Emma LOVES to jump around. Here is a picture of her jumping in her playroom:
Emma’s First Day of Preschool Art Camp
August 3, 2009
It’s tough to think that Emma is so big already that she is ready for Preschool. It seemed just a little while back, that this day was WAY in the future. Well, it’s here and Emma couldn’t be happier:)
Although “real” preschool doesn’t begin for another 2 weeks, the preschool that Emma will be attending, mandates that the kids complete one week of summer camp so that they become familiar with the school, teachers, classrooms, rules, etc. So today was that first day for Emma. She had been counting down the days. When Mark and I went into her bedroom this morning, she was still sleeping like a little angel. We looked at each other and realized that our “little baby”, wasn’t a baby anymore. She woke up with a big smile and excitedly got up and was ready to go. Obviously we had been prepping her for this day by reading books about preschool and what to expect, as well as talking to her about all she would be doing.
When she first walked into the classroom, she was a little bit clingy and shy, but that only lasted like 2 minutes. As soon as she saw the classroom centers with playdoh, paint, dyed-colored water, and mini-furniture, she knew she was in a FUN place. We helped her put her backpack into her cubby and she let us know she was ready to paint. She has 2 teachers- Ms. Sandy and Ms. April. We got our hugs and kisses and let her know we would be back in a little while and she let me Ms. Sandy put a smock on her as she prepared to paint a beautiful blue picture.
As Mark and I watched from the door, I could see her talking Ms. Sandy’s ear off and laughing as she had a conversation with her. I could see just how HAPPY she was and how ready she was to finally begin preschool.
At 1:00pm, we picked Emma up. She was at the reading center looking at “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. She saw us standing there, smiled, and quickly got up to come and hug us. She had sidewalk chalk all over her pants, so right away, I knew she had had a wonderful first day of preschool.
Ms. Sandy and Ms. April both told us that she had a great day. They said Emma was the only one that knew that the bowl in the story, Mouse Paint, said- Cat. They were very impressed by her and said she was very “advanced”. They definitely thought she was prepared for preschool.
Emma didn’t give us too many details about her first day but she seemed to really enjoy herself. When we asked her if she played in the playground she said, “No, we played in the sandbox instead because it was too humid outside”:)
You Be Emma…
February 26, 2009
That’s the name of Emma’s favorite game these days. She loves to role play and will ask me, Elena, or her Ela (Abuela) to “be Emma” and she will “be the Mommy”. She will say, “Can you be Emma?”. It’s her way of saying, I want to be in control. She is quite the control freak. Once she assumes that role, she will act out real life events that have transpired in her life. She will tell you, “Emma, you are sick now because you put the dirty toys in your mouth.”. Or “Baby, you can’t go to ballet class today because you were being disrespectful.”. She loves to act things out and pretend, and clearly a lot of it is a verbal reinforcement of things we tell her. Right now it is pretty much the only game she asks to play daily.
It’s not all bad and reprimand, she also likes to take care of her Emma. She will take your temperature, change your diaper, and give you vitamins to nurse you back to health.
To keep things interesting, Elena and I sometimes mimic Emma’s uncontrollable fits and tantrums to see how she responds to the situation, which gives her a new perspective on her own behavior.
