It tells you something about our priorities when I breathed a sigh of relief over the earmuffs and returned to the car, content that I'd only have to replace the sandwich box. Those earmuffs are the only things that will console her sometimes. Oh, how glad I am that we found them!
For right now I want to share the above picture. It says so much about our life, if you just know how to read it. First of all is the smile. This is Little Froggy's sweet smile, and usually when I take pictures she puts on a big, fake grin and the sweet smile is hidden away. I snuck this picture and she just smiled a little at me when she caught me. Then, there's her location. One of her favorite places in the world is laying on Daddy's legs watching TV. I don't remember now what they were watching (maybe her daddy was playing one of his video games) but it's nice to see them sitting quietly together like that. The outfit she's in is one of her emergency outfits from school. She got wet playing in the water table, which is her favorite "center" in her classroom. One thing that has never changed for this kid is her love of water. In the background, you can see the pink earmuffs and Big Froggy, who has been her best friend since she was about six months old. All of these things together really paint a picture of my life. Just like the picture, the random pink earmuffs are usually the only physical sign that anything is "off" in our life.
Even with our bedtime struggles and frustration about where to go from here, things are improving. She's coming home and telling us bits and pieces of what she did that day. She's starting to show an interest in household activities and intense concern when people or things that she is fond of leave her sight. Many days as we make our way home from the bus she asks me several times if the bus is going to be okay. She has such an enthusiasm for school. She's no more of a morning person than I am but all I have to say in the morning to get her up is, "It's time to get ready for school!" Then the kid is up and running and ready to go. She'll talk about how we'll "look for the bus in a minute" or "go to school in a minute" and it's hard for her to understand why Mommy insists on doing tedious things like fixing her hair or packing her lunch when we could be doing something awesome like going to school. She's expressing herself more when it comes to things like what we should have for supper or what she wants to wear to school. Small victories but victories all the same.
And then there was the note in her Agenda the other day when she got home from school. The teacher noted that they'd switched things up when they did Centers the other day and put the boys in the Housekeeping Center and the girls in another area building a doll house. The teacher said that Little Froggy yelled at her because she wanted to go to Housekeeping, but she finally settled down and helped the girls build. My first thought was that I had to break her of such bad behavior, but the more I thought about it the more happy it made me. There was a time she would have pitched a fit no matter what you wanted her to do. She wanted to do her own thing, on her own, uninterrupted. She would have just cried and give no indication why. The tantrum would have gone on and on and interfered with anything else you wanted to do with her that day. She wouldn't have forgotten easily and she would have held it against you. But, to me this is a sign she's learning. Even though she put up a fight it was clear why, and she finally came around and helped with what she was supposed to be doing. The crying didn't persist and it didn't ruin her day. She was cheerful and good when she got home and I wouldn't have known anything had happened if her teacher hadn't written me that note.
Ah. Sweet progress.
I liked your explanation of your sweet picture. I'm so glad Little Froggy's doing better with school!
ReplyDeleteThis DOES sound like progress, Victoria! You're so wise to think it through and see the real progress. What better reason to come home in your emergency clothes than a little too much excitement at the water table? Those things are awesome!
ReplyDeleteWe had lovies like Froggy and so many little things lost, misplaced...but those do pale in comparison to that excitement for learning! Glad to hear things are going well!!