Sophie starts preschool

Oh my. Where does the time go?? Sophie dear has been ready and waiting for this day ever since Lydia started preschool two years ago. And after Lydia started so many weeks ago it's been a long hard wait. I think getting her school blessing early was good for her. "Sophie, you will be starting preschool very shortly and it will be a wonderful time for you to grow socially, make new friends and learn new things. I bless you with happiness. You can show other people the light side of life and happiness. Go to school and feel comfortable there. It'll be new; strange people there; you'll enjoy it. You'll learn new things. I bless you to be able to make new friends and they'll see the positive in you. The light in you. You'll enjoy gaining knowledge. You'll thirst to learn new concepts. Hunger and thirst for knowledge, but also in the gospel. Hunger and thirst after righteousness. You'll be able to help mom and help with your younger sister Mia and help with responsibilities you have- you're capable of. Help mom in this transition. You will be a positive light in our home. Help mom and dad be happy. Help sisters be kind and happy in all they do. Mom and dad love you so much. We're so grateful for all you do in our family. Heavenly Father loves you. He's happy with the girl you are and the choices that you make. I bless you with these blessings and any others that you stand in need of in the name of Jesus Christ Amen."

Back to school night was September first and she got to see where she'd be sitting at the rug, and the table, where she'd hang up her backpack and where she'd be playing outside. She even got to go into this amazing little playhouse (shed) in the backyard that had been turned into a kid's paradise. She slid down the slide inside and went upstairs where all the bean bag chairs are. She got a picture with her friend Sadie and enjoyed a cookie while I signed up to volunteer at class parties.

And that was the moment when this school things became so much more real for her!  So when September 6th finally rolled around she was crazy excited!! She got to pick out her backpack from Kohl's the night before and has known that she'd be wearing her sunny dress since July (when school started for Lydia) and the wait to wear her new Minnie mouse shoes finally came to an end! I wasn't sure what to expect when I dropped her off, but she didn't even need me to walk in with her. I did though, and she just hung up her backpack, found her seat (after hesitating between hers and Sadie's. Those S's were throwing her off!) and was ready to go and didn't look back once.

 

And I'm just so excited for her!! If she had been sad or scared I think I would have been so anxious for her the whole time she was at school, but as it was I rushed home to Lydia and Mia and we got to work.

We were plenty busy at home missing her and hoping that preschool was everything she'd hoped and dreamed it would be. Lydia has been whispering her secret surprise plans of what she wanted to do for Sophie on her first day while she was at school for months now! And she kept busy the whole time Soph was gone. She and Mia helped me make cookies, but before that and while they were baking Lydia drew Sophie a castle and colored it in all her favorite colors. Mia was the holder and warmer of the butter so that we could get them to reach room temperature a little more quickly and both girls had to sample the dough and make sure it was prepared well enough to be baked for their sweet, absent sister. 

We baked the cookies and watched the clock and when school was almost out we rushed to Ms. Lisa's so we could find out from Sophie what school was like and get her home to enjoy her cookies. Because if she was enjoying them that meant that everybody else could enjoy them too.

It was so fun to hear about her first day. She loves Ms. Lisa already. She told us all about her friends, and the class rules, and how much fun it was to play outside. I feel like her backpack, which is almost as big as she is, is going to knock her over backward, but she loves it! And she hasn't hesitated once to walk right into class and get to work.

Since then she's wanted to take a picture outside on the way to school (like we did on her first day of class) in her new school clothes. She's also reported that many of her classmates don't follow the rules and "aren't obedient." Her teacher sent home an Assessment Report and told us that "Sophie is going great and is such a sweet girl!" She told me that Sophie is happy to wait for her classmates to line up or get drinks or whatever and that she's happy to be last. She's very patient. So nice to know what she's like at school! We love this sweet, spunky girl!

Aunt Amber gave us some books that have become fast favorites. One of them is called How Fletcher was Hatched. The girls love it. There's a part where Fletcher (who is a dog) is sad because his mistress doesn't seem to care about him anymore and spends all her time with these little chicks. Sophie scratches his ears on the page it talks about how long it's been since Alexandra last scratched his ears. She gets such a kick out of making him feel better. Her prayers are still amazing! I love how sincere they are and specific to each day. She knows who she's talking to! I love hearing her sing. Lately it's been, I'm not the kind of girl to wish and tell..." from Sophia the First, When you wish Upon a wishing well. I could listen to her and Lyds sing all day. I also love giving these ladies baths. We've started doing "cake" baths where we put different ingredients in their hair to make an apple cake or a carrot cake or a kiwi, chocolate or strawberry cake. Whatever kind of cake they're in the mood for. I crack "eggs" in their hair and put "sprinkles" on top besides the usual flour, sugar, milk, etc. Sophie always wants her cake topped with vanilla cream frosting. And I love they way she says it. Jon's back has been hurting so he and I were talking about doing stretches to help things out in the morning and at night. Sophie suggested we do back stretches at night as a family. Which we've done and was so fun and entertaining. Another day Jon mentioned to me something about his shoulder not feeling great and Soph immediately suggested we do shoulder stretches that night so that he'd feel better. She's so sweet and so thoughtful.

I've also got some Sophie stories that I shared in a talk I gave on peace. They've become pretty meaningful to me and I love that because of who Sophie is we're able to have these conversations:

I have two examples I’d like to share of times where one of our daughters was very troubled. The first happened a few months ago when my phone went off because of an Amber alert. When they heard it, my girls wanted to know more about it.  They started asking all sorts of questions. At first I tried to keep my explanations more general and vague, not wanting to scare them, but as the conversation continued I could see that Sophie was terrified. She wanted to know if the people who took the child were near or far. She wanted to know if they were bad. She wanted to know if someone was going to take her from our home. While she was playing in the backyard? I assured her that her Dad and I wouldn’t let that happen. The thought that anyone would do something like that had never occurred to her, and it was clearly unsettling. Jon came home from work that night and the conversation continued. He reassured Sophie that that was something she didn’t need to worry about.

The second experience came during scripture study one night. We were watching the children’s scripture video about Cain and Abel. It went into detail about Cain slaying Abel and Satan’s role and how he had great hold on the hearts of many of Adam and Eve’s descendants. I looked over at Sophie afterward and saw that she was very upset. She wanted to know more about Satan and if he was going to try to hurt her. She couldn’t believe that Cain had killed his brother. She wanted to know where he was and why he was so mean. I explained that Satan doesn’t want us to be happy. He isn’t happy. She was concerned that he was going to get her. I told her that he didn’t have a body. She then asked if he had a head and I suddenly realized that my explanations were not coming across as I had hoped and were certainly not what she needed. That’s when Jon came to the rescue and explained much more clearly that because of Jesus Sophie didn’t need to worry about Satan. Satan won’t win. Christ has already won and because of Him we can find peace and happiness no matter what fears we have or what trials come into our lives. 

 We love this little girl and and are so excited to see what her future will be. Lucky us that we get to be a part of it all and have such great seats along the way!