Our Little Girl is Growing Up...

Riley started preschool this past month, 2 days per week. She had been very excited about the idea. She really wanted to ride a school bus, but alas, we are not quite to that milestone yet. :-) The first day went pretty smoothly. We were shown all the different areas where you sign your kids in, where their lunch boxes go, where their nap stuff goes & then we were taken outside to join the kids & teacher. Riley had no problem joining in the playtime with the class. She went up & down slides, in & out of tunnels, up & down ladders. She fit right in & barely even said good-bye to us. She loved preschool…until she realized Mommy & Daddy do not stay there with her throughout the day.

Adjusting to long days away has been a bit challenging for her. She does not like it when Daddy leaves. However, when he picks her up, she is smiling & saying good-bye to all her friends (she knows all her classmates’ names) & her teacher. She comes home singing songs like, “Jesus Loves Me” & “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” & telling us all about the characters in the the books they are reading. She is learning so much already & I am sure this is only the beginning. Riley has always loved learning. As a mom, I am so in awe of how quickly she picks things up & how joyful it makes her to apply what she has learned properly. I hope that she will get used to being dropped off at school & will realize how much she is really thriving there & start looking forward to school days. I know it takes time & I am thankful for how well she does after the initial drop off.

**Brag Alert!** Since I have not been doing her regular updates like I did during her 1st year of life, I would like to include some here. Going into preschool, Riley already knew how to count to 29 (she thinks thirty should be twenty-ten, but we are working on that one), her alphabet (both in the song & could identify the letters when she sees them), her colors, animals & the sounds they make, & she was potty trained! (Well, except for naps & bedtime…but I don’t really think that counts this young…at least I do not count it). She learned how to spell her name early on this past year & recently she started counting to 10 in Spanish!

Our little girl is growing up into a beautiful, smart, loving, caring young lady. We are so blessed. :-)