wasn't some kind of fungus or strange skin disorder. Hopefully it was something she ate (maybe too many strawberries - she loves those things and eats too many) or other seasonal thing, but I'll still watch for a recurrence.

Now, onto our summer!