Abby's Last Day of Her First Year of Preschool

I remember being a kid and thinking that time passed by so slowly. Summers lasted F-O-R-E-V-E-R. School never seemed to get around to being done. And I aged every so slowly as big age milestones always seemed far off in the distance. Then I had a baby and time magically sped up to ludicrous speed (for all you Spaceballs fans). It seemed like just a few days ago that I anxiously waited in line (and a cold, cold line it was as it was the middle of February) to sign my baby girl up for her first year of preschool. It was one day a week for two hours and fifteen minutes and I agonized over whether she was ready, if I was being a good or bad Mom by sending her to school at only two and a half years old, and what I would do with my baby being gone every single week.

As I took our "Last Day of School" pictures I marveled over what this year has brought. Not only growth physically but a mental leap forward that I didn't expect. My little girl pretends! She makes up stories to tell me (not lies but fun stories about dinosaurs eating her socks and her telling them to be nice). She has a vocabulary that amazes me as I wonder where she learned some of her words (and recommits me to being extra careful about what she watches, where she goes, and who she plays with!). The little baby that needed to be coaxed into the classroom on her first day is now a big girl who has to be reminded to give Mom a hug and kiss before racing into her room of learning fun. And that one day a week that she was gone...I found I really enjoyed having a guaranteed two hours to myself to run errands. I even rediscovered my love of book browsing and pedicures!

Next year we've signed her up for three days a week, three hours a day and there's that part of me that worries that it will be too much. That I should have signed her up for only two days a week and sacrificed part of my Bible study time to make that happen. I wonder if I'm pushing too hard for her to get to that next "thing" whatever it may be and not giving her enough opportunities to just be a kid and play and have fun. Then I remind myself that she LOVES school. That she makes friends wherever she goes (and they're all her "favorite friend" right now). That a very good friend of mine's daughter also did three days a week at Abby's age and occasionally complained that school wasn't every day. And I know deep in my heart that my Abby will succeed at whatever she does. And that by the end of next year I'll be rejoicing over how well the three-days-a-week preschool went and worrying over putting her in three or five half-days a week (as she'll be in full-day Kindergarten when that time comes and wondering which option would better prepare her). I'm a mama and I worry...what can I say? :-)

But until then I'm super proud of how well Abby did in her first year at school. Girl knows her ABCs, her numbers, colors, some sounds of letters, songs, some bible verses, and an overall good feeling for school. I couldn't be happier!

"First Day of School" picture compared to...

"Last Day of School" picture. Nine months sure does make a difference!

First time walking into her classroom and ...

Last time walking into her classroom. Here her backpack looks like a backpack and now a body-sized bag.

The cookies that Abby helped make as gifts to her teachers.

 

In this picture she actually surprised me. All year long as we'd walk to her classroom door I would sign her in and then hang her backpack on her peg while Abby played in the hallway. On her last day she kept her backpack on while I signed her in then hopped over to her nametag and proudly exclaiming "This is Abby's spot" and put her backpack on 'her' peg. She knows how to spell her name!

Abby's teachers! Ms. Christy (left) and Ms. Jeannette (right). They were such great teachers for Abby's introduction to the scholastic world. Sweet and caring yet wouldn't let her step out of line. 

As we head into summer Nate and I decided we wanted Abby to keep up on her schooling so she didn't lose what she'd learned the past year and decided to do some "homeschooling" over the summer. Basically, I bought two workbooks and we've been going through them a few pages at a time. I was never a teacher, had no desire to be a teacher, and frankly was amazed at the abilities of teachers. Now that I'm getting just the tiniest taste of teaching I have even more respect for my teaching friends. Abby is super excited to do homeschooling (she was the one to remind me we hadn't done it yet after we were finished with lunch) but still requires a patience level I thought I'd achieved but realize it's a work in progress. :-)

Congrats on your first year of school, Abby!

Oregon Children's Museum

Abby and I had the opportunity to visit the Oregon Children's Museum and had a great time!

First, we headed towards the water room where Abby had a blast splashing, making waves, filling her watering cans, and generally running around and burning off energy.

I thought this one was especially cute. Instead of dunking her watering can in the water to fill it up, she's using a shovel to pour water into the water can. :-)

Next up, we hit the grocery store. Abby is in LOVE with apples right now and she a fair amount of time picking out just the right apples to add to her grocery cart.

 

When she was finished loading up her cart we went to check out. I thought that the check-out counter had a nice touch in that as you passed food in front of the scanner a beep sounded, just as in the real grocery store. Abby had lots of fun running food back and forth and back and forth setting the button off again and again and again. :-)

Once the grocery store no longer held our attention, we went to the veterinary office to take care of some sick puppies. After putting on her stethoscope and declaring that my tummy's ouchies were all better (her sweet little heart is just so awesome!) she proceeded to take care of a puppy by bandaging up all of its legs. Poor puppy!

Then, it was off to the building room where she constructed....a tower? I think the goal was to see how high the PVC pipes could go before she could no longer reach them. 

After that, we went to the theatre room. At first she didn't really know what was going on. Some kids were just wandering around on stage and the little boy in orange was singing some song at the top of his lungs. But then she noticed the drums!

And was happy stealing the showing by banging on her drums for all her worth!

When the little boy in orange came back for his drums she decided that the theatre was no longer interesting.

So off we went to the vehicle room. She drove the bus for a few seconds then heard the singing back in the theatre room and headed back to check it out.

Where she met a friend. :-) I love, love, love how easily Abby can go someplace and find someone to hang out with. I see this time and time again at play centers, open gyms, etc. I really, truly hope that she retains this ability to make friends wherever she goes and doesn't grow into a shy, hard to make friends girl like I was. 

But even good friends must come to an end. At this point we'd hit almost all of the indoor activities so I directed her to the last two that we were missing to make sure we at least saw everything for a second or so. Here, Abby got to paint her face!

And then we both got to play with the light bright wall. There's a small child within me that came out and had the most fun making shapes and other patterns. Almost makes me think that I should get Abby a light-bright for Christmas. Then I remembered how many pieces are in that thing. I may way on that purchase!

As we made our way to the front of the museum Abby saw the water play area and decided she wanted another go at it. I was really surprised when she was able to connect the panel in between the slots. I know she's smart and capable but she still surprises me when she tries something new and succeeds.

After lunch I decided we should check out what the outside had to offer. We got as far as entering the "Outdoor Adventure Zone" and went no further. They had a rock area waterfall that kids were playing in, so Abby decided to join in as well.

She had a great time walking up to the fountain and trying to cover the water hole with her hand.

As well as filling up buckets with water and dumping them out everywhere.

But the fun ended when she was climbing down from these rocks and cut her foot somehow. Not a bad one, but enough that she hopped over to me saying "Ow, ow, ouch, Mom. It hurts." I checked her out and saw that she had a small gash that was bleeding and two other small gashes that were red. I got her foot cleaned up, changed her into dry clothes, and called it a successful morning.