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In a couple of weeks Maya will be going on her very first field trip. Her little preschool class is taking a trip to the pumpkin patch. They get to ride on a bus and everything!
At her school the teacher to child ratio is great. There are 9 kids in her class and 3 teachers. Two of the classes are pairing up for the trip so there will be 18 kids and 6 teachers plus one of the assistant principals is tagging along and the OT that works with one of the kids in Maya’s class. So, given that so many adults will be there they didn’t ask for parent volunteers to be extra eyes. Parents are, however, invited to tag along if they want.
I want to, I would love to be part of this little experience. But. Ya, there’s a but. But, I’m worried that my being there will mean that Maya’s experience isn’t as a great as it could be. You see, Maya is very shy. When we had our parent/teacher conference a few weeks ago it was one of the topics we discussed. I wasn’t surprised that her teacher had noticed it, since we witness it every time we are out with friends, or Maya encounters strangers and even acquaintances while we are out and about. She is super shy around other people and it takes time for her to warm up and talk to people. Her teacher has mentioned that she is starting to see her come out of her shell, she is starting to communicate with her friends and the teachers more and more. So, I’m worried that my being there with her on the field trip will limit her, that she will use me as a shield and won’t be as open, as talkative, as adventurous.
As much as I want to go, to be part of this little adventure with her, I’m leaning towards sitting this one out. I haven’t made a firm decision yet, but I want her to have the best first field trip experience possible and if that means I have to sit this one out than that is what I will do.
Any of you other mommas of shy kiddos had a similar experience? Any advice for me?
Maya has started calling me “Mom”. Just mom, not mama or mommy, just mom. I don’t think I’m ready to be just “mom”. But, if there is one thing I’ve learned in my almost 4 years as a parent it’s that it isn’t about what I’m ready for, it’s all about what she is ready for.
When did she become a full blown kid?
I remember those early days of talking when I couldn’t wait for Maya to say “mama”, and then for her to say it and know she was referring to me. It was music to my ears. Then she made the transition to using “mommy” and I loved it, it made me feel so special to have this sweet little girl calling me “mommy”.
This transition to “mom” feels different. It feels like a reminder that she isn’t a baby or a toddler anymore, she is a kid. The other morning she came in the bathroom while I was having a shower and said “Hey, Mom, where’s Dad?” It was like a completely different child had walked into the bathroom. I was so used to having her say “Mommy, where is dada?” that I was taken aback for a moment. Who dropped this 13 year old off at my house and what did they do with my not quite 4 year old!
I think it is going to take a little getting used to, this new title of mine. In the meantime I’ll relish in those moments when “mommy” or “mama” still slip back into her vocabulary because I’m not ready to me just “mom” quite yet.
I can’t tell you how happy I am to be able to say that Maya loves school. Given her propensity to shyness and her antics last winter when I tried to send her into her gymnastics class alone, I was really worried that it would take her some time, perhaps even a lot of time, to adjust to going to school. Deep down I knew she would love it once she got adjusted, but I didn’t know what to expect from her at first.
We are in week number 3 of the school year and Maya is just in love with going to school. When she gets up in the morning she always asks if she “gets to go to school this day?” 
Other than a few tears, that according to her teacher only lasted a couple of minutes, on her first day of school drop off has been a breeze. Thursday when I dropped her off she barely said goodbye before running into her class room. It is going better than I even could have hoped. I never imagined that on her 3rd day of school she’d already be at the running into class with barely a look back stage, I love it.
She is getting so much out of it too. Every Tuesday and Thursday when I pick her up from school at lunchtime she is full of stories about all the things she did in class that day. She sings the songs they have been learning in class all day long. She talks about her new little friends and all the things they played with. She adores her teachers. She is so proud of her little art projects at the end of the day. Not to mention that she is constantly playing school at home now too, either with Lorne and I or her dolls as her “students”.
The smiles on her face when I drop her off and the bigger smiles on her face when I pick her up just melt my heart.
Today was a big day for Maya, it was her first day of preschool.
She has been filled with excitement and nerves about the whole idea of starting school for weeks. Most days she went back and forth between liking the idea of starting school and kind of wanting to go and saying she didn’t like school and just wanted to stay home with me. We spent a lot of time talking about what she could expect and really talking up how much fun she would have. As the big day drew closer we took her out to pick out a first day of school outfit and a new backpack. It all helped to increase the excitement and decrease the nerves.
This morning at drop off I could sense her nerves and was a bit worried about how the drop off would go. She cried, as I expected, but I stayed positive and said my good byes. Her teacher did a great job of diverting her attention and I walked out the door. When I went back to pick her up a few hours later she was all smiles and full of stories about what she did. Ms. Melinda said she stopped crying pretty much right after I left and had a great day.
I’m so proud of her. Her first day of school was a huge success and she can’t wait to go back and do it all over again next week.
Maya has been in need of a hair cut for a while, since we got back from Australia really. I’ve been putting it off mostly because I wanted to have her hair cut just before school started, but also partly because we’ve been too busy. The other day we were at the mall to pick up a few back to school things for Maya and walked by this really cute looking little girls salon. Maya’s eyes lite up and she immediately said “I want to get my hair cut there sometime!”
So, off we went today, back to the mall to visit the little girls salon/spa, to get Maya’s hair cut. The place was so cute. Everything is covered in glitter and sparkles. The women who work there are so good with kids and they really know how to treat a girl like a princess. Between the sparkly purple chair, the pink princess smock, and sparkly rainbow scissors the hairdresser used, Maya was in heaven. The hairdresser trimmed Maya’s hair and then put it up in a cute little up-do for her, sprayed some glitter in her hair and used sparkles to paint hearts and stars on her cheeks. She walked out of the salon thoroughly pleased with the experience and looking like a perfect pampered princess.
She’s already asking if she can go back and get her hair cut again tomorrow! I may have inadvertently created a spa girl