My 'baby' is a kindy kid!

*wipes away tears* yesterday Gaby had her first day at Kindergarten!!!!  For those of you who aren't from NZ, our kindergarten is between ages 3-5, and (generally) on a child's 5th birthday, they start primary/elementary school.  Regardless of that, it is still Gaby's final stop before being a school kid - and that is such a scary thought!!!  She was so excited all day about going to kindergarten, and when we arrived, she wanted to go straight to the playground - of course!  We spoke to the head teacher & she showed us around again, and explained more about the daily routine, after that Gaby was off outside, I followed her around for awhile, but it was pretty clear she didn't care if I was there or not!  I took the obligatory 'first day at.......' photographs, then told her I was leaving - she gave me a kiss and then yelled out "hey guys, my Mummy is going now".  Very cute!

I picked her up at 3pm and the teacher I spoke to was thoroughly impressed, at how Gaby had reacted to her first day!  She was very 'confident', played with the other kids freely, helped to tidy up at the end of the session - and was in general a 'treasure'.  I had a feeling that she would have reacted that way, but you never do quite know!  It made me feel so wonderful, that MY kid had been such a 'treasure', and that the teachers were impressed with her - I figure that surely it must mean that over my 3 years as a Mama, I have done something right!  She is still going to be attending Ready Steady Play (her preschool) 1 day a week - because she loves that place, and the teachers - and the kids, but if she seems okay with kindergarten this time next year (when she will start going 5 mornings a week), I might cancel her enrolment at R.S.P... which is a bit of a sad thought really!

It really is a crazy feeling - knowing that she is going to be THREE in 13 days time.  It's making me reminisce and remember 'the way things were' - we have BOTH come a long way in that time!  I have been so blessed to have such an amazing little princess, in my life - and it really has been an honour to watch her grow & develop into the wonderful almost-3-year-old, that she is today!  This time three years ago, it was a day past my due date, and I was wondering if Gaby would EVER decide to arrive - somehow I KNEW that she wouldn't be coming of her own accord, and of course my Mummy instinct was right!  That said - I don't care that I had a caesarean - I don't feel like less of a woman for not having a vaginal delivery... my baby was born healthy - and to me, that was/is the most important thing...

"want Dora stuff" & another milestone reached

& suddenly Gaby appears to understand what Santa is all about!

Gaby: Mummy want to sit on Santa's knee
Mummy: Santa isn't here for a couple of months Gab
Gaby: Oh - tomorrow?
Mummy: No Gab, not tomorrow
Gaby: Oh. I want to sit on Santas knee
Mummy: Yes Gab. What are you going to ask him for [usually this results in 'a lollipop']
Gaby: I going to ask Santa for Dora stuff!!!!! Santa is going to bring me Dora toys!!!!

... so apparently Gaby now understands that Santa brings toys... this is most likely the beginning of a very long couple of months before Christmas!!!!!!! It is pretty cute that she now understands the big deal about presents, but it's probably a bad thing for me - especially on our trips to the mall! Usually she asks if she can have a lollipop, or an ice-cream - but I am thinking that pretty soon she's going to be seeing toys & asking for new toys! My babe is growing up!

Yesterday I enrolled Gaby at Kindergarten - another milestone! I have always wanted her to go to Kindergarten - because I went, because Terri went - because everyone I know went... but I always had the preschool dilemma - she LOVES her current preschool, all the teachers & the kids - and I was worried it might be hard on her, leaving preschool & starting at kindy, but it seems that I'm able to have her enrolled in BOTH preschool & kindy! She will be going to Kindy Monday, Tuesday & Thursday, 12.30-3.00, and will be going to preschool Wednesday, 11-5. Once she turns 3 we get our 20 hours free ECE, so it won't cost me a cent! She starts Kindy on October 12th - which coincidentally, was my due date with her! While we were there yesterday, enrolling, the head teacher invited Gaby to play with the playdough, and she seemed to fit in very easily with the kids who were also playing with playdough - and at one point they took her outside to play on the playground, so I don't think adjustment is going to be a big deal! If it turns out that Gaby really enjoys Kindy, I will probably take her out of preschool - once she is 4 she will be at Kindy for 3-4 hours a day, so there isn't really much point keeping her in preschool. This is the link to the Kindy website:
http://www.kidsfirst.org.nz/

Can't believe my babe is going to be a KINDY KID soon! Makes me feel old - because *I* remember when *I* was a Kindy Kid!

officially closer to 3 than 2!

Cheeky McCheekerson

Last Sunday Gaby officially turned 2 & a half! 30 months old - wow, where has time gone? I know I say that in almost every entry - but it's so true, time just flies when there is a little one who has you enchanted!

What is new with Gaby? The potty training continues to go well, it is very rare to have an accident now, which is AWESOME! She's also started using the toilet as much as the potty, so it seems as though the transition between potty - toilet, isn't going to be so hard after all! It's so nice to not have to change nappies all day long - Gaby wore a nappy for a couple of hours on Friday because she was sick (& grumpy & exhausted) - and it was SO weird seeing her with a nappied butt!

Tea party with Ali!

Gaby seems to be understanding language more lately - it's really awesome. Like when it's dark she says its 'darking' (aww!)... She has also started saying "I think it's......." (such as I think it's in my belly, I think it's a cat, I think it's wees...), and I wondered if maybe preschool had been concentrating on use of language the past few weeks, but no! Gaby figured it out herself! I'm so proud of that little lunatic! She also freaked me out the other day - she pulled two paintings from the artbox at preschool - and they weren't hers. I told her this & she said "no, this is Leo's" - I checked & it WAS Leo's... I figured it was a lucky guess - then she took the 2nd painting & said "this is Leah's"... I looked - and it WAS by Leah! Scary. The paintings were done in early March, so it wasn't like she'd seen them painting them earlier in the week either.

I do miss having a little bubby - BUT having a toddler who is learning things every single day & continually blowing your mind, well - that is pretty awesome as well!