Lydia's First Day of Preschool 2015

Lydia started her second year of preschool on the 8th of September, the day after Labor Day and just after we returned from Oregon.  She loves Ms Bonnie, her teacher.  There are more boys in her class than there are girls, but she's friends with them so it's okay.  More on that in a minute.  And starting that first day she and Soph were playing school as soon as was humanly possible.  She LOVES LOVES LOVES school!!! And we missed her while she was gone. Sophie told me that she missed her a lot, so she and I made tortillas while Lydia learned about the letter Aa and Apples. 

Jon and I were given some paperwork to fill out after her first day of school.  We were reminded how much she's bothered by other people crying.  Also, that she's a little peacemaker and wants everyone to be happy.  For example when she gets to choose what color of plate she wants for dinner she'll wait for Sophie to say which color she wants (even when she gets to choose first) and then choose the other one.  She's had enough experiences with choosing what Sophie wants that she'd rather not fight that battle.  It's seldom that she cares enough to fight for a certain color or thing.  It's much more important that everyone is happy.  She also gets a feel for the environment before she decides how to act.  It's been really interesting to see her go into a setting and just wait a few minutes before talking to anyone or finding a toy to play with.  I wish I could sneak into her Primary class and observe her without her knowing I was there. 

Before we left for Jon's business trip in Colorado (later September) Lydia told Sophie that she needed to ask her something.  And the conversation went as follows:

Lydia, "Soph, do you like boys?"

Me: Eyes bugging out.

Jon: "BOYS??!!??!!??!! You're not allowed to like boys!!!!!"

Lydia: Insta tears.

Then Lydia told me that she didn't want to be a teenager, but she did want to be an adult with her own kids and we had all sorts of interesting conversations about growing up and how it'd be nice if she enjoyed being a little girl for a few more years.  She's 4 going on 14.  Or maybe 4 going on 24.  Depends on the day.

More recently she told me that she "needs to marry someone she loves." I readily agreed with her and was only a little surprised when she continued with, "Gabe. I think I'll marry Gabe."  Gabe was in her preschool class last year, and we were in the same ward until the ward boundaries changed.  I sent his mom a heads up that Lydia wanted to marry her son.  She responded that we'd have beautiful grandchildren.  And then, "Gabe says that if that's what Lydia wants, he's in." That girl....

She's become quite the storyteller.  Not long ago she told me a story about a witch eating our family (minus herself) and then eating our house and our neighborhood. And then finally the whole world. Don't you worry.  That was not the end of the story.  When that happened (the whole world getting eaten by the witch) she would simply have to get in our family car and drive it herself all the way to another world.  And where, you may ask, is this other world? The answer to that question my friends, is Oregon. :)

I love so many things about her.  She's taken to whispering "shots" around Mia.  When we all got our flu shots she even learned to spell it for a day so that she wouldn't scare Mia with that horrifying word.  She thinks she can walk to and from school on her own.  Yeah... I don't think so.  She still loves us to read to her.  I love you Stinky Face is her current favorite.  She has gotten plenty of inspiration from The Berenstain Bears just like Soph.  The maps they drew of our house to Oregon were amazing.  She's written some very sweet notes to her dad that we put in the mailbox so that he could get a surprise when he came home from work.  On one of those days I texted him to check the mailbox again when he came home.  He's already gotten the mail when he came home for lunch, but we all needed him to get that awesome surprise.  She's thoughtful, loves to make Mia giggle and we find her saying, "goochy goochy goo!!" to her all the time.  She's sounding out words like STOP. POT. TOP. She wrote BALL and drew a picture to go with it the other day, and we've begun reading from Dick and Jane.  School suits her well.

When I asked her what she likes about school this was her response, "The white and orange dogs (she plays with these during free time.  Apparently they belong on a farm) and the letter P.  I like Miss Bonnie.  I like getting in line to get you when you and the other moms come to pick us up.  I like my school friends."