Parent Teacher Conference

Yes they apparently have these for 5 month olds. We met with Miss Stephanie on Monday to talk about Emily's progress so far and we could not be more pleased. Miss Stephanie had nothing but amazing things to say about Emily and her time at Lil' Squirrels so far. She has quite the personality and keeps them entertained all day long. Stephanie did mention that she is very happy with how Emily is developing and that she really feels that Emily is advanced for her age (they grade them on different skill levels including how they eat, how they "communicate", how they interact with other children, physically etc). At first we were like, "sure you tell all the families this", but she was very insistent that if there was an issue she would definately communicate it because they are at such a pivotal learning stage right now, she felt that it would be important to point out areas of concern.

So here is what she had to say. Emily is awesome at putting her self to sleep. We see this at home even. We haven't even needed to do Ferber because really it's not an issue. All you have to do is give Em a blanket, or swaddle her up tight and she is out. She is even sleeping better at night. In the past 3 weeks, she has only gotten up 3 nights, and it was because she was sick. Emily is doing great eating her veggies during the day for the teachers and Stephanie was pleased at the way we chose to introduce solids into her diet (which makes me feel great because it is something that I spent a LONG time researching). So far she has had squash, green beans, and peas, and we still have sweet potatoes and carrots to try from the Stage 1 foods. She has one veggie for 4 days to make sure she doesn't have any allergies or sensitivities. After she tries all the veggies, we will try some fruits. She hasn't had any issues with any of the veggies except for the green beans the first day, but that seemed to pass because she ate the rest of her green beans like a champ. She is almost sitting up completely unassisted. She can hold a pose for quite a while now with out toppling over and she really doesn't "tripod" too much. She can hold something in her hands and just sit. I think it's so cute to see her sit up like a big girl. She rolls all.over.the.place. You have to keep an eye on her because you can turn your back and she's already all the way across the room. One of the other teachers says she thinks Em will be an early crawler. Em wants in the action and is starting to get frustrated when things are out of her reach. Emily has tons of friends, and interacts well with the other kids. She loves to hold their hands, and even get kisses from her older friends. (side note: We saw Mike, Alisha and their baby Vaeda the other day and Em just wanted to hold on to her and give big hugs. It made me so proud) They started introducing her to sign language, which I love. I have read a couple of studies that show that children who are taught sign, have a more advanced language level in the future and I think little kids signing are adorable. I took sign in college, so I know most of the words they are teaching, so we talked to Steph and decided that we would continue to work on the sign at home. We don't expect Emily to just start signing back, but we figured we can use the words now to help her in the future. She will learn things like milk, more, please, thank you, finished etc. She smiles all day long and is overall very happy. We think Emily is just precious, but it so good to hear that your baby is on track and a joy to be around. Trust me, Stephanie is not one to beat around the bush either. If there is an issue, she will let you know.

Overall, we are EXTREMELY happy with our decision to put Emily in a daycare. Again, we chose a locally owned center, not a giant chain daycare. The teachers have all been there for a long time and Miss Stephanie has been in child care for 9 years and child development for 12. Emily gets so much interaction and you can just see how much she grows developmentally everyday. She is a total social butterfly and loves seeing other kids and her friends everyday. They have helped us so much to get Emily to where she is today. They help get her on an eating schedule and help with nap time, plus they do lots of fun activities with her all day long. Things I would have never done had it just been her and I at home. They are fantastic! Sorry for the longest post ever. Just thought I would brag about my little girl a little more!