growing up too fast

(pictures are from riding Tink last week)

Last Friday, I took Grace to her Kindergarten preview. Are you kidding me? I have to start going to school again???!!! The school year has never sat well with me either as a student or as a teacher. Now as the parent of a student, I can feel all those old anxieties and pressures building up before it even begins.The biggest shock to my system is that I have a kid old enough to ride the bus to school. I'm sure I will be standing on the corner of our road crying in September when the bus pulls away.

I am very excited for Grace though. She has looked forward to riding that bus since we moved in. It has picked up the kids across the street every morning for the past 3 years. Even Hattie looks for it every morning now. (we get 2 buses - one at 7:30 and one at 8:00am... they use to wake us up, but now we are awake MUCH before they arrive - thanks Hattie!)

I do have to say though, that Grace is probably not going to be stimulated much by the kindergarten curriculum. She will love school because she just loves doing all the school kinds of things. But, from what we saw at the preview and the things in the classroom - it is going to be a big repeat of pre-school. I'm sure glad I didn't send her to more than one year of pre-school!

For a kid who can count to 200, do simple multiplication, and completely read books, write just about anything, and knows more geography than I do, even the toughest curriculum is going to be a tad disappointing. (I hope I'm wrong, but...) She was already bored with the assignment they did last Friday. She was also really nervous to be there and had a big fidgeting fit. I'm sure her teacher took one look at her and pinned her for the ADD kid who doesn't want to do their work. On the contrary - Grace has the longest attention span for doing things and once she is comfortable, she will hopefully stop fidgeting! Still, being a teacher, I know how these things go. I just hope she's given the chance to prove her stuff before being judged. (don't we all wish for that?)

My other big girl, Hattie, has gone from a 50 word vocabulary to being able to say any word ask for anything with a word, or identify anything with a word in just a matter of weeks. She's also started speaking in 2-3 word "sentences." The talking just doesn't stop. I vaguely remember wishing for her to just use a word, any word, to ask for what she wants. Oh, yes, she asks for what she wants, and she doesn't stop asking until she gets it.

Some of her favorite things to say are:

"more doggie treats"
"nee nee" which means naked. she thinks that anyone without at least short sleeves and long shorts on is naked. She points at people on tv, who are totally clothed, and says "nee nee." At least she's modest! She's got the Mormon standard down to a tee already.
"froggy jump"
"wuvoo" love you
"_______ toots" she uses this for any of us in the house - she's very good at describing all of our bodily functions. can't wait until she does it in front of someone who we'd rather not discuss it with!
"hattie" she finally learned to say her own name, and it is adorable to hear. she still can't say Harriet though.
"gacie" for Gracie
"my_____" she now knows what is hers and says "my baby", "my doggie", "my juice."

There are dozens of others I'm sure, but those are the ones that pop into mind right now.

Her other big girl moment happened a few days ago when she was running around naked and started calling to us from the bathroom. I said "what Hattie!" as it was at least the 10th time in as many minutes that she wanted something. I went in there and she was proudly standing in front of her potty chair and pointed to it and said "pee pee!" Yep, she did it! She made some pee pee come out in the potty! She has been trying to do it for weeks and can't ever make it happen. She hasn't done it since, but we are encouraged that she at least knows what to do and that it is the right thing. We had a major dance party over Hattie's first pee pee in the potty.

Like I said - growing up too fast. My toddler is somehow on her way to kindergarten and my baby is talking and going potty.