Mother's Day Tea

Today was Mother's Day Tea at Natalie's school, and we had such a wonderful time! Natalie and I have been waiting for this day for weeks! The kids had lots of secret plans for the tea, and Natalie didn't spill a single bean! For weeks, I'd ask how school was, and she'd start to say something, then *finger to her lip* "No, no, no, it's a surprise! I can't tell you!".

Jon drove Natalie to school, as the tea wasn't until 10:30, and I didn't feel like making three trips to and from school today (30 miles RT each way, so cut me some slack!). For some reason, Natalie was afraid I wasn't going to come, so when I arrived, she started jumping up and down - it was so cute!

They had the tea in one of the room's at the church facility - lots of tables set up, pretty place settings, decorations, all that good stuff. Natalie's class performed first - they sang two songs and did such a nice job! Natalie sang nice and loud - I could actually hear her! She made me some lovely presents too - a pretty paper hat, a placemat that had her name, Mother's Day Tea 2009, and her hand prints - it's laminated so I can use it all the time. My favorite gift was a planter on which she glued buttons, and stuck in the planter were her handprints, painted, laminated and cut out (they made the handprints at Father's Night a couple of weeks ago), representing flowers - her hands represent her, and the stems represent me "to show we are friends - the best there can be". I'm a sucker for the kids's handprints, so I couldn't have asked for a better gift.

We had tea and lemonade, cake (Natalie couldn't wait to dig into hers!), strawberries, cantaloupe (Natalie gave me hers), and watermelon (Natalie took mine). Then the kids played for a while, the moms chatted. It was just a lovely morning. I walked Natalie back to her class, and received a perfect ending to the perfect day. I was talking to one of her teachers before I left, and mentioned how glad we are that we decided to put Natalie in school for the full day (I received a wonderful email from her teachers over the weekend talking about how well she's doing). Her teacher told me that Natalie has been good for the afternoon session too! She told me that Natalie has been so helpful, and participates really well which helps the other kids participate, and that she has a calming effect on the class. We couldn't be more proud of her, seriously. What a lovely compliment. She is thriving at school, and while of course some of it is just who she is, a big part of it too is the school and her teachers. I'm reminded daily that we are so blessed to have found her school - and are so grateful that her first school experience is in such a loving environment. We were asked again to consider placing her in Early Kindergarten this upcoming school year, and if we can budget it, we intend to. At the very least, she'll be in pre-K, with the extended day option as she loves it, and the routine and structure seem to be something she needs and does very well with.

She also had a follow-up at the Melmed Center today with her developmental Pediatrician. I was happy to report that her sleep issues are (and please sleep Gods, don't let me be jinxing us) almost non-existent, and good sleep = all around improved behavior, how well she's doing in school and Sunday School, and just in general, she's opening up a lot more with people. We don't feel that any of the issues are outside the range of normal, the screaming tantrums are rare these past few months. Dr. J said that Natalie was the one bright spot of her day today, was so pleased with the progress we've made - gave Natalie a super star award, and suggested one last follow-up in four months, and then if things continue as they have, "you don't need me any more". :-) If you just look at today, she had all the excitement of the tea, the rest of her school day, then we went from school to Scottsdale (where Melmed is), long drive home in traffic, and she was a trooper through all of it, no hassles at bedtime.

She has her moments for sure (who wants a Stepford drone/child anyway. Not me!), but she's just a typical 4 year old kid. Overall she's a funny, happy, outgoing, thoughtful, helpful, sensitive girl, and we are so very glad she's ours!

On the drive to Melmed, she was being so silly! She took off her shoe, and stuck her foot out at me and made it speak - "Hi, I'm Mr. Dirty Foot. How are you doing? Shake my foot!". Then the other foot came out, and she affected a really high-pitched tone "Hi, I'm Mrs. Stinky Foot. How are you? I'm married to Mr. Dirty Foot". I'm sad to report, her feet do stink after playing all day in her shoes. She gets that from Jon, of course! :-P

Oh and she informed me today that Jack at school wants to marry her, and the other day Paul told her he loved her. She was already torn between wanting to marry Charlie or Walker! :-)