Not the type of 'welcome home' we were going for...

1 year, 1 month and 19 days

That is how many days we made it through daycare without the dreaded bite. :(


I tried to get a picture, but this is the best I could get without severe attitude.

I cried.

I guess there is a really good reason why they only tell you "a friend" did it. Because I'm already trying to match those teeth marks up with her little "friends" mouths in my head.

I guess the good news is my child isn't a biter....yet.

School Pictures

The Goddard School's photographer tried to pull a fast one on me today.... they sent home a whole packet of Grace's pictures. 8x10s, 5x7s, wallets.... the whole nine yards! To which, I was like....Saaaaaaweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! I was like, wow...we won't order, we'll just keep what they sent home as "samples".

Here's the catch. They're not samples. If you don't return them, you pay. Big time. So I showed them. And took pictures of the pictures!! Take that tricky school photographer!

But shhhhhhh, don't report me for copyright infringement!!


And as you can see, Grace is the baldest of the bunch.... or at least she was. We have a new friend in our class named Molly who has a shiny head, too.

Melissa, Can you guess which one is Natalie's clone?

Friends

Today, when Matt picked Grace up from school, they stopped off at the caterpillar on the classroom wall that has each kids picture and birth date on a circle that makes up the caterpillar body.

So he asked her..."Grace, where is Will?" And she CORRECTLY pointed at Will. "Where is Claire?" And she again, pointed at the correct picture of Claire. And so on....

They came home, and I was so impressed. And somewhat in doubt. Really? But wow.

So while we're cooking dinner, I notice we have a class pic up on our fridge from Dress Up Day. Awww, isn't she cute? On a side note, Grace, and Ryan, the little dude in Camo on the left, were the most cooperative for Dress Up Day (and therefore, got top billing on the class picture).


So I start asking her...."Where's Ryan? Where's Abby?" And not only did she point, she also sounded like she was saying their names!!!!

Now, put on your best "mommy ears" where you know 'baaaaaa ba ladamanadada' obviously means "I love you, Mommy" and watch and listen (and cut her some slack on some of her accuracy - they're in costume, so she might not recognize Brandon the Fireman):

Parent Teacher Conference

Friday Matt and I had, what will probably be the first of many, parent teacher conferences for Miss Grace.

They evaluated Grace in the following areas:

Language Arts - using defined syllables, vocalizing pleasure/displeasure, following commands, listening to self, relating words to objects.
Sensory Stimulation - experiencing opposites (soft/hard), new smells, textures, etc.
Cognitive Development - turns object to gain perspective, hold one thing, reach for another, voluntarily releases objects, imitates actions, places objects in and out, uncovers hidden objects, points to body parts, remembers location, tuns book pages (exceeds here!).
Creative Art - enjoys tactile experiences, marks with crayon, recognizes own product, produces process-art pieces.
Motor Skills - pulling up, moving to sitting position, crawls while holding toy, picks up small objects, stands and walks with support, walks along, climbs.
Music/Movement - claps hands, bangs objects, produces rhythm, recognizes tempos, imitates singing.
Self-Help/Life Skills - helps dress self, holds cup, holds spoon, feeds self.

They confirmed that they've noticed a little bit of a delay in the motor skills area. But I found it interesting that they emphasized that they have worked with her, particularly in the pulling up department. We go for her PT eval on Tuesday, and I explained to them that we'll probably have several sessions and exercises to focus on. They seemed eager to help in any way.

I think her teachers really like her and think she's doing great. She's such a happy, sweet girl. And pretty independent and easy going. [Wish this was true on Sundays when we try to take her to the church nursery..... she has been kicked out 5 out of 6 times because she gets so upset and worked up. Random. And interesting, only a Presbyterian problem.]

Overall, she got a good report from school! We celebrated out with a veggie pizza dinner at a new local place, called Diesel. It use to be an old gas station! Ehhh, first and probably last time going there. Mellow Mushroom is better. :)

Atta Girl

That Mommy and Daddy...they worry for nothing!

Grace had an AWESOME first day in her new class. She ate well, played well, and SLEPT extremely well. And the kicker....she came home in a fantastic mood. Hopefully the rest of the week will go equally as well.


Apparently the more advanced "naughty" children in her class told Grace it would be a good idea to go home tonight and pull up on her Mama's oven while she's cooking dinner!!

Moving on up!

Grace has her first day in her new class today! This new class is called "First Steps" and is for the babies that are a little bit more mobile and older. I think Grace is probably the least mobile of the class.... but maybe a day or two (or week or two) around some of these more advanced babies and she'll be zipping around like nobodies business. You'd be amazed how far she can scoot. And her pulling up has really increased in the last few days.

In this new class, Grace will be on the meal plan - whole wheat pizza, diced carrots, peaches, and graham crackers today! I think that is JUST lunch, and she'll also have two snacks. This in addition to the two bottles she'll still need to suck down..... I see those going (quickly) by the wayside (11 days and we're bottle free!!).....

But the big thing about this class: ONE NAP! All together. On nap mats. Yeah right. Can't wait to see/hear how that went today.

Anyway, I had drop off duty this morning. And it was 17 degrees outside!! We were so bundled up. I really needed to get a picture of her and her mittens (that she actually kept on today)! When I left her at school, she was sitting at the little table, in her chair, eating her breakfast, taking it all in. She looked happy to be back at school with some of her old friends and ready to kick of the new year in her new class.

