Just a Marveling, or a Shameless Mommy Brag?

This is supposed to be at the bottom of the page but Blogger is a hater and won't let me control such things.

I hope this is just a marveling, but it may come across as a shameless Mommy brag...

PreK is rocking Calliope's world. She's transforming overnight. Such a small thing, but she's suddenly started referring to "going to the bathroom" instead of "using the potty." She's holding doors for me. Ever since I started offering a bribe, err, carrot for dressing herself in the mornings, she's been leaping out of bed and dressing herself at 6:30 am.

She continues to work on writing. I'm very proud of myself for almost entirely keeping out of her journey towards literacy. I know that in Finland, children aren't taught to read until age 7, and at 18, they have the highest standardized test scores in the world. So sometimes it causes a little nail biting, but I try to keep my mouth shut and neither compliment or critique her writing.

I do say things like, "Wow, you are working really hard on that" but that's it. She needs to do this for herself, not for me. But I'm still thrilled to see her sit down and practice writing letters of her own accord. A couple of days ago, she crowed, "Mommy, I made an "S"!" and I was able to get excited. She can now write all the letters in her name, but doesn't know how to put them together to spell her name... and I've only once succumbed to the desire to spell it for her. I really want her to figure it out on her own, or to ask on her own, at least. Mostly, she writes "CAE" on all her work -- the first two and last letter in her name. Yesterday, though, she wrote "CALL" so she's getting closer.


Most amazing of all is to see the changes in her artwork. Last school year, she mostly scribbled.

Since she started PreK, she's been making a lot of "pagishes." I think "pagish" is her word for project? It consists of interconnected blobs. She makes these over and over again.

Pagish plus a couple asterisks -- these represent flowers.
The teachers transcribe what Calliope tells them about the pictures. 

You can see the "CAE" signature on this one. (Pinky is her kangaroo. He goes to PreK every day, too.)

And then their art teacher had them do self portraits... with mirrors. I was stunned by the results.

I couldn't believe all the detail. The irises and pupils and eyelashes!
(plus the extra lump on her head... the bow on her headband.)

They were all amazing, not just hers. I never would have thought to give mirrors to four year olds. Incredible.

And then today, she sat down at did portraits of our family. All of her own accord. With zero input from me.

A more abstract rendering of me (yet with toes). Don't worry, that's not me pooping. It's "just" my pubic hair.
I feel better knowing that, don't you?

I'm in love with this drawing. The eyes slay me.






Amelie is busy, too. She's figured out how to successfully maneuver her pacifier into her mouth. And to sit in a grocery cart. 

And to splash. And to shake her head no. We both find that really funny.