Picture Day...

Today was picture day at school. Here are some pictures of Aida in her picture day outfit. She did great on her second day at school. This morning she got up so excited to go to school. She got dressed in a hurry and put on her backpack and stood at the doorway ready to go. She looked so precious. I was certain that she was not going to smile or follow directions for picture day. Because as the teacher described her on the first day "she is a very independent child" I was certain she would not go for any of it. But Ms. Violet was watching in lobby through the video cameras and told me that she did the whole picture routine to perfection. She followed the class in a straight line to the gym. She lined up with the kids against the wall and waited for her turn and she sat on the stool and smiled when it was her turn to get her picture taken. This was such a big deal for Aida -- We are so proud of her.

Here she is in her outfit ready to go to school.

We love you so much Aida Sophia and we are so proud of you.

We Love You

Mommy and Daddy

XXOO

Aida's First Day at School...

http://www.castlemontessori.com/mckinney/

Today was Aida's first day of School....and she did great. We decided to start her in Castle Montessori in their half day toddler program. This school is beautiful. Aida will go to school from 8:30 to 11:30 everyday. All of the academic instruction takes place in the morning along with the cultural and language enrichment activities. Aida will learn language, math, life skills, Chinese and Spanish along with music composition and technology all during her half day program. Alex and I love everything about this school, their philosophy, how they treat the kids, how clean the building is, the classroom size, and the trained instructors. She will even get music instruction from a Juilliard trained music teacher.

All weekend Alex and I were talking to her about starting school and how fun school was going to be. We talked to her about the kids she would meet and play with and all the fun games she would have in her classroom. This morning she woke up in a great mood. She got dressed and was all smiles. Alex took her to school as planned. He walked her in the classroom and she met her teacher. She immediately had to go potty and learned where the bathroom was -- smart girl. Alex stayed in the back but her teachers Ms. Jessica and Ms. Doris were really nice. Ms. Jessica took her hand and got her engaged right away in the class. Aida played and explored the whole room. She washed her hands 6 times in the hour she was in the room today. (We will definitely be donating some hand soap to her classroom.) After about 30 minutes -- Alex snuck out and met me in the lobby and we watched her through the video screen. I was expecting her to have a meltdown once she noticed that Alex as missing but the teachers were so great to her they gently redirected her to an activity and she played for another 30 minutes. After an hour -- she grabbed her book bag and walked to the door and waited for daddy. By the time he got down there, she had a few tears but was really doing great. You could just tell how proud she was of herself when I saw her again in the lobby. We are so proud of her too. Here are some pictures of our first day...

In our first day of school outfit....

In the car and ready to go :)

Ms. Jessica and Aida working in her classroom. You can see Alex's arm in the left had side of the picture. He was not going far.

The view from the video cameras in the lobby. Aida is at the table with Ms. Jessica working on a project.

Here she was working with another little boy in her class too.

A huge relief to be done with the first day. I am sure we will have ups and downs over the next several weeks but overall she did great. Tomorrow is picture day at the school so stay tuned for more fun pictures.

Congratulations Aida on a great first day at school. We are so proud of you.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

XXOO

Her Big Day....

So this post doesn't have pictures. Just a reflection of what is going on in our lives right now. Alex and I are blessed to have the most beautiful baby, good jobs, loving families and a beautiful house -- all things that we have dreamed of. However, in the process of working towards all these things, sometimes life just gets away from you. With my travel schedule and Alex in school at night (for his CPA) it leaves little time for us, Aida and each other -- so in this crazy life of ours we have been doing our best to keep up.

Tomorrow Aida starts school. She is starting in a beautiful Montessori school right by our house. It will be an adjustment for Aida and for Mommy. Our plan as it stands now is that Alex is going to drop Aida off at school tomorrow and I am going to follow but I don't want her to see me. So the school has video cameras in every room so I plan to hang out in the lobby and watch her in her new classroom. Really, I just don't think I will do very well if she is crying so Alex is going to be the stronger one tomorrow and I really, really appreciate that.

I know she is going to love school once we get past all the transitioning and I know that one day I am going to look back at this post and wonder why I was so worried about her day tomorrow -- because I know she is going to do great.

Tonight, I end the day both relieved and with a heavy heart. Relