Miss Courtenay's School

So Elizabeth started her new school this September. She calls it Miss Courtenay's school--after her teacher. And what a school it is. And what a good decision we made enrolling her here. Besides the fun and educational curriculum (yes nowadays there is a curriculam in preschool) the teachers are super adorable. Miss Courtenay is a Disney princess come to life and Miss Jaime is adorable, intelligent and enthusiastic about the kids.

Elizabeth has learned so much in the seven or so weeks that she has been there. She gets a lot out of the teacher's style--which includes a lot of interaction and conversations with the kids. Miss Courtenay is also very interested in teaching kids empathy so there is a lot of emphasis on caring about others.

We have also seen a big change in Elizabeth in terms of her conversational skills. She is doing a lot of "instructing" of her parents and anyone else she can get her hands on. She sets up the room like a classroom and she of course is the teacher.

And just the other night at dinner, someone at the table next to us commented on Elizabeth and said, "well she is the little chatterbox". Yes, she can be at times now--which thrills me. She has worked so hard on developing her speech and her language and I just love it when someone comments on her verbal abilities. I remember when her audiologist was thrilled when she was talking in five word sentences at 3 and a half.

Yesterday as Marty was taking her off to school she waved bye bye to me and said, pretty much verbatim,

"Okay mommy, you have an nice day and stay out of trouble and make sure you eat a good breakfast and be very healthy."

Okay, Elizabeth, I will do that. If you say so!

Here are some photos from the classroom.

Sandcastle Contest

A couple of weekends ago there was a sandcastle contest down on Corona Del Mar beach. Elizabeth got a charge out of seeing the sandcastles--although her excitement and delight was mitigated by the presence of the seagulls.

Posing

Here are a few photos of Elizabeth that seem to show she like to pose. And yes, she poses like a girl. Cutie pie.

Pumpkin Patch Time

Last week Elizabeth and I headed over to Tanaka Farms pumpkin patch. It was a Monday afternoon and we had the place to ourselves. One of those unplanned spontaneous little events that turned out to be so special.

She loved loved loved the pumpkins. But that is nothing new. She loves Halloween and especially pumpkins. We currently have about 9 of them in front of our house and I suspect that by Halloween we will be looking at dozens. Now, if only I could deal with making pumpkin pie from scratch.

Gma and E

Here is Elizabeth with her grandma spending some time at Fashion Island. As you can see they are part of the mutual admiration society.
Last week Grandma gave Elizabeth a nice coloring book with very elaborate drawings of birds. She loves it and is fascinated with coloring the birds.

Now, if only that could do something to alleviate her EXTREME fear of birds. She is getting to the point where she has to make sure that if we are going somewhere outdoors she has be be certain there will be NO BIRDS in the vicinity. Last week we went to the beach and she was flipping out because of the seagulls. And I mean flipping out.

I was hoping to get her through her childhood without a visit to the shrink, so let's hope this phobia resolves itself!