First Day

I think K's first day of Pre Primary went okay. She wouldn't cooperate with any photos in the morning, so Dad had to grab a couple as she got int he car.

K's teacher seems lovely and she has some friendly faces in the class from Kindy. She didn't cry when it was time for Mum to go, but she did hold on tight. I had to pry her hands off mine and get the teacher to hold her whilst I left. She said she had a good day. She brought home some craft, talked about the letter 'S', mentioned a story that was read about a light that was under the water (that was mistaken for numerous things) and said she gave the monkey bars a go.

All in all, K does enjoy school. It is just the leaving thing in the morning that is a stress. Today she walked out of the class when Dad left, and refused to go back in. Every other child went to sit on the mat like they were supposed to, except for K. What is this all about? It's not as if this leaving thing in the morning is new. K has been going to daycare since she was 12 months old - 5 days a week. Last year, it took a good 6 months before K would not be a pain in the morning when it was time for Mum or Dad to leave Kindy. Even then, it was hit and miss and I think I bribed her with marshmellows in her lunch box. If she didn't say good bye nicely, she would lose the marshmellows.

I need to figure this out. I know she is genuinely anxious about being around new people. I get that. But so are a lot of kids. She's fine in the morning, fine in the car and fine walking into the classroom. The refusal to comply however, let go of Mum/Dad and sit on the mat like every other child, I'm thinking is just a power play from an indulged child. It's not as if there is another option. She knows we are going to leave. She knows she is going to end up on the mat. I even think she knows she is going to have a good day at school.

Kissing, cuddling, praising, encouraging to go to the mat, doesn't work.
So my options for tomorrow are:
* Drop and run - don't wait for the 'bell' to ring and give her a chance to perform in front of everyone
* Discuss a consequence in the morning for not saying good bye nicely - I'm thinking no swim and no TV after school
* Try the marshmellows again...
I'm thinking if we don't address this early, she is going to continue the power play and seek the negative attention from us every school morning. Given that school is now 5 days per week, I don't think we want to go down that road. I know it is only early days, but when every other 5 year old can say good bye appropriately and move to the mat - I don't think we are expecting too much from K to do the same.

Australia Day Weekend

What did K do over her Australia Day long weekend? I think she had a weekend typical of many Aussie kids.

She swam...

 

 K played in the pool with her big Sis.

 

K surfed - well, tried.



 

 

 

 

 

She exercised and practiced her excavating skills, with some help.

 



 

 

 

K enjoyed a lemonade at a local restaurant.



 

And a walk through the bush.

 

K took some photos - I must remember to have a conversation about taking photos of objects or friends, not people that she does not know. Apologies to the Mum below and the other random people K took happy snaps of.

Lastly, K enjoyed along with her friend a ride home from the restaurant on the double decker bus - a bus that travels to some of the key tourist spots in our area.

It's a long way down.

 

K also spent time with two of her closest family members. Thanks M and S for sharing the weekend with us and K. You are building upon K's positive experiences that she will remember for a lifetime.

 

Family, friends, water, bush and beach. What more could an Aussie kid ask for over Australia Day?

 

 

 

 

Counting Down

We are counting down the weekends we have left before our big move to Darwin. We will try and get out and about a little each weekend (in between packing and organising), and take some photos and videos for K to reflect on in the future. This weekend, K continued to explore her new gift from Nana and Grandad. Her favourite IPad activity so far is playing a little game that involves some baby animals coming to daycare. She plays with the animals, feeds them, puts them to sleep... I'm not sure why she is so fascinated with this. I'm not sure if she relates, because of her daycare experiences, whether she is further demonstrating her love of animals, whether there is some element of empathy and care as she is rocking the babies to sleep or if it some other aspect of the app that makes it engaging.

We made some playdough. K decided to make the dough the colour "orchid" according to the instructions on the food dye packet, which turned out to be a light purple/violet colour. We took the playdough to a friends house for dinner on Saturday, along with a packet of spaghetti and cereal. We practised our fine motor skills by threading cheerios on to the spaghetti (which was stuck in the playdough). The kids had fun making Cheerio Monsters.

Although K happily munched on the Cheerios whilst playing with them, when I presented a handful in a bowel as a snack the following day, they apparently were not as appealing. On Sunday we also went to the beach. Natti had a fantastic time swimming. She is definitely a water dog.

K and Dad made a warm bath in the water using some new sand toys K got for Christmas. With hot weather predicted for the weekend ahead, I'm sure we will be back at the beach again soon.