While I fully expected Tasha to get sick once she started attending school, I did not expect it to happen this soon. She attended classes Friday of last week, and officially started Monday, Tuesday… and that’s it. The poor child came down with fever, cough, runny nose.. the full works. I have no idea if she caught it in school or during gymnastics and dance, but the poor child was utterly miserable. And of course Veronika came down with it too, that’s always the case. So I’ve had to deal with two sickies and poor Tasha’s week was shortened to only two days instead of five.

But on a brighter note, her 4th birthday is coming up this Saturday and she is very excited about that!

My big girl, aka Natasha, had her first official day of Kindergarten today. It was really stressful for everyone… but Tasha. The child was calm, collected, and excited to start the day. She’s grown to be a very brave and independent little girl. I did not sense any traces of fear from her as she was about to begin this new experience.

She and Veronika patiently waited for the yellow school bus in the morning

And it arrived right on time. We asked a big-kid to keep an eye on Tasha.

And at noon, our sweet girl came back, even happier than when she left.

She’s sooo brave! She told me about her fun-filled day of having a puppet show with turtles, dogs, and cows… of a tea-party with her school mates, coloring (her fingers were all green), and playing with the classroom’s big choo-choo train. She also ate really well.

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Aside from school, she also started a jazz/acro/ballet class today which she really enjoyed, and both girls did gymnastics on the weekend!

Natasha’s first day of Junior Kindergarten went really well, which is a huge relief considering she stayed home with me for the past 4 years, and aside from her 1-hour long sports classes, she has never stayed with anyone but family. But she proved to be a very independent little girl and had a fantastic first day! School is 3 hours, Monday-Friday.

She told me they played with trains and other toys, as well as had a tea-party with her teacher and the other kids. Her whole face was lit up when I picked her up, and her teacher remarked on how much she loves trains =) She was not scared at all and really enjoyed her first day. She even finished her entire snack I packed her and happily told me that she finished her entire snack and that I should be proud of her. It was really cute.

Of course, Monday still worries me a little as she will be taking the school bus for the first time, but I am hoping the ride and her day will go as smoothly as today went. It was really fun listening to her explain everything she did today, she was so happy.

Getting ready to leave

Waiting for the bell to ring (another new experience).

Classroom
 

We are counting down the days here until my little baby (ok, my almost 4 year old) starts attending school aka Junior Kindergarten. She is very very excited. She now has a drawer-full of school-friendly pants although finding this child pants without buttons & zippers that don’t also fall off of her tiny waist was a HUGE challenge! I think she’ll be wearing a lot of tights! But I managed to find enough pairs that fit her right.

We also have her backpack ready. Water-bottle with a straw ready. Dora lunchbox ready (although she spotted a Thomas one at Zellers yesterday and went nuts!). Plastic sandwich baggies ready. New Velcro shoes ready. So far, so good. We’re meeting her teacher on Sept 8th so hopefully I can get my hundreds of other questions answered. Talk about stress. Talk about excitement. My wittle wittle baby is growing up. :(

Natasha is obsessed with her Magnadoodle! Actually, both girls are and now that they have two, it eliminates a lot of fighting! But Natasha has been drawing some impressive things on hers and I love her little 3.5 year old drawing skills!

January 2010 – Chickens

May 2010 – Thomas the train (this was on paper)

July 2010 – Snail

And today – August 2010 – my favourite, a giraffe!

Both girls are very excited to start/return to their sports classes this fall. Veronika will be starting her first year of gymnastics, and Natasha will start her 3rd! Natasha is also starting her 2nd year of jazz/ballet/acro but in a different dance school so it’s a new experience for her. Both are looking forward to it!

Today I took Natasha to buy her new uniform – bodysuit, tights, and shoes, and she really enjoyed trying everything on and then modeling at home for her daddy. Veronika got quite jealous of the attention her sister was getting, so Natasha (being the sweetheart that she is) asked me to dress her baby sister in her older pink bodysuit and that immediately lifted Veronika’s spirits!

We bought the girls tickets to watch their very first movie in the theatre! And what’s better to to see than their favourite character – Thomas the tank engine! The movie is called Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue, and is offered through Toons for Toddlers. I really love this whole service, even though they are only offering one movie right now, but it’s ideal for toddlers – it’s for kids ages 2-5, screening length under 60 minutes, reduced sound, and the theatre is not fully dark so parents can exit if necessary.

I am not a fan of people bringing young kids to ‘regular’ movies and have them cry, talk, and disturb everyone, so for us this is ideal. I am hoping the girls like it! Of course, it isn’t a first movie without popcorn and pop!

Last Monday was Veronika's 1st and Natasha's 3rd trip to the zoo! The girls had a fun day, and I think Veronika was pretty impressed with all the different animals, as well as the kids-zone climbing area and the huge splash pad. And Natasha... Natasha loved the splash pad! She is not huge on the zoo itself, as we learned for the 3rd time this year! She just wasn't impressed with any of the animals, except maybe the turtles. She was more fascinated with the merry-go-round at the entrance, and I guess she's more like me in that sense, as I'd much rather visit a theme park than a zoo. But she still had a ton of fun!

The splash pad was her favourite and she even attempted going on some of the water slides. Veronika took a while to warm up, but soon enough was loving the water as well. At the end, they each picked out a stuffed turtle from the zoo shop!

Zoo entrance

Checking out the turtles

Looking at… something! Can’t remember :)

Splash pad fun!

Spider webs!

My darling almost-four-year-old makes it a point to remind me each day that she only likes 2 fruit and 2 veggies. That’s right. Then she goes on to list them – apples (sliced & peeled ONLY), bananas (without any brown spots), corn (canned or whole on the cob), and carrots (baby carrots, boiled until soft). That’s it. Other veggies & fruit are not part of her diet. Unless, they are floating in soup which she will usually eat.

I try to sneak fruit into her in different ways – she loves Mott’s flavoured applesauce whose ingredients are only fruit & water, so they are pretty healthy. She loves those in peach and strawberry and some other flavors. Then we make homemade smoothies which she also loves, and this way she takes in many kinds of berries. So there are ways to trick her, but she has become VERY picky in the fruit and veggie department. On a good day she will eat canned mandarin oranges, but forget fresh oranges…

… but aside from these, she is actually a very good eater! And my husband pointed out she loves potatoes, so I guess that’s another veggie she forgot she likes!

We finally took Natasha for her first dental appointment. She was very prepared! We read her Dora's Big Book of Stories book since it includes the “Show Me Your Smile” story where Dora the Explorer goes to the dentist. And therefore, Natasha knew exactly what to expect.

Her office is a pediatric dentistry office, so specifically for children, and all the staff was very friendly and knowledgeable as to how to speak and deal with children. She did not cry even once and was very brave! She had x-rays done (new digital technology which uses only a 1/3 of the exposure that normal x-rays use). Tasha loved looking at “pictures” of all her top & bottom teeth and received great news – no cavities!

She got to press a button and move her chair up & down, she got to examine all of the dentist’s tools, and she got to wear funky heart-shaped sunglasses which she loved. She also got several “prizes” and both girls got stickers and a nickel to get a toy from a toy-machine. Veronika watched (with some fear in her eyes!) Tasha’s entire appointment but she felt happy to be included in the prize-giving!

Natasha goes again soon for thorough teeth cleaning and afterwards only every 6 months for checkups. She was such a good girl!