Riana is extremely social and transitions like these have never been a problem. This time however, she is battling with the large school setting. Every morning she cries when I drop her off. She tells me that she doesn’t want to attend the school. She wants me to stay there with her. Albeit unwilling to attend school in the mornings, she does seem to enjoy herself a lot during the course of the day. She especially likes the big playground that enables her to explore several activities.

I am glad that the school has been around for 42 years and is unlikely to shutdown in the near future. I really like this school as most of the teachers have either bachelor’s or master’s degree in teaching. Riana is in the younger preschool classroom and can continue at this school until Kindergarten. It is not fun when a two year old is constantly subjected to major changes like this. I hope this phase will pass as Riana develops new friendships and gets comfortable with the new environment.

Good luck my baby! (Hugs & Kisses)

One of my favorites is a lantern she made using color paper, thread, crayons, stickers and party decorations. It was beautiful. The loveliest of all were the gifts she made for Ashwin and I for Father’s day and Mother’s Day using her thumb and finger prints.

Arts and crafts sure sound like fun but all her clothes are nicely stained yellow, blue, green and red! I am glad she is having fun but there is one thing I wish she didn’t do and that is play in the sand box until she is covered from head to toe.

She participated in the annual Sports day at her preschool and won a ‘fake’ gold medal for the egg relay competition. Apparently she had very good control! Shocking… Good control from a kid who is otherwise very clumsy.

Yesterday the school had their end of the year celebration and all the kids put out a very good show. They sang some wonderful songs. Riana was very shy and didn’t know why her mummy and other parents were sitting, watching them sing and taking pictures and videos. It was hilarious to see her expression when her turn to sing came. It was almost like we caught her doing something naughty!

They concluded the show with an award ceremony and every child got a certificate for successfully completing the year. Lunch was served at Noon and Riana devoured the hot dogs and Chips!

All in all, it’s been a wonderful experience to see her learn and grow. I would call this a successful transition to preschool…

Good job Riana. Mummy and Daddy are very proud of you! Cheers…

She truly began speaking only a few months ago, but since then she’s mastering the alphabet song and counting up to 11 or 12, depending on her mood, with the greatest of ease.

The funny and interesting thing is that she will count the numbers and recite the alphabets without provocation and while involved in some other activity. The moment we ask her to do it so that we can capture a video of it, she purposefully miscounts or screams the alphabets while repeating a few of them just for fun. Her favorite letter to repeat being “W”, just just likes saying “dubble-YOU” over and over again.

Cheers

She is very independent now. They do not feed children in the toddler classroom. She is learning how to spoon feed herself. She tries to comb her hair and wear her socks. She does not mind sharing her toys with others. If you ask for a toy, she will bring it to you and happily hand it to you. Once of the best things about daycare is that the kids learn to share their personal belongings.

She can communicate better now with words as well as gestures. If she doesn’t want milk, she says “no” and shakes her head off. When she is finished eating, she says “aa-don” meaning “all done”. If we ask her to sit down, she sits down. She even puts her toys in the toy box when asked. She puts the diapers and burp cloths into the appropriate baskets. Isn’t that adorable? She’ll come to you if you ask her to. When you want to change her, she walks up to you and sits in front you facing her back to you. She likes to greet people with “hi” and “ello”. She also loves to wave good bye and says “ba-bye”!

My little baby grew so fast into a toddler. Now, she is becoming a person with her own personality. A sweet one…

The most recent milestone to approach now is her transition from the Infant program into the Toddler program at daycare. The transition happens at 15 months so as to allow all the children to be able to handle the hustle and bustle of a program active and involved program.

Since the day Riana began to walk, she’s only gotten faster and more capable of wreaking endless havoc around the house. But taking a glimpse at the other children who will now be her playmates gives me a tiny glimpse of the very near upcoming future with her. The talking, talking back and all the “No” and “I don’t want to” that are shortly to follow.

Right now, having been listening to her various shrieks and cries while pointing to convey what she wants, needs, and likes, it would be nice for her to start speaking to better tell us exactly what it is that she wants, but I know all too well where that can lead us.

Watching your child or any child go from being a helpless infant to asserting some independence and to truly become an individual with likes and dislikes has been quite an interesting journey…but then, we just leave the station.

Cheers