Sunday, January 22, 2006

Sweetie - International Girl of Mystery

Sweetie has now completed her 1st two weeks of "school" (remember, that really only means a total of 4 half days, but whatever). And, thankfully, she's loving it.

Last Monday I reminded her that the next day was a school day. "A school day?!" she said. "I'm so excitic!" (a giddy state of euphoria half way between "excited" and "ecstatic", I suppose).

However, her new school routine is creating a bit of a mystery girl in our Sweetie - both in our eyes and those of her teachers.

Case in point #1: As we arrived for her first day of "school" we introduced her to one of her teachers, who was busily settling her small charges for a breakfast of "O's" and bananas. Sweetie told her point blank that she didn't want any. I told "Miss Kathleen” that, "She's not really a big eater. I'd like you to try, but don't expect her to eat much."

Cut to pick-up time on Thursday afternoon when we got our 1st weekly progress report of how and what Sweetie's doing. Among all the encouraging words about how well Sweetie is settling in, my husband and I read the shocking statement "what a good eater!"

What? Are you talking about my Sweetie? The same child whom it practically takes professional negotiators to convince to nibble 3 small bites of dinner every night? Certainly you can't be serious.

I chock it up to good ol' fashioned peer pressure. All the other kids are sitting down to eat, so she might as well too. Hmmph. Whatever works.

Case in point # 2: Another notation on Sweetie's 1st progress report was that she "loves to dance to the Wiggles". Okay, this makes sense. She does enjoy watching, singing and dancing along with those Aussie toddler icons at home and at Nana's house. I bet she does like it when dance time at school includes a Wiggles song or two.

But then week #2 passed by. This week included a Totercise class that she was able to join in on for the day (a 12- week class at about $70 a term that my husband and I aren't interested in enrolling her in. Unbeknownst to the parent, though, the first class - that you're not even made aware of that she'll be attending - is free. "That's nice." I said to my husband. Then I thought, "Wait a minute! That's not nice, that's evil! Of course your kid is gonna love the class and beg you to go to more!" Which Sweetie did, of course. So, guess what, we're signing her up. That's just what they want, isn't it? Yup.

So, apparently, she's at the Totercise class and loving it. Playing with a big parachute, dancing around, and whatever other relatively organized form of exercise you can get a group of 3 year olds to follow. I guess they "exercised" to all sorts of fun music, including the Wiggles. Great! Sweetie loves the Wiggles.

Well, maybe not. According to her latest report, "(Sweetie) attended Totercise today... she loved it. (Sweetie) really doesn't like the Wiggles music, though. :)"

What's up with that?! I guess she really freaked out when she heard her supposedly-beloved friends from Down Under. What, does she have a love/hate relationship going on with these colorful guys? We asked Sweetie why she didn't like the song this time and all she said was "It was the crocodile song." Oh! Of course. The crocodile song. Well, then, I can definitely see why you freaked out so much over that. Thanks for the explanation. Whatever.

Then there's her minute-to-minute changing attitude toward arriving to school every day. She's always excited when we pull up and park the car, but instantly becomes shy-girl upon entering her classroom. She hasn't yet cried about our leaving her there (knock on wood) but she's fervently tried to get us to sit down with her and stay for a bit longer than we're able to. The rest of her time there, I've been reassured, goes just fine, though, and she acted "like she's always been" there after her first hour on her first day.

That's good news. I'm glad she's learning to socialize with others her age, listen to authority figures other than Mommy, Daddy and Nana, and eat a decent meal.

It will be interesting to see if the friendly peer pressure helps her with potty training in the coming months. Here's hopin'!

No comments: