Meredith started her first day of Preschool in January and couldn’t have been more excited! Ever since she was a baby tagging along in the Ergo carrier, she’s been saying hello to all the kids and teachers and asking when she could go. Finally her day had come.
Later in the week, I had her pose with this sign since the actual first day of school back from Winter Break was too hectic!
There are three preschool classrooms at the girls’ school and since Miss Rafiyah had called dibs on Meredith years ago, we put Meredith in her class. She goes two days a week and asks every day whether or not it’s her day for school. She’s very diligent about laying out her school uniform the night before and I thought she would explode with excitement when she was the Helper of the Day for the first time!
She had a fun first day and was especially excited about bringing her kitty lunch box and eating at school. When I dropped the girls off, she didn’t even look back to say goodbye– she just ran off on the playground! Eleanor wondered why it was so quiet at home for the rest of the morning.
The first few weeks were rough with napping. She takes a solid two-hour nap at home, but that’s with eating lunch a bit earlier than they do at school, plus our routine of storytime, blackout curtains and white noise is ingrained in her system. The teachers decided to try a little experiment and once they moved her to Miss Shah’s classroom, which is darker, she had no problem napping. The older kids get to pat the backs of the younger kids before they nap to help get them calm, and Samantha and Amelia were excited to be able to rub Meredith. So cute. Meredith hasn’t had any accidents at school, even through naptime, which is a big improvement from her having random accidents at home over the break. She’s one of the tallest kids in her class and looks like she could be one of the 4 or 5 year olds!
At the girls’ parent teacher conference, I didn’t think Miss Rafiyah would have much to say since Meredith had only been in class a few weeks at that point. But Miss Rafiyah went on and on about how much they love Meredith and what she’s been doing in class. The first words out of her mouth were, “Meredith is so calm.” Um…. are we talking about the right child?!
Apparently, in class Meredith is great at following directions, putting away her work, and contributing to class discussion (maybe a little too much.. Miss Rafiyah said they are working on having Meredith raise her hand during circle time because she loves to blurt out all her thoughts and tell her life story. Miss Rafiyah said she has to suppress laughter multiple times a day because the stuff that comes out of Meredith’s mouth is hilarious!)
Miss Rafiyah also told me that one of the other moms approached her and asked who the new student at school was because her daughter, Cora, couldn’t stop talking about this fun, nice, cute little girl named Meredith! Her teacher also said that a little girl named Aria is very attached to Meredith already. Who knew that Meredith would already have tons of playdate requests!
Whenever we go to pick up the twins from school and it’s not Meredith’s day to go, everyone at school greets Meredith as if they are best friends. She’s always been a social butterfly, even when she was a baby. She’s so different than the twins who mostly stick together and are more reserved, even when they are apart.
Miss Holly showed me this picture that she took of Meredith on the playground and called it, “Pure joy!”
Samantha is on blue level for reading and is doing great in her class. She’s always been on the introverted side, but has come out of her shell a little bit more this year now that she’s one of the big kindergarteners. She’s been working on math a lot lately, which she’s not naturally inclined toward (she’s her mama’s daughter for sure), and has come a long way with numbers and addition. Whenever I practice with her at home, she’s pretty quick with addition. Her favorite thing to do is still art (no surprises there!) and she’s become a leader in her class, helping Miss Holly and Mr. Michael and the younger kids. We still need to work on her handwriting– she’s constantly spelling words correctly and writing/drawing, but for some reason, she always does a capital N and H when she writes her name, instead of lowercase. Our goal is to rewire that! Samantha loves to hang out with Emily and Thayjas at school. Once she lets her guard down a little, she’s very silly and loves to play games. Her teachers say she is an awesome leader and very smart!
Amelia is doing awesome as well and Miss Shah said she’s going to miss Amelia a ton next year! Amelia is the first one the teachers call on whenever they need help in the class and she’s a great example to the younger kids. She’s very sensitive and last year, when someone upset her or she felt overwhelmed, she would cry and have little meltdowns. That seems to have gotten better this year as she has become more comfortable and confident to express herself with words. She loves art as well as geography. She’s on the shy side like Samantha, but also has a silly/fun side to her once she gets comfortable– her favorite friends are Skylie, Mila and Kaylee. Amelia has had a little “boyrfriend” in class this year– she’s constantly coming home with little notes that say “Amelia from Jay” with little hearts! It’s adorable, but I don’t think she realizes Jay “likes” her. She just thinks he’s funny!
Amelia is on Blue Level in reading and can do the 100 Board in math. We’re still working on addition– it doesn’t come easily to her like reading/writing/drawing do. She also loves the science experiments they do in class and her favorite part of the month is when she’s the Helper! Amelia is very inquisitive and asks great questions. She’s also very organized and likes to know what’s ahead. She’s always asking me about what day it is, what’s the weather, when she’s the helper, how many days until her birthday, and what’s for hot lunch (the twins get hot lunch once a week and love it). We’re working on Amelia’s handwriting because she likes to write with her third finger wrapped around the pencil, which I guess fatigues the arm after a while? Although, I figured out that I write like that, so maybe it’s genetic? We got her a pencil chub to use in class to help out with that. Her teachers say she’s an awesome helper and so smart. Go, Amelia!
Samantha and Amelia have been great at showing Meredith the ropes and it’s adorable seeing them all play on the playground together. I’m sure Eleanor will be begging to go in no time.
Lots of love,
