150209_Beginnings

This is Harlow’s school picture. Is it not the most adorable photo you have ever seen? Excluding photos of your own children? Or maybe not excluding photos of your own children? YOU DECIDE.

Harlow just finished up what I call pre-preschool. It was drop-off twice a week for two hours. She loved it. And I think it was the perfect preliminary step to what will be a more regular preschool schedule next year.

This year, more than anything else, Harlow has learned to be comfortable around people besides her immediate family. The teachers told us that in the beginning of the year (after the transition period was over when parents and caretakers are still in the room), Harlow would often take her “About Me” book to a corner by herself to flip through it. The book is made by each family before school starts with photos of familiar people and places, to be used for comfort if necessary.

The teachers told is that if they went over to comfort Harlow while she was looking at her book, Harlow would take her book and move to a different spot. No tears. Just a very clear message that she wanted to be left alone. Hearing that story made me feel sad, like maybe she wasn’t as ready for separation as she seemed the first day. But I also loved that she had a coping mechanism and knew exactly what she needed to comfort herself.

That phase ended up being pretty short-lived and Harlow soon became so excited to see the kids and teachers each day, giving them big hugs when she entered the room. She referred to all of her classmates by name at home and she talked about her pre-preschool class probably more than Mazzy talks to me about kindergarten.

On the last day of class, we had a little party and it was amazing to look around and see how much the kids had grown from the beginning of the year. On the first day, they looked like babies and here they were looking like little kids. We went into the play yard and Harlow showed off how she could climb the rope ladder and the rocket ship to the top, two things she most certainly couldn’t do back in the fall.

It was also heartwarming to see the well-worn pages of Harlow’s “About Me” book, which had clearly served her well. It looked like someone had read it 100 times over the course of as many years.

One of the things Harlow did every class was sing at music time, so I’ll end this post with my favorite video to date. It a 12 second clip of Harlow singing “Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine…”

You most certainly will, my love.


————————————-

To see more pics and videos of Harlow, follow @mommyshorts on Instagram. Want Mommy Shorts delivered daily or weekly to your inbox?