Friday, August 31, 2007

First day of Pre-K


IMG_4823
Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

and no first day jitters at all. Jaida marched right into her classroom and put her backpack and lunch bag away. She looked rather perturbed that Joe and I kept lingering by the door saying "bye baby, have a good day" over and over again. It was definitely harder on us than her.

Why do kids have to grow up SO fast. It seems as if time is flying by. sigh ....

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

A little whip cream among friends


IMG_4789
Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

Jaida went to her friend Caleb's forth birthday party. There was a whip cream eating contest. The kids were to dip their faces in the pan and eat/smear the whip cream. Jaida and her best friend decided not to waste the whip cream so they just scooped it into their mouths. ;)

Thursday, August 23, 2007

PINK!!!!!

Jaida went to her pre-K orientation yesterday. The child is floating on cloud 9. Not only did she get the teacher she was hoping for but three of her classmates from last year are in her class this year. Plus the classroom is painted purple and the only color better than purple is PINK. And her helping hand color is PINK. This means her mailbox is pink, her cubby is pink, and her coat hook is (yes, you guessed it) PINK. Apparently, life gets no better than this. ;)

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Summer Days


rhea_kids_0586
Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

We are starting to slow down on all the summer activities that have been swallowing large chunks of time. Jaida's last group of swim lessons ended on Friday. Her lazy days spent playing with her friend Paige and the older girls and swimming at Nancy's are soon to be replaced by more structured days spent at school, dance class, soccer, and possibly piano lessons. I think we are all looking forward to these things but the transition still seems to be difficult at times. I feel like we are spending a great deal of time getting ready for all of these things only to be left sitting here waiting for them all to start.

We have bought Jaida's backpack and coordinating lunch box for Jaida to use at school. As you can imagine this involved a bit of a struggle between my desire for neutrality and Jaida's desire for PINK. We spent part of this last weekend buying Jaida's new school clothes ... most of which Jaida will not be able to wear for at least a month due to the lingering summer heat. Jaida was fitted for her tap shoes for her dance class. Left to purchase is a new soccer ball since her old one seems to have a hole in it. All of these preparations have left us feeling like things should get started now. However, we still have a bit of a wait. School orientation is tomorrow but the first day is not until Thursday Aug 30. Dance class starts Sept 5th and soccer starts Sept. 10th. It promises to be a busy fall.

Until then Jaida still enjoys her time spent playing while at Nanacy's house. We will likely make a few last trips to the pool before the weather starts cooling, the life guards go back to school and the pools close for the season. We have a few summer sort of activities still planned but generally we are ready for all the things that come along with fall.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

The book of Jaida

Jaida's adventures from her time as an embryo through her first birthday are now published in this handy little book.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Uh Oh


rhea_kids_0619
Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

I think Jaida's reign as queen of the Lamela-Rhea household may be coming to an end. ;)

Monday, August 13, 2007

Bejeweled


rhea_kids_0573
Originally uploaded by gias_kids.

Jaida has pierced ears. She has asked about getting to wear ear rings a couple of times. I never had a problem getting them done as long as she wanted it. Honestly, I didn't think she would be willing to go through with it once I explained someone had to actually put holes in her ear lobes in order to wear real ear rings. Joe on the other hand was not crazy about the idea.

We were in Annapolis this last weekend and decided to run by the mall on our way home. I figured it was as good a time as any to get her ears done. I explained exactly what was going to happen and that it would hurt/sting a little bit (but no worse than the vaccine she got at the doctors office not long ago) but it would be done very quickly. She was wavering ... wanted it done but didn't want it done but then again maybe she did. We went and watched another girl about Jaida's age get hers done. She cried .... loudly. I figured that would end it for Jaida but instead she went up to the girl and asked her if it hurt. The girl said just a little bit. Jaida decided she would go ahead. I honestly could not believe she still wanted it done. She actually climbed up on the chair by herself and looked at me and said "let's just get this over with mama".

I picked her up and had her sit on my lap instead. I could tell Jaida was very nervous as the technician cleaned her ear lobes and put the tiny dots on her ears. Jaida happily picked out the pinkest little studs they had. I suggested the tech get another person so they could do both ears at once ... she thought that was a good idea. About 30 seconds later Jaida had pierced ears. She didn't even cry. I think the sound of the gun popping scared her which distracted her from any pain.

She looks very cute. Let me tell you how proud she is of herself. She shows anyone that even briefly looks in her direction. She was especially happy to show all the big girls at daycare and she just was beaming when they were all making a big fuss over her.

She also bought finger nail polish while at the mall (Ack!). I painted her nails tinkerbell pink when we got home. She is just as girly as can be right now. :)

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

A very brave girl

I am often surprised at how brave Jaida can be. I suppose this is because she is such a cautious child by nature. Joe and I have always known that Jaida is a child that has to think before leaping. She is not a kid that will just rush out and do something at the spur of the moment. There is always a bit of hanging back and watching and assessing the situation. I would not categorize her as shy at all ... she just needs a bit of time to warm to a new situation. This is not a big shock to us as Joe and I are both similar. We have seen this behavior many times with her.

Most recently though it has been in swimming. We have been going to a local pool several times a week all summer. Also, Jaida gets to swim practically every day while at daycare. It seems for the longest time there has been a stumbling block for Jaida and that was getting her face wet. She didn't like to be splashed in the face and going under the water was simply out of the question. Also, she was a bit nervous to be in the pool at all without her float vest. About three weeks ago we started her in group swim lessons and for some reason she had a really hard time doing any of the things the instructor asked even though she would do all of them for Joe or me. Then Nancy (her daycare instructor) did something that pushed Jaida over the edge and turned her into a total wild woman in the pool. Nancy has a large inflatable slide that she set up at the deep end of her pool. Jaida was scared to death to go down the slide (with floats of course) but Nancy worked with her and got her to slowly start going down the slide. First she held Nancy's hand, then she just bounced off the end of it into the water, etc. Then one day Nancy announced this was the day Jaida was going to go down the slide all by herself. I suppose because she didn't give Jaida the choice of not doing it it made it easier for Jaida. Within a day Jaida was going down the slide headfirst, feet first backwards, forwards , sideways, etc and having a blast.

Since that day everything has changed. Jaida no longer has any fear of going under water. She was bumped up to the next level in swim class because she is doing so great. She now eagerly goes all the way under the water, takes a breath and kicks off from the side of the pool and will swim a short distance to her instructor or us. She jumps off the side of the pool to us. Floats face down and on her back. She is learning to tread water and swim under the water now. She is doing so great. She loves going to swim class and it has the added benefit of wearing her out completely which leads to a very early bedtime. ;)