This week, Jia’s personality is shining through even more than it has in the past. It’s really remarkable how these little people develop and change in the course of just a couple weeks, with really huge leaps and bounds every few months. I think back to what she was doing and how she was behaving and communicating when we first moved to California and she’s grown up so much over the past 2.5 months we’ve been here.

The most impressive change we’ve noticed has been her adjustment to daycare. After logging in 1 month and 10 days (about 28 days at daycare), she no longer gets upset when we drop her off. It’s really makes my heart happy when I’m able to get a nice hug and big kiss on the lips goodbye as I leave her in the morning. It reaffirms that our decision to have her at day care has been a good one. Monday was actually the first day that I came to pick her up and she wasn’t crying out with a concerned and desperate “Mommy! Mommy!” She just kept on chatting away after she greeted me and then happily bopped her way over to me for a hug!

We had our first parent-teacher conference on Tuesday. I know, a parent-teacher conference for a 1.5 year old? I think it’s a nice thing to have, because what parent doesn’t love to meet to talk about how their little one is doing when they’re at their first stint of daycare? Both of her main teachers met with Jeff and me and handed us a report for Jia’s progress. What I learned that was new, was how she enjoys singing and playing her instruments and is able to shake her instrument to the beat of the songs. They sing songs as they ride around in the 6-kid buggy rider around campus, and Jia points out airplanes, cats, dogs, colors, and shapes as they ride around.

Other things in the Past Week:

• Prayer: Before snacks and lunch at daycare, all the kiddies sing a rhyming blessing/grace. They put their hands together in front of them and close their eyes as they sing. What I noticed when I was putting her things away at a late drop-off just in time for snack, was Jia holding her hands in front of her with her eyes closed, musing along with the grace. She was peeking out through closed eyes as she “sang” along and looked at other kids, making sure she was still supposed to keep her eyes closed. This made my heart really ache with pride – she was learning the routine, she shares in mealtime prayer – she was fitting in just like all the other kiddos.
• She’s Napping Consistently: On my pick-up sheet, almost every day I see she’s napping anywhere from 1.25-2 hours which is really impressive.
• Lions? She’s leaving them behind more and more throughout the day. Her teachers tell me that she keeps them with her in the morning and throughout the morning art activity and then leaves them behind at some point. Then she has them again for nap time, but then doesn’t need them the rest of the day. This is great because it indicates she doesn’t need that comfort after she has fully welcomed the day.
• Better than I am! I really like our daycare. I know I’ve said it, but I’ll say it again. I am so so happy with where she ended up. Every single day, she gets to explore a different sensory adventure/activity, circle time includes singing songs while playing instruments, she learns about the seasons, they read stories (including bible stories), she shares meals with her friends and gets really good chances to solidify her social environment, and she learns to look out for other people. She gets to paint and craft each day (the painted pumpkin in the photo was one of their seasonal activities last week, another activity was painting and then gluing real and fake leaves onto canvases). She gives hugs to other friends and she’s learning a whole new vocabulary/slew of phrases. Some of which this week:
  • During a diaper change she started singing “A, B, C, D, E” to Jeff out of the blue. She knows A-E and then she starts singing QRS (maybe she’ll be a nurse or a doctor and she’s really doing an EKG interpretation, haha…)
  • During a change, I started singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider and she immediately started using the hand gestures of the spider and the sun coming out to dry up all the rain. I didn’t know she knew the hand gestures until she did this and her face just lit up because she remembers the rhyme.
  • Head shoulders knees and toes, she’s picking up a lot better, most likely from day care
  • “Mommy/Daddy coming later (layla?)” Her teachers have told me that as she starts to get concerned when she sees her other friends go home and get picked up by their parents/grandparents, she’s reminded often that “Mommy is coming later.” So she’s really learned this phrase well. She says it even when we’re with her!
  • “Ready….Set….Goooooo!!!!!” She says this on her own and when we start saying it, she joins in on the expression.
• “Trick or treat!” …. with a little coaxing. She’s learning it from her halloween books and we are practicing for Saturday night. It’ll be Jia’s first time trick or treating and she’ll be dressed up as Minnie. I wish I had pics already, to post for today, but those’ll come later. 
• No real indication on progress with potty training. She’s still waking up wet most of the time, willingly sits on the potty chair but soon after says “all done!” She does know the sign language for “potty time” and has gestured it to Jeff once. She tell us “poo poo?” all the time and when we ask if she’s gone, she says “no”. I hear this is common.

That’s all for this week! Sorry for lack of pics.