A weekend of Firsts

1. Friday morning Jim and I went to our first Parent/Teacher conference. In this particular Montessori school in January kids move to upper levels if they are academically, emotionally and socially ready to do so. This way if any child is ready they all move at once and no one is singled out. January will also see Morgan turn 3 so she may move from the Toddle program out to the preprimary room with kids aging 3-5. Morgan's teacher, Miss Julie, and the program director, Miss Delynda, feel very confident that Morgan is more than ready academically, but socially/emotionally maybe not. So, she visited with the preprimary class she would join and will continue to visit through December when everyone will make a decision. Morgan is incredibly shy, reticent and cautious at school. Miss Julie says that French class really shows how Morgan is at school. She sits, listens and they are convinced absorbs everything and whispers every answer, but when pressed to say her answer louder and again so her classmates can hear Morgan tucks her chin and hides.

2. We all went to an open casket visitation Friday night. Because there were so many adults around, Morgan opted to ride in her sling. She glimpsed the body - but we didn't stay in the chapel long enough (hopefully) to scare her. We did talk a lot about the fact the Roberta died and that everyone is very sad. I think all the emotion that she witnessed had a much greater effect on her than the body.

3. Morgan went to her first Birthday Party! Well, the first one that a friend invited her to specifically. Julia (friend in multiple posts) turns 6 this month and had a gymnastics b-day party. Luckily Morgan had been in gymnastic lessons this summer and was nonplussed by the equipment or crazy running 4,5 &6 year old friends. She LOVED the running trampoline and quickly figured out how to jump the length, climb the mats, slide off, climb the slide and slide into the block pit all be herself. Many times Jim and I would be talking with other parents and have to look around wondering where on earth she had gone to! She also whole heartedly played birthday-noodle tag and ran herself silly with the older kids. This behavior juxtaposed to school...