Will post an update this evening on how the day went!

The Incident

Grace fell down at school yesterday and bumped her head. See that red mark on her forehead? I had to sign an "Incident Report" when I picked her up last night. This isn't her first incident report. The last time (her first) she scratched herself. Maybe a little much bureaucracy.... but some yahoo probably tried to sue.

Anywho, she was a crank last night. I think Monday's are hard in general. But Monday after a 4 day weekend....extra hard. But she did manage to scoot across the kitchen floor and find a new fun drawer to play in!

Baby Picasso

On Friday when I picked Grace up from school they were very excited to show me Grace's art work. Grace painted this entire tree herself on the classroom window of the next class. And apparently had the most fun doing it.


I'm pretty sure they paint with her almost every day. Thankfully. So I don't have to do it at home with her. Could you imagine the mess!?

Pictures from School

Miss Georgette, from Grace's school, just sent these pictures from school last week.... and look! She's on her belly, and smiling!

The Goddard School

As most of you know, Grace goes to school. I refuse to use the D word. Makes me feel better about the whole experience. And THAT is what matters most. :)

Everyday we get a report of how Grace did. It covers the basics about eating, napping and diapers.

Click the picture to enlarge so you can see the detail better.

As you can see, Grace had a GREAT afternoon nap yesterday. We are making great strides in the nap department. The lead teacher told Matt yesterday how great Grace is at nap time. Most kids require rocking, swinging, etc. to nap. They can (and we can too) lay Grace down in her crib when she shows signs of being tired and she'll go to sleep. At home during nap time, she has Belgium Bunny by her side, which she sucks on his ears and drifts off to La La Land. Usually we turn her mobile on for her too. APPARENTLY at school, they give her the pacifier and she goes to sleep. I'm not sure how I feel about that. She doesn't/won't take a pacifier from us at home. I can't even remember the last time we gave her one. And when we did, she gnawed on it and spit it out.

As you can also see, we had an especially poopy day yesterday. I refuse to blog about it, but lets just say Grace will never be given prunes again. And we're on the road to recovery from a bad diaper rash.

But it also includes lesson plans for the day. The first day I saw the lesson plans, I thought it was for the whole WEEK. But it changes every day.

Click the picture to enlarge so you can see the detail better.

I'm not naive enough to think that they do all of this every day with every kid, but they work around naps and eating and get a lot of this in most days.

Anyway, I know I've mentioned the lesson plans to some of my faithful blog followers, and because Melissa made me, thought I would post them for all to see.

School & Blowout's

I received these pictures of Grace from her teacher today. I think they were taken earlier this week when there was an "incident", i.e. blowout at school.

Into the sink you go...

This is Miss Courtney. She loves Grace.

Sick Baby

Last Friday, conveniently the Friday before a nice, long holiday weekend, Grace was sent home from school with pink eye. I was very mad, sad, angry that my sweet little innocent 4 month old was infected. And I suspect who the culprit is/was. Jacob. Mr. Happy 10 Month Old walker in her class that can not leave Miss Grace alone.

So we spent the long weekend trying to keep her from rubbing her eyes and administering drops.... wisely, most of our friends with young children declined our company for the weekend.

By Sunday, and most definitely on Monday everything looked clear in both eyes - she had spread it to her other eye on Saturday by rubbing.

We kept up with the drops for the full 5 days in both eyes. But yesterday when I went to pick her up from school her eye was all goopy again. :(

So my sick baby is home with me today. Her eye looks better today, but I know that I would appreciate other Mom's keeping their little ones home when there is a chance of infecting others. Not that I'm expecting any of them to actually follow my example....

At least she's a happy sick baby.



And thankfully, after practically the entire time Grace has been in school of expressing concern about Jacob being in the infant room, he's being moved to the next class. Hopefully this will put an end to pink eye from him. On to the next ailment and the next mobile baby lovin' on Miss Grace.

First Day of School

Today was Grace's first day at school. We woke her up at 6am to get ready and have breakfast. She looked at me like I had lost my mind when I went in to get her. She didn't even open her eyes when I turned on the light. When she finally opened her eyes, she looked at me, closed her eyes and turned her head away from me to go back to sleep.

Anywho, Matt had drop off duty. I think he thought if I did it, I would have pretended to take her and keep her home secretly with me. Apparently she was all smiles during drop off. He peeked in twice after he left and her teacher, Miss Nellie (not of Little House on the Prairie fame) was playing with her and she was still smiling.

I managed to make it through the day without calling to check up on her, but since I started my "work day" at 7:30am, I felt it was ok to go get her around 3:30pm. She was snoozing in the swing when I got there, but she heard my voice and opened her eyes and smiled. That made me feel good. She still knows me!

Today was finger painting day. Who knew 3 month olds finger painted! I didn't see the actual art project, but she had paint on her shirt and under her nails. Hope it's not toxic, Miss Sucks on her Hands A Lot. She also played in her first exersaucer, ate well, napped well, and seemed pretty happy over all.

She came straight home and passed out!


I think I was more traumatized then she was. But thanks to everyone who emailed, IM'd and called to tell me it would be ok. I'm glad this is a short week for us.