Nora graduated from Nursery School. Another one of those moments that doesn't seem possible. I guess I can give myself a little credit based on the fact that she went a year early, technically. With her birthday in October and the cut-off date of September 1, Nora should have been in the class starting this coming fall 09. She was really ready though. I only a few regrets. I think that she would have been very bored in toddler school so I was glad to see her be challenged and learn tons. However, it was tough at the beginning of the year with a very young class (5 early starters including Nora). There was a big learning curve for this class: sitting, listening, routine, etc (regret #1). I fear that those challenges limited her learning and actually gave us some of the discipline hurdles to overcome at home. Then again, she is three and whoever said the terrible two's are the worst phase somehow lost their two year old before they turned three! I'm sure that I will line out that sentence in the future and replace it was 13 or 16 year old or some higher number.
Frustration would be other biggest regret for Nora. I think that when she struggled with some of the fine-motor skill tasks such as writing and detail coloring, she was very frustrated. She actually knows what she wants to do and can see the examples and older kids do it but then she can't reproduce it. I know that this is part of learning. It is what forces us to practice and stretch our abilities but for her age she is right on. Compare her to a typical age nursery schooler, near 9-12 months older, and she isn't there. Things improved greatly by the end of the year and really, she is ahead in many areas. She is counting to 30 or more, she knows her ABC's and can read most of them. She knows all her colors and knows some Spanish words/counting. She is now tracing letters pretty successfully. She spells her name aloud along with other children's names. We are very proud of her especially for overcoming the challenges that we handed to her.
So, she was a chicken! Her class put on a play for parents and family and she clucked/baulked her heart out. She sang all of her songs and did well. It was interesting at the end because my normally not-so-shy-on-stage, girl that sings songs and bosses the other kids around to sing with her was refusing to sing the last song. She pouted and whined instead. She even refused to accept her "diploma". Weird, huh? So, she came over shortly after and took off her chicken hat and she was sweaty wet. She was hot! The show, did not go on...
She was good to go after a good Daddy hug, a cookie or two and a drink. We love you Nora!
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