School Days
Only in Potomac would the toddlers’ afternoon snack be matzo ball soup.
Unfortunately, my little Protestant (emphasis on the protest) scrunched up her face and refused to eat it, perhaps envisioning a juicy Easter ham or yummy chocolate bunny that she’d rather snack on.
Charlotte continues to thrive in the toddler class. Sometimes I think they do a better job with her than we do, encouraging her to develop x, y, an z skills and become more independent. Meanwhile, I still think of her as my baby, and I probably do too much for her. For example, yesterday, when I picked her up at school, Charlotte was finishing up her (non-Passover-related) snack, so her teacher washed her hands while I collected her things. Then her teacher dried Charlotte’s hands with a paper towel and said, “Watch this, Mom!” With all her classmates, 2 teachers, and Mommy watching, Charlotte (with a big fat grin) stepped down from the stool, marched across the room to the trash can, and put the wadded up towel into the trash. Of course, the room erupted with clapping and “yays!” and my girl was SO proud of herself.
I was proud, of course, but also sort of dumbstruck. Why did I assume she couldn’t do something like this? Why do I always clean up after Charlotte? Isn’t it about time that we practice putting toys back in the box when we’re done playing? After Charlotte pulls every single book off her bookshelf, shouldn’t she help me put them back?
Of course, when Chris learned of her new skill, he was far more pragmatic. “Now she can fetch me a beer!” he declared. Gleefully.
On other school-related notes, we had some very warm weather around here lately, so the kids have spent a ton of time outside. That’s fabulous, because Charlotte LOVES to play outside (the side effect of which is that she also HATES to come back in—and she lets whoever is in charge know it). Her school also recently set up a big water activity table for the 6 toddlers, and I’m told that my kid had an absolute ball. (I’m not surprised—splashing is one of her favorite things!) Every day when I pick her up, she smells like sunscreen, which tells me summer is just around the corner. Last year, we had a horribly hot, miserable summer, so we kept Charlotte indoors most of the time. However, we’re hoping to do a lot of pool time this coming summer, and she has multiple swimsuits (tags still on) to prove it.
In short, our Charlotte is increasingly becoming a little girl. When we leave school, she proudly marches down the hallway (by herself, thank you very much!), carrying her ladybug lunch pail (no more diaper bag for her, thank you very much!), and of course we have to stop and inspect every single flower and blade of grass along the way to the car. Then we pass a mom or dad carrying an infant in a car seat, and I just marvel that Charlotte was ever that small. She started at this school when she was 11 weeks old (oh, I can hear the tsk tsking on that one!), and look at her now!
Unfortunately, my little Protestant (emphasis on the protest) scrunched up her face and refused to eat it, perhaps envisioning a juicy Easter ham or yummy chocolate bunny that she’d rather snack on.
Charlotte continues to thrive in the toddler class. Sometimes I think they do a better job with her than we do, encouraging her to develop x, y, an z skills and become more independent. Meanwhile, I still think of her as my baby, and I probably do too much for her. For example, yesterday, when I picked her up at school, Charlotte was finishing up her (non-Passover-related) snack, so her teacher washed her hands while I collected her things. Then her teacher dried Charlotte’s hands with a paper towel and said, “Watch this, Mom!” With all her classmates, 2 teachers, and Mommy watching, Charlotte (with a big fat grin) stepped down from the stool, marched across the room to the trash can, and put the wadded up towel into the trash. Of course, the room erupted with clapping and “yays!” and my girl was SO proud of herself.
I was proud, of course, but also sort of dumbstruck. Why did I assume she couldn’t do something like this? Why do I always clean up after Charlotte? Isn’t it about time that we practice putting toys back in the box when we’re done playing? After Charlotte pulls every single book off her bookshelf, shouldn’t she help me put them back?
Of course, when Chris learned of her new skill, he was far more pragmatic. “Now she can fetch me a beer!” he declared. Gleefully.
On other school-related notes, we had some very warm weather around here lately, so the kids have spent a ton of time outside. That’s fabulous, because Charlotte LOVES to play outside (the side effect of which is that she also HATES to come back in—and she lets whoever is in charge know it). Her school also recently set up a big water activity table for the 6 toddlers, and I’m told that my kid had an absolute ball. (I’m not surprised—splashing is one of her favorite things!) Every day when I pick her up, she smells like sunscreen, which tells me summer is just around the corner. Last year, we had a horribly hot, miserable summer, so we kept Charlotte indoors most of the time. However, we’re hoping to do a lot of pool time this coming summer, and she has multiple swimsuits (tags still on) to prove it.
In short, our Charlotte is increasingly becoming a little girl. When we leave school, she proudly marches down the hallway (by herself, thank you very much!), carrying her ladybug lunch pail (no more diaper bag for her, thank you very much!), and of course we have to stop and inspect every single flower and blade of grass along the way to the car. Then we pass a mom or dad carrying an infant in a car seat, and I just marvel that Charlotte was ever that small. She started at this school when she was 11 weeks old (oh, I can hear the tsk tsking on that one!), and look at her now!
Comments
Post a Comment