A Metamorphosis

We attended an open house at Tess' preschool.  Her classroom was decorated to the nines with all the artwork and projects they've been working on all year.  I have a special place in my heart for St. Matthew's and Tess' teachers, Mrs. Hope McCaw and Mrs. Laura Ellis.  I remember how hysterical she was the first day I had to leave her, and Mrs. McCaw picked Tess up, held her and gave her a long hug.  Teachers aren't supposed to do that these days, but it's just what Tess needed to feel comfortable and understood.  Tess' Primary teachers during this time, Sister Darlene Smith and Sister Liz Cummings, have modeled similar loving behavior for Tess at church, and have been important influences as well.

As difficult an experience as the preschool trauma drama has been, it's helped me better understand the kind of teacher Tess responds to.  Talking with her teacher, she agreed that Tess doesn't need someone to hold her hand the whole time, but she does need to trust her teacher and know she can turn to her if she needs help.  Tess still tells me about the time she had an "accident" and how Mrs. Ellis "wasn't mad at all.  You get to go in a little room and put on new underwears and pants!"  Mrs. McCaw doesn't rush or push the class; the pace is nice and relaxed and the atmosphere is encouraging and nurturing.

Bit by bit, Tess has started to come out of her shell and feel comfortable there.  She's made good little friends and loves her school days.  Tess' sparkle and curiosity has returned, in place of the clinginess and constant anxiety.  Often when I pick her up from school, she'll say, "Awww, Mom!  I want to go back to school right now!  I love my school!''  Music to my ears!

"If you give a preschooler a pancake...."

Self portraits.

In her favorite center, the "home" center.

Playing with windsocks and streamers in the wind.

Marble painting. 

They have a squirrel that lives outside their classroom window that they've named "Super Squirrel."

Sprouting seeds.

Dress-up time.

Hatching butterflies in their classroom.

We were so proud of Tess that a little ice cream celebration was in order.

I'd been meaning to take Tess back to the butterfly exhibit at the Natural History Museum.  Since she's been learning about butterflies in school, this was a good opportunity.  Again, it was a big change since the last time she went and was so terrified.  I think they've "grown" more butterflies since last time--they were truly everywhere!

Lots of changes--all for the better!

An Afternoon

I took the kids on an afternoon outing to Occoquan to feed the ducks.  I don't know if it was the perfect weather, appreciative waterfowl, or ample number of fence slats for Drewie to walk along, but the kids didn't want to leave!

A few pics of Drewie in motion (time-lapse style):

Crawling.

The all-important transition from crawling to scooting.

The scoot.

And he's up!

Come rescue me because I can't get down myself!

My curious Tess:

 This is her "I'm telling you a serious, interesting story" face.  I love this face.

Note also the pink headband. Tess has a thing for headbands these days.  It started when we picked up our mail, which was wrapped in a large rubber band.  Of course, she had a "great idea" that it could be a headband, and she donned it 70's "Let's-Get-Physical" style, across her forehead.  Then she had another "great idea" to color the rubber band with her nonpermanent markers, so it left stripes of marker on her forehead.  After she'd been wearing it a while, Ryan and I suddenly heard panicked Tess shrieks as she screamed, "It's too tight, it's too tight!"  The rubber band headband compression had become too much for her.  It left tight red marks across her forehead along with the marker stripes.

Of course she was very upset because she loved her headband and really needed a headband for "exercising," so I finally appeased her with a promise to buy her a real headband.  At the store she passed up the stretchy elastic headbands for some plastic ones, which she now wears constantly.  Probably for the best, since I'm not sure how the Jane Fonda look would've gone over at school.

And a number of other Tess faces that she took on the way home.  I often turn on my camera to find an extensive series of photos by Tess.  I usually delete them, but these are just too "Tess."