Larg-elly

They take a register at Dolphins each day - it's to get the children altogether and settled before they get started on their activities, rather than because they are not sure if they are there or not. It's also to teach the children their surnames, give them a sense of identity and to help build attention spans, apparently.

Alice has known her full name for a while now. She can't actually say it yet, but I think it will be one of those words that we'll let her go on pronouncing in a cute manner for long after she actually needs to. Who wants to hear "Alice Yardley" when you can snigger at "Alice Largelly"?! (That's with a hard "g") This register process has meant that she knows her little friends' full names too. We had breakfast at the café next door to daycare yesterday morning and she was able to point out any number of the children by their full names, eg "That's Zachary Wise". It was apparently "Patrick Mills's" birthday this week etc (with pure Aussie accent making two syllables from Mills - "Mee-yells")

The other week we were at the park and Alice made friends with another little girl. She could be heard introducing herself as "Alice Largelly". Funny that we should move to the reputedly most informal country in the western world, but end up with a two year old who will probably be shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries about the weather when she is reunited with her grandparents next month.

Sa-nanna

Alice has really bonded with a little chum at daycare recently.  She talks about many of the gang when we "chat about my day" (latest demand from the backseat of the car), but her new BFF is Savannah or "Sa-nanna". 

Savannah is an exceptionally friendly little person who always comes over for a chat when we arrive and depart the Dolpins room, if she is not too busy throwing herself onto cushions.  She and Alice are more like sisters than chums - many is the time we've arrived to collect our child to find one of them sitting on top of the other or a bit of rough and tumble going on.  Savannah has just become a big sister, so she and Alice will have lots to chat/lament about in the coming months, if they can stop trying to push each other over.

But look - it seems that they play nicely too.  From one of the daily reports this week:

Savannah and Alice initiated the peek-a-boo experience, with Savannah hiding behind the mirror and saying, “Alice, I hiding. Where S’annah Alice?”

Alice joined Savannah and were soon taking turns saying, “Where are you?” and then “Peek-a-Boo!” when they appeared.

Life is only going to get pinker...

At least  I don't need to change the background colour of the blog.

Yes, Little Clifford is a Girl, how exciting!  I couldn't have planned it better and am very pleased.  Plus that thankfully eliminates one lot of names from discussions.

Alice had a bit of a wobbly when informed that the baby would be a "little girl".  "But my a little girl", she whined [But I'm a little girl]  She insisted it would be a "little boy" and I let it lie for a bit.  Later on, I happened to mention that we were having a "baby girl" and I've never seen her look so delighted.  Obviously that doesn't interfere with her role in the family (she is "Mummy's little girl"), so is completely acceptable.  Phew. 

She's still telling people that she's going to be a big brother though...

Cheek

Today we'll find out if Little Clifford is a boy or a girl.  Acutally we already know to a 95% degree of certainty because the obstetrician has an ultrasound machine in his rooms, but this will be the proper scan where they count organs etc and which will give an even more definitive prediction. 

Alice, who seems to have been watching Eastenders on the side, has told us that she thinks it is a "little gel" and alternates between whether she is going to be a "big brother" or a "big sister".  We're working on the idea that it is the baby's sex which is up for discussion, not hers.  I do think that it will be nice for her (and us) to know either way and also the concept that the surprise gets you through labour was such a misnoma for me.  Frankly getting through labour was what I concentrated on - I couldn't have cared less whether Alice was going to be a girl or a boy at that point.

But I digress.  I have always thought that if we had a boy he'd be just like Stuart, but actually, he already has a little alter ego in the house.  Alice has enough cheek to cover us for whether or not there is a little brother in the household

Last night she wouldn't go to sleep - not really playing up, just chatting until just before 9pm.  I couldn't hear Masterchef properly so went in to tell her to pipe down.  "It's so late that Mummy should be in bed", I said, to encourage her to settle down.  "Mummy needs to go on the step then" was her retort.

Sandy Boy?

I have no idea what this game is, but they play it all the time.  It is perhaps more interesting to note the game that it followed:

Following Twister, the Dolphins engaged in a familiar game, Sandy Boy, Sandy Girl. They sat in a circle around the edge of the parachute and one at a time had turns being the Sandy Boy or Girl and performing the actions in the song words.

The Dolphins engaged in the game with enthusiasm and excitement. They selected friends to hold hands and dance with and followed the directions in the song. The children developed patience and sharing as well as peer negotiation and cooperation.

An oldie but a goodie

What’s The Time Mr Wolf?

At the beginning the children were quiet participators and took a lot of direction from the teachers. Once they had a few goes, they were all screaming out what’s the time Mr Wolf…

Using their fingers to count the steps the children walked towards the wolf asking the question again.

The wolf also used his/her fingers as she counted what the time was.

I can concur that when we started playing this at home (the great, long hallway serving a very useful purpose once again) Alice was bent over double in her efforts to put some volume behind her cries of, "What's the time, Mr Wolf?"

Confusion

We are in a world of confusion about the "baby in Mummy's tummy".  I have been diligently buying and borrowing library books about younger siblings, but there don't seem to be many out there where the characters are actually human.  We've read about baby zebras, rabbits, more rabbits and more rabbits.  Expectations are currently running high for a new pet.

At the weekend, I thought that I had struck gold with an episode of Dora, where her Mummy has a baby.  Firstly it happens in the time it take Dora to sing a song, secondly, she has twins and thirdly (and perhaps most maddeningly) in a follow on episode, it turns out that the babies can fly.  How much help is that to Dora's young fans?  I mean, really.

All this is compounded by Alice's steadfast belief and willingness to tell anyone (daycare teachers, people in lifts at the car park, friends etc) that "Mummy has a baby in her tummy and in her boobies". 

Perhaps she thinks it's triplets???  We're going to need to some clarity before October.

Some random daycare shots

Drawing Faces

Extract from yesterday's daily report at Daycare:

This morning Sarah sat at the drawing table and a group of children joined her. Plain paper and coloured crayons were provided for them to explore mark making and use their fine motor muscle development to manipulate the tools.

The Dolphins were eager to participate in this experience. They asked Sarah how to draw faces and after Sarah demonstrated on her own paper, then the children attempted their own face on their paper. Through discussion and the process of elimination, the children decided that drawing a face consisted of 5 steps;
Draw a circle for a head.
Draw two spots in the circle for eyes.
Draw a curved line for the mouth.
Draw a line in the middle for a nose.
Draw two little circles on either side of the big circle for ears.
The children practiced emerging diagrammatical representation skills and mark making technique.

Who knew that there was so much to it?!  This just goes to show that she really can be better off there than at home with me, where drawing consists of,

"No, Alice, not on the floor, just on the paper.  What's that?  It's Dora?  Oh how lovely.  Would you like a biscuit?"