She's off the school, all by herself!

Gemma has been wanting to go to school 'All by herself' ever since she started her Mommy and Me preschool last September, so I was very excited to hear that her preschool offered a summer program for kids 3 and up as long as they were potty trained. Gemma went on her first adventure in school by herself and it was a very successful day. I dropped her off and she was just beside herself with excitement. She was very happy to wear her new backpack that her Daddy bought her in China and have her own lunch box. I would be lying if I said I was sad, but my feelings were more like confident that Gemma would do fine without me and that I was comfortable enough to trust the school with my child's life.



Angus and Gemma before school.

While Gemma was at school Angus and I headed for the gym. I had a nice work-out and Angus had a cry free morning in the child care. When I picked Angus up, I felt like something was missing. We went out to he van and I loaded him up and that is when I felt a little lonely without Miss Gemma around. Even Angus wasn't enjoying the ride in the van as much, he is so used to his sister smiling at him and entertaining him.



Another snap of Gemma, for the Grandparents!

We picked Gemma up from school and she was so excited to see us and tell us about her day. She had a great time and Mrs. Pohlit said she did great.

On another note, Gemma has seemed to outgrow her naps. The past 5 days we have struggled to get her to go down for her afternoon nap. It usually takes her 2 hours to settle down. I have tried a nap at noon, a nap at 1, 2, and 3, but every time she doesn't seem to want to sleep for almost 2 hours after we first put her down. Jonny and I agreed, much to my disappointment, that she had outgrown her naps. So yesterday, (yes, call me stupid because I thought I would try this on her first day of school 'all by herself'!) I thought I would give the no nap thing a try. Big mistake!!! I took the kids to Gap to pick up a t-shirt and they both seemed to be fine. Then it was off the the library to pick up my book that was on hold. Gemma and I had a talk before she went in discussing the importance of her listened to me while we were in the library. We got in the library and I picked up my book and we headed over to the kids section. Gemma wanted to pick out a DVD and I wasn't opposed, although I almost never let her watch TV. As we were trying to find a DVD a nice man were admiring the kids saying how cute they were. There were no DVD's in the library, I think because they were all checked out due to school being out for the summer. There were tons of videos, but we do not own a vcr anymore, so I explained to Gemma that we couldn't check them out because we didn't have the player. Gemma seemed to understand and then that 'nice' man came up to her and handed her a Minnie and Mickey Mouse video. She was sure she was going to get it! She even ran away from me with the video in tow. When I caught up to her she started screaming, hitting, kicking and whaling that she wanted the video. I told her that she didn't listen and we had to leave the library. She walked with me to the front of the library crying away and then ran away again screaming she wanted to get her books, I chased her down again and she wailed some more. I quickly checked out my book and we were off.

I have to say that maybe a week ago that sight would have freaked me out. I have been doing some reading on child discipline and I really think I handled the situation quite well. The books I am reading are by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton and I am loving them. They are helping me become a calmer more empathetic parent. It is also teaching me to control my emotions. We will see how this method works. So far, so good. Even though we definitely had drama yesterday, I do believe Gemma and I are learning to self-discipline ourselves.



My gorgeous little man!

Last night I headed to Changing Hands for knitting. We had a nice little group and I almost finished baby Aidan's baby blanket, but ran out of yarn!!! I need about 3 feet of yarn to finish the blanket. What a bummer!