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Monday, June 14, 2010

school's out for summer!

Hard to believe that Olivia has just finished her second full year of school. She's only three, for crying out loud, but you would think she was about to head into kindergarten. I think she wishes she was moving into kindergarten with some of the older kids from her class. Next year Olivia will no longer be the youngest in her class. With new kids coming in Olivia will love nothing more than showing them around the classroom and putting her very strong leadership skills to use.

I look at pictures from when Olivia started her first year at Three Rivers Montessori and compare them to what she looks like now, as she finishes her second year. It is amazing how much our little girl has grown, not just physically but developmentally as well. Since the beginning of the school year she has learned how to write her name, point out and name all 7 continents, how to mix certain colors to make other colors, count by 10's up to 100, and at the end of the year she officially read her very first word (more on that later). Needless to say we are very proud of her and how hard she worked this year. She also built some great friendships with the kids in her class. Overall it was a great school year for Olivia and I know she is very excited to go back in the fall.

On the last day of school the kids had their Field Day. It was a day full of fun and games and just goofing off before having to say good-bye for the summer. I stopped by the school for a few minutes that day so I could snap a few pictures of Olivia having fun with her friends. They were all very sweaty from their many races, but the smiles on their faces showed they were clearly having a great time!

After the games were over they went inside to cool off for a bit and finished the day on the playground where they would have a picnic lunch. Olivia was having so much fun with her friends that she did not care one bit that I had to head back to work. Before I left I snapped a picture of Olivia with her teacher, Ms. Laura. I think it is my favorite picture from the day! She loves Ms. Laura so much and she has been so good to Olivia this year. We are so lucky to have such an amazing teacher guiding Olivia during this important time in her life. Olivia will be attending summer camp at her school a few weeks this summer. It is a great program because they do a ton of fun outdoor things, while still learning in the process. She will get to see her teacher again while also spending some time with the other teachers. It is a great way to keep Olivia's routine somewhat regular, even during the summer months.
So I am usually always using the blog as a way to keep everyone up to date on things Olivia has been up to. Since leaving the baby and toddler stages in the dust I rarely talk about milestones or ways in which Olivia is changing. Although she is still growing and changing it does not happen as quickly as it did in the first few years. But things still happen on a daily basis which make me stop and say, "I have got to talk about that on the blog", and of course by the time I get around to my blog I have forgotten that memorable moment. So while I am thinking of it I am going to mention a few things that describe who Olivia is at this moment.

1.) Olivia is currently obsessed with what defines a naughty word. She has heard other kids say words that they should not and she has developed a curiosity in knowing which words are good and which ones are bad. She comes to me numerous times a day asking, "Mommy is ___ a good word or a bad word?". Most of the time the words are just normal, every day words, but occasionally she comes to me with a questionable word that she knows she should probably not repeat. So far none of the words have been terrible, thank goodness, but she is cracking me up with this. Her curiosity is adorable and I am proud of her for being able to distinguish the difference between which words are OK for her to say and which ones she should avoid. Hopefully her language will continue to remain on the clean side!

2.) Olivia has recently become infatuated with mermaids. Not exactly sure why, but I think it has something to do with a Dora book we read awhile back. She thought it was fascinating that this girl in the book had a fin instead of feet and she LOVED her long flowing hair. Since then she has been talking about how she wants to be a mermaid one day. I told her that the best I could do is try to make her a mermaid costume for Halloween. She loved that idea! Now she has a few different mermaid bath toys and she is determined to have a mermaid birthday party this year. Who knows, maybe this obsession with mermaids will disappear as soon as she finds the next best thing, but for now it is all about mermaids!

3.) I am very excited to report that during the last week of school Olivia read her very first word! While working on her reading with her teacher she recognized and read the word "at". May not seem like a big deal to most, but it is a big deal for us to see our 3 year old little girl reading her first word! Her teacher then worked with her on adding letter in front of "at" to create other words. She is now able to read...bat, hat, cat, rat, mat, fat and a few others. We are proud of her but she is also very proud of herself. She is doing a great job of sounding out words and putting letters together. Watching your child learn to read is a pretty fascinating thing.

4.) The last thing I want to share is that I currently have the most honest child on the planet. She spills the beans on everything and constantly feels the needs to tell us when she has done something wrong. She does not try to hide it or act like she did not do it. No, she immediately comes to us and says, "Mommy, I did or said ___!" It is too funny. It is as if whatever she has done weighs so heavily on her conscience that she cannot possibly keep it to herself. Most of the time she confesses to things that do not even warrant a confession. The funniest part is the look on her face when she is giving her confession...so innocent! What are the odds that she will always be that honest with us? I think the bigger question is what do Todd and I need to do to be able to keep her that honest? The might just be the parenting question of the century!

Our summer is officially in full swing. There is so much going on. Olivia started soccer last week. (More on that in the next post). She has also been doing a lot of swimming at Uncle VJ's...lovin' that! Next weekend is Olivia's dance recital and Father's Day, and that following weekend we have graduation parties for two of Olivia's cousins! It is a crazy busy month. I think things start to slow down a bit after that which means we can sit back and relax and enjoy the summer!