All About Birdie

Birdie, classic head tilt.  ("No pictures, Mommy.")

In other news, yesterday we had a parent-teacher conference with Birdie's now former pre-B teacher, Ms. Amanda.  Here we pause to say that Ms. Amanda rocks.  Sensitive to parent concerns and thoughts; firm but fun with her charges--and from the observations she shared, it was clear that she knew Our Birdie.  So although Birdie's time in Ms. Amanda's room was brief, it was solid, just like Ms. Amanda.

Ms. Amanda relayed that Birdie understands her physical space and her body very well; she's balanced and in control of her limbs and what they are doing all the time.  She's very creative; she loves what they call dramatic play.  In particular, she loves to pretend to be a teacher, and especially to be a teacher at the calendar used every day to talk about various things.  This explains why Birdie can sometimes, quite confidently, count up to 30.  Apparently Birdie loves calendar time and counting up to whatever the date happens to be.  This also explains why sometimes Birdie will issue teacher-like directives (even if they make no real sense), like: "O-kay.  I going to say a letter and you write it down, o-kay?  And I going to say you name and you say you name."  Birdie also picked right up on the bucket filler and bucket dipper concepts when they were introduced.  Ms. Amanda said that early on Clara looked at her, knocked over some toys, picked them up, and said, "I a bucket filler!"  (And a bit cheeky, too, Fans, no?)  When Birdie arrived in pre-C, she was prone to crying--and screaming--loudly when she was upset, but she has learned to take some deep breaths and use her words.  And so, she was ready to move to pre-B when space opened up.

And here we are.