Gimmie a "K"

Most of the kids in Katherine's preschool class already know how to spell and write their names, but Katherine -- not quite yet..... She can write her name if she has an example to follow, but not just sit down and write it from memory... In all fairness, these "kids" that have known how to spell their names since they were three have names such as Sam, Max and Ben. It's much harder to spell Katherine.... Normally, I wouldn't really care, but the first activity they do every day at preschool, is find their name on the wall and write it over again. I don't want her to be frustrated, so I set out on a mission.... help her spell her name from memory.

What I was I to do, but to find my inner cheerleader and help my little princess out??? So, together, Katherine and I made up this cute little song/cheer so that she'd remember how to spell her name. We sang it over and over, made up hand motions, and danced a jig. Even Caleb got into it, and jumped around like a wild man. Up until yesterday she could get KATHE, but couldn't remember the RINE part, but all of a sudden, out popped her entire name. We were both so thrilled that we jumped, laughed and hugged. The best part is that Katherine loves showing off her new skills, and spells her name for EVERYONE. I can't even count how many times we've sung our new favorite song in the last 48 hours! LOL.

So next time you see my little Katherine, be prepared for her to sing you a cheer at the top of her lungs. She's on cloud 9!!

This morning, while Katherine was in preschool, I took Caleb to his first story time at the Clive Library. When Katherine was his age, we went to a different library, and I've got to tell you, this one was soooo much nicer. The library has an entire toddler section with a play area, bean bag reading area, real birds and little gazebo that the kids can crawl into with a book. While we were waiting for story time, Caleb picked out three car related books and we sat and read them together. It was great.

The story time room is off to the side and closed off from the rest of the toddler area. When story time started, the librarian pulled out an adorable stuffed puppet bear and Caleb couldn't wait to attack him with hugs and high-5's. He LOOOOOVES this bear!! In addition to the standard stories that they read to the kids, they also sing motion songs and then dance with the colored scarves. It's such a perfect set-up because the kids can be loud and dance around in between stories. It really helps to hold their attention. At the end, the librarian blows tons of bubbles and the kids go wild. Caleb loved it!! He's already looking forward to next week!

Oh, I had a proud mommy moment tonight at dance class! There are three teachers in Katherine's class, and I could see one of the teachers working exclusively with Katherine and one other little girl. I thought it was a little odd, but didn't give it that much thought. Anyway, after class, Miss Toni (the head teacher) pulls me aside and tells me that Katherine has great coordination and listens to and follows direction extremely well. She wants to move her up to the next class so that she'll be challenged more. She thinks she's ready to go into the next class (which happens to be much smaller and at a better time for us). How great is that??? So starting next week, Katherine will be in a new ballet class, and she's really looking forward to it.