For real. I had always heard "they grow up so fast" and "time flies" and "that baby stage doesnt last very long!", and its not that I didnt believe folks when they said these things. I believed they were true. I just didnt realize HOW true. I've said it before, but Whitney's first year went by at the PERFECT pace. From her birth to her first birthday party, life moved at the perfect pace. She met milestones nicely and with great ease, and didnt seem to be in any real RUSH to be a big kid. She masterd some pretty cool life skills in that first year. Eating, sleeping, crawling, walking, and starting to talk were all pretty cool adventures to witness! Then, we had her first birthday party, and life started to pick up the pace. Running, putting words together, singing, jumping, making friends, talking in paragraphs, singing MORE and LOUDER, remembering the words to songs, skipping, counting, learning colors, shapes, and all the sounds the lettes make. She learned SOOOOOOO much between her first birthday and her second birthday. She turned two a month ago, and while I was hoping God would slow the roll a little bit and make odd-numbered years (1,3,5,7,etc) go by at that slow, easy pace of her first year...it appears God has kicked time up a notch and will be increasing the speed a litttttle bit as each year is upon us. This third year of Whitney's life has already brought on preschool registration and a big girl bed.....and we are only a month in.
I have had sooo much fun staying home with Whitney and getting to witness all her funny and exciting moments firsthand. But now that she has wowed us and mastered pretty much everything she will need to know for KINDERGARTEN (letters and sound recognition, 0-20 recognition and counting, shapes, colors, and an ever-growing vocabulary that will knock your socks off), I knew it was time to give her the opportunity to practice making friends and being a friend. I cant teach her social skills at home alone with her all day. Gym classes were priceless in teaching her some basics re: interacting with kids her age and learning from teachers (other than her mother)! But its time for Whitney to be around more kids who talk and play and share (or dont share!) and let her work out life on her own a little bit.
Before I had kids, I vowed that I would never put my kids in daycare if I didnt HAVE to work. Eric provides an AMAZING life for us, and allows me the wonderful opportunity to stay home. So WHY would I willingly bring my kid to preschool if I didnt need to?? THEN, I worked at an awesome daycare/preschool right before Whitney came home. I saw how the kids learned sooo much, and not just academics. I can see that Whitney is going to LOOOOVE preschool! She is registered for the Tuesday/Thursday class at a church preschool that is less than 4 minutes from our front door. She will be dropped off at 9am, spend three hours learning and playing with 10 other kids and 2 teachers, and I will pick her up at noon, in time for lunch and an afternoon nap. I am soo excited for the routine and all the fun things she will learn and do! I had heard SO many WONDERFUL things about this school, and while we have a few friends who send their kids there, Eric and I are insistant that Whitney's first school experience put her in a class with kids she doesnt know. We LOVE all of Whitney's friends (and their parents!), but we want Whitney to experience NEW, diverse friendships and opportunities to grow and learn. She will have one familiar face in her classroom (We love you, Jake!) but I am excited for her to meet new friends her age. (And Im excited to meet new mommy friends, too!) She doesnt start until August 16th, so we have plenty of time to enjoy the summer and swimming and lots of FUN before "school" starts.
I was so excited and grateful that God had made this momentus occasion a HAPPY one, rather than a sad transition to the land of all things "big kid". I was still on that "high" the next morning when Whitney hit us in the face with another HUGE milestone. She asked to sleep in the "big kid bed" in our back guest room. She has always LOVED her crib and never tried to escape. In fact, she loved her crib so much that she would sometimes ask to stay in there longer after waking from her nap! She LOVED her crib, and I LOVED that she LOVED it. We continually get compliments from family and friends re: Whitney's willingness to lay her head down and go to sleep without any drama, tears, or push-back. I'd like to think we did a good job of making her feel safe and letting her know that we would come and get her at the appropriate times.....but really, I think she's just an easy-going kid who doesnt give us a lot of trouble on much of anything.
When I heard Whitney begging to sleep in the big kid bed, I knew I had to act fast. Eric immediately dropped what he was doing and got the hand-me-down toddler bed from the attic before I could have a chance to change my mind. We were moving forward with this transition, at Whitney's request, and before she attempted to escape her crib. I had visions of her falling out of her crib and breaking her arm, and if she was gonna ASK for a big kid bed, NOW was the time.
Our house erupted into a bit of "Christmas-morning-like" excitment as Whitney (and Bailey) helped Daddy assemble her new bed. I was almost instantly hit with a sense of grief and sadness, as I had clearly lost my baby. Overnight. Preschool one day, big girl bed the next??? How was this fair? Where did my itty bitty baby go????
So before I leave you with some pics of our eventful, momentus Saturday....I will share some pics from Friday night, as we celebrated Eric's 33rd birthday, and Whitney's preschool enrollment :)
Isnt he the BEST Daddy EVER!?!?
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| Dancing with Cinderella (Faith) and Snow White! |
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| LOVE Faith's face here! Both girls were so excited :) |
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| A "dip" for his princess!! |
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| Who was having more fun here!? |
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| They look more and more alike everyday! :) |
My Mom snapped pics of me and my brother when they took our crib down when I outgrew it. It was a bittersweet moment to snap similar pics of my girl :(
She looks FIVE here!!!
Eric had PLENTY of (unwanted/) help as he assembled the bed. THANK YOU KATHY AND JIMMY, EMILEY and KACEY!! XOXO
We laid her down at 12pm, not quite sure what to expect. We heard her talking for a while, but she was sound asleep by 1pm, and took a 2.5 hour nap without incident!
Sleeping angel baby :)
Eric was a bit skeptical about our daughter's ability willingness to stay in bed, so we left the crib up in her room last night. Since she did such a great job overnight, and I knew there was no going back on the big-kid bed thing, I snapped a few last pics before we took the crib up to the attic. :(
She said "Bubye cwib!! I wuff you!!"
Reminds me of the pic above, of Bailey laying outside her crib when she was just one month old :)
Our girl's big girl room!!
And one last cute story from this morning. I got Whitney ready for church and she said "Im a PWINCESS! Wook at my gwass swippuhs!!"
and "OOOh, Mommy!! Wook at my bwootiful gloves!!"
And she told me she was "Going to meet my Pwince!!" so I asked her "Where are you going to meet him?" and she said "at CHURCH!!!"
She's got the right idea!!! :)
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