A couple weeks in, and Scarlett seems to be loving school. Mostly, her daddy drops her off. But I get to occasionally, and last week when I took her, we looked at pictures of frogs in the hallway before class. Then she told me to put her down, so she could go into her classroom.
She sets up little 'works' at home, like they do at school. If I ask, what activities did you do today? She will correct me, tell me to call them 'works'. At home she washes her own dishes, practices water pouring, sets up elaborate systems where she rolls a ball along a long strip of books on the floor. Some days she waters the plants. Some days she plays on a big hill in the playground. She's working on buttoning her own jacket and zipping her coat. I can see her mind expanding and her fingers working more decisively.
This week for one lunch she had oatmeal in her new frog thermos. She had leftover pizza one day, one day a hard-boiled egg. She has raw vegetables with every lunch. It appears that she'll eat whatever we put in her lunchbox. The school-provided snack might be oranges and green beans, or apples and crackers. When I come home from work, she starts telling me what her snack was, even before I've opened the door to walk into the house. I can see her little mouth moving excitedly through the glass.
In the past week, we've stopped putting her down for naps consistently. If she's tired, she naps. If she's not tired, we don't ask her to nap. So she's sleepier at bedtime, and going to sleep a little earlier and with less of a fight.
I get warm fuzzies when I think about her school, I just love it and so does Charlie. The community is really welcoming. We were scared at the prospect of someone else watching our precious cargo, but Scarlett is thriving and the adjustment has been mostly pretty painless. I wish I could tell the Emily of 6 months ago not to worry so much.
