Let’s start with the positive.
You get so much joy out of your garden. Daddy and you spent some special time together planting tomatoes from seeds in grandpa Sawyer’s garden plot. Last night, I walked with you and Daddy and it was so fun seeing you light up as you showed me how you could water the plants at the roots and help them to grow. You have your own little elephant watering can and do it all yourself, with daddy standing over you to help you get the water where it needs to go.
I signed you up for your very first dance class at Encore Studios for the summer. It’s a ten week combination Ballet/Jazz program for 4 year olds that begins in June. I am trying to plan out our summer because you will have no preschool and no church choir during the summertime, and you thrive on schedule. Throughout the day you ask what we’re doing and them do a list to confirm “ School, Lunch, Nap, Movietime”. “Right. Mama?” you’ll say.
So..my little dancer. You are very body aware, something which your daddy and I read in one of our books means that you have kinethethetic intelligence, according to Gardner’s theory, which you may learn about someday. You love to dance and when you play act Rapunzel or Beauty and the Beast etc you have very keen body language to express your dramatic little self.
Well, we went to the mall for several errands, one of which was to buy you some ballet and tap shoes. Our first attempt at this did not go well (I will elaborate on your behavior issues later). But. The Good news is that we went back yesterday and you were good as gold. We got you some pink leather ballet shoes with little pink drawstrings in a size 10, and some shiny black tap shoes in a size 9.5. The salesperson who helped us with your shoes actually used to own a dance studio, so he was very helpful and attentive. I thought you’d be over the moon for the ballet slippers, but to my surprise, you were most enthralled with the tap shoes. The closest we got to tears was at the end of the shoe store visit, when I told you we could not wear the tap shoes out of the store. Your eyed welled up with tears and I was afraid we’d leave the store screaming and dragging (like we did the day before) but luckily when I told you you could try them on at home, you understood and did not cry. (To my Relief!!!)
And try them on, you did. You tapped all day. We went on the computer and watched people dancing and I tried to show you different styles of tap and ballet dancing. We watched Gene Kelly and Ginger Rogers, irish step dancing, classical ballet, swing dancing, hip hop dancing and baby ballet and tap class recitals. Every time we watched a dance, you’d say “I wanna do that! Watch me!” and you’d dance your little heart out, with grandma hatch, charlotte and Henry and I as your audience.
So now the negative.
When I picked you up from Ms Courtney’s on Tuesday, she told me that you didn’t go on the field trip to the library because so many of the kids had “color changes”. A color change is when you go from Blue, where you start every day, meaning that your behavior was Very Good all day to Green, meaning not so good to red, meaning it was a very very bad day. You have never had a color change before, but you were one of the ones who had one on Tuesday. You had been talking back, telling your teachers what to do instead of asking for something and pushing Charlotte. When we got home, your dad and I tried to let you know how “serious” this was. I think we did a good job of conveying that the color change was a very bad thing and that you need to behave nicer in general, something you’ve been struggling with for the past few weeks. You are trying, but it must be related to a new baby in the house, with which we expected some behavior and adjustment issues.
When you do have a tantrum, it is awful. You scream so loud that it hurts my ears. You kick and push, shout “no!” or “I don’t want to!” and run away from me with tears streaming down your face. If Charlotte is nearby, she does what you do. She says no and she hits you. You scream and hit back. It’s a mess. As your mom, I try to stock you up on sleep and make sure you have a full belly to prevent total meltdowns. Your dad and I try to reassure you, and grandma and grandpa also try to gently guide you to do the right thing. You understand the rules, it’s just awfully hard to follow them.
No comments:
Post a Comment