Sylvie has been busy this month with Joy School, Music Makers, play dates, and her favorite--balluhnay. All of last year she talked about how when she was four, she would go to balluhnay, so now that she is four, I enrolled her in the Rec class to try it out. It was love from the moment she tried on her leotard, tights, and shoes.
She was very concerned, however, that she doesn't actually know any balluhnay, and was tearfully worried that she wouldn't know what to do. We spent several days before her first class talking about how the teacher would be there to help her, and all of the girls would be learning together. She was pretty sure that I was going to attend class with her, holding her hand throughout. Luckily, by the time the first day came, she was mostly excited and only a little bit nervous. Jens and I went along and watched. She felt very pleased with her fancy hair.
Class was very cute. She did pretty well keeping up. The class in general is a year older than she is--I would guess that half of the girls are in kindergarten and the other half will be in kindergarten next year, so as Sylvie has a year of preschool to go, she is a year behind. She is as coordinated, though, and because she is the youngest, she is a very good listener. This was one of their dancing activities. They were pretending to be asleep, then they would wake up and do different movements. I loved how earnestly she was "sleeping!"
After her first class she came home and wanted to show Mike a play by play reenactment. I had to encourage her to just cover the highlights.
They are doing a little bit of barre work, which is probably the hardest part for Sylvie. I think she likes the tap part the best--wearing clicky shoes is always fun.
In other Sylvie news, she continues to excel at dressing up. You never know what kind of outfit she will concoct next. She keeps us smiling with her creative imagination. Lately she has taken to pretending Mike is her grandfather when he gets home from clerking duties on Sunday. This requires him to talk in an accent and call her granddaughter. She also likes to pretend they are pirates, and then Mike has to say "Arrrg" a lot. She is wearing about 4 winter hats in this picture:
Her favorite describing word is "bumpily," as in "My bed is too bumpily."
She has a "new" bigger bike, which makes her much faster on wheels. She loves it, and loves going fast. We try to encourage exercise each day for her, so she and I have been around the block a lot of times! Other favorite activities include playing with Play Doh, jumping on the trampoline, reading books, and playing with her stuffed animals, whom she affectionately calls her children. She particularly likes to dress them in her clothing and do their hair. Big Kitty continues to be a favorite and is often used to toboggan down the stairs. She has recently discovered the cd player in the playroom and has taken to playing either the Joy School cds or the Star Wars soundtrack constantly. She loves music. She also enjoys borrowing my phone and taking pictures. Lots and lots of terrible pictures! She enjoys picking out her own outfits, which is sometimes very interesting. She is starting to try to do her own hair, as well. She came in yesterday with three clips haphazardly clipped in, telling Mike and me that she had "angel hair." She apparently thought the results were very beautiful. She loves to snuggle and give hugs and kisses, especially to the new baby (my stomach). She also talks a lot. A LOT!
Academically she seems to be taking off without much encouragement from us. A few days ago she came running to me saying "Mom, does this spell please?" She had written "PLES," which I thought was pretty good. She also made a Valentine for "CaC." I don't know how she can even remember Casey. She loves to color and write. She managed to successfully give a talk in primary a few weeks ago--something we were afraid would never happen. She talked about Joseph Smith and the first vision. She did a great job of talking into the microphone; I think it helped that I got her a huge picture to hide behind from the library. She has learned the first article of faith and will recite it loud and proud for anyone who asks.
We have been doing job charts with the kids since the beginning of January, and she usually does a really good job of finishing her things. Some of her jobs are: cleaning her room, picking up the toy room, dusting, setting the table, making her bed, putting away her folded laundry, taking her sheets off her bed, and helping empty the dishwasher. She is a good little helper.
Sylvie has a strange and intermittent fear of death that pops up when you least expect it. Suddenly she will be crying and saying "I don't want to die!" Reasons she fears death: she will be lonely, she will miss her toys. These are also the reasons she doesn't want to get married or leave home. Ever. I do have to make one exception to the death thing, however, because after Christmas, when she didn't get a "real live dog," she wanted to die so she could go to heaven and pet Casey and make sure someone was taking her for walks.
We have been trying to talk to her about trimming her hair. The first time it came up, Mike made the mistake of saying "haircut." She promptly started crying, saying "Then I will look like a boy!"
We had bacon with pancakes a few nights ago. When I set the plate on the table she gasped in excitement and shouted "Ahh! I love that stuff!"
Sometimes when we are in the car and it is dark, or when she is in her bed, she will tell us all to be quiet because she is watching a movie behind her eyes. Then she squinches her eyes shut and visualizes whatever movie she is in the mood for (usually Cinderella as there is no really scary bad guy). If you ask her what part she is watching, she will tell you.
