School Progress

This morning I dropped off Madeline at pre-school. I decided to take the time while Madeline was away to do some grocery shopping/beer run (Jon is coming to town tomorrow). This is the first errand I ran while Madeline was at school. I must admit I had mixed emotions. I was thrilled that I could have a somewhat peaceful shopping trip. No having to drive the monster semi-like rig of a kid's "car" shopping cart, no begging for snacks, no trips to the potty mid-store and no begging for bologna at the deli. On the other hand, the silence was deafening and I so missed my sidekick.

I picked Madeline up and saw art work displayed in the hallway (see photo above). Awwwwww.....displayed artwork - talk about a heart warmer. It's funny, I can see her personality in her work. It is so like her to not want to paint/color much (thus the white space in her lamb - she is more into gross motor activities). Yet, school is definitely having an effect on this characteristic. This evening Madeline actually *wanted* to color. She grabbed her coloring book and she and I colored for quite a while this evening. What a difference!!!!

Also, without a doubt, Madeline is talking more lately. This evening she was stringing all kinds words together. During nighttime prayers we recapped her day and she told me about what she worked on in school today (the teachers let us see what they were working on so I knew what Madeline was talking about. The children laid on the floor and had their body traced and they were painting in the body) Madeline told me "Paint school. Paint the hair. Paint the shirt. Paint the pants. Paint face." I told her that was right and that she also colored with Mama at home. Madeline replied, "No paint at home, paint at school". Madeline is also not only aware that she'll see "Uncle" Jon tomorrow but also the time frame that this will occur. This morning she told me, "See Uncle Jon 'morrow. Courtney (her speech teacher) first". Although I have to give credit to both her previous and current speech teachers, I have to say that the pre-school experience has given her such growth in such a short period of time. David and I are so glad that we chose to Madeline after Christmas.