My Dad went to London...

...and "all" I did was...

1. Play at the farmers market

2. Play at the Australian Museum

3. Play at the park

4. Play at the Opera House, after going to the Four Seasons Baby Proms

It was OK, I suppose.  Not sure who crammed more into three days...

The coat and the fishes

Alice has taken to wearing her coat around daycare for as long as she can get away with.  I think that they manage to prize it off her for lunch, but the hat often remains in place.  This just sets the scene for a lazy re-posting of a few Dolphins news stories:

"During morning group time, the Dolphins said good morning to the newest additions in the room- Lilly, Albie and Wiggles. Sarah’s magic finger pointed to Alice to feed the fish and she was excited to see what they did. Throughout the day, the children have approached the tank and discussed the fish and sea snail with one another.

This morning after group time the children gathered closer to the fish tank which was brought down to the children’s level. Today Alice had the opportunity to feed the fish some food for breakfast. Holding her hand flat, Alice watched as the teacher placed some flacks onto her palm, she then tipped the food into the opening of the tank."

You'll see in most of the recent posts that Alice has taken to wearing her coat and hat around daycare until at least naptime.  Not really sure why, it's not cold in there.

"Olivia, Alice, Jam and Patrick sat on the parachute and had their own small party, singing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song together and taking photos of each other with the play camera."

"During morning indoor play, Aiden and Alice took some eating utensils and plates from the party area and sat on the carpet having a picnic and chatting.

Aiden and Alice initiated their own play experience and used language to extend and develop their play.

Aiden used the fork and pretended to feed himself from the plate in front of him. He demonstrated dramatic play skills and used everyday knowledge to contribute to his play.

Alice joined Aiden and began talking to him; “I will eat this one Aiden? You like it?”

Aiden responded, “yeah, eat it!”

Alice and Aiden showed emerging verbal communication and pro-social sharing and turn-taking skills."

Wearing a hat indoors - who does she think she is?  A Masterchef contestant?

One final coat picture for good measure...

Working 9 to 5

Only last Friday, Alice announced to me that "Daddy going to work.  And Mummy going to work".

"Are you going to work too?", I enquired.

"No", she giggled, "My don't work.  My a little girl."

But another rainy day activity at Dolphins seems to have been the establishment of an office environment.  Look, kids, you too can aspire to be shut in a grey cubicle, just like Mummy and Daddy.  It made me a bit sad that I haven't ended up doing anything exciting (heck, I'd settle for something that I could describe in just one sentence, or that my older family members could describe at all.  There's a lot to be said for being a train driver.)

Apparently ths office area, was to encourage letter recognition. "This morning the teachers set up an office area in dramatic play area. Posters of buildings, people in suits and computers were stuck on the wall for the children to observe. Keyboards, phones, paper and pens were also provided to enhance the children’s learning.

During the morning play Amelie and Alice engaged in social play together with the keyboards and phones. Using their fingers to individually press the keys, The teacher sounded out the letters and they both repeated the letter."

But I digress. This morning, Alice announced that she was off to work and it seems that, following this new set up in the "dramatic play area", she really was. Alice has always had fun playing at being Mummy. Let's look at the evidence:

1. Texting

2. Multi-tasking (with magazines close at hand)

3. Calling up chums for lunch

Yup, I'd say she's got this work thing down pat.

Duh

It's been raining A LOT here. Thankfully it's all over now, as I think they may have been running out of ideas of things to do at Dolphins:

"Pasta was placed in to a trough and placed on a table on the lino area. Measuring cups, bowls, sifters and different types of spoons were added to the trough through out the morning.

Alice placed a bowl next to the trough and then selected a spoon to scoop the pasta with, Alice scooped the pasta from the trough in to the bowl. When Alice had put enough pasta in to her bowl she began to use a soup spoon to stir the pasta around. The teacher asked Alice what she was making and she replies, “ I making pasta.” "

Well, derrrrrr....

We love to draw, in our house. The blackboard is always full of copied cartoon characters and Alice adds a scribbly flair. We've only had one wall incident, happily, in the holiday house in New Zealand and it was fixed with baby wipes, but our little artiste continues to show promise.

From Friday's daycare report:

"Alice held the crayon with her right hand and began to move it around the page in a circular motion. Alice announced to her friends that her drawing was of her baby. Alice pointed to her paper and said, “ That’s my baby.” "

Snippet

Alice, waggling index finger aloft: "I want one more Dora"
Stu: "What's the magic word, Alice?"
Alice: "Please..."
Stu: "...may I have one more Dora"
Alice: "I want one more Dora"
Stu: "Can you say the sentence?"
Alice: "The sentence".

"I love swimming"

Alice and swimming lessons have a love/hate relationship.  Despite a promising start when she was 7 or 8 months, the romance petered out when she had continual ear infections last winter and we weren't able to go for 6 months or more.  Post-grommets, we re-enrolled with gusto, but it's been a long, hard slog to get her back in the water - she used to ask to get out after 5 minutes if we took her at weekends and lessons were a real battle of wills/ half hour of whispered bribery/ feat of endurance for me.  We have been held back in the baby class, ie I still have to get in the water with her, and the kids are much younger than her, which you could think might not be the best fun for her either.

Each time I get to the end of my tether with lessons and think that we might give up and spend our one day together doing things that at least one of us enjoys, she has a spurt in ability/confidence.  Halfway through the summer term, I was almost in tears at the thought of having to go again since she was in tears all the way through the class, but she suddenly picked up and was willing to run along the float and jump off/ would consider kicking her legs from time to time/ did not cry each time the teacher so much as looked at her.

We had recently reached another period of stagflation, even in danger of slipping into recession/regression when things got better again yesterday.  Firstly we've been taking her to a different pool at weekends that has a wave machine.  You'd think she'd hate it, but actually quite the opposite.  Secondly, she's developed a real and not to mention extremely convenient interest in babies recently.  So although yesterday's class started badly, with a supply teacher replacing the regular lady and Alice threatening meltdown (she has now really bonded with "Lisa the lady, not Issa the iguana", as she likes to call her - it's a Dora gag she thought up all by herself) but ended in a time of joy and hilarity as Alice kicked her legs "like the baby does" (ie my baby who had kicked her that very morning) and giggled at the babies as they took their turns in crawling/jumping off the runway "Look at 'is little face", she chuckled in her best Babs Windsor as her favourite took his turns. 

Whilst waiting for her turn to high five the teacher goodbye, she turned to me and announced, "I love swimming".  Perhaps we are getting there at long last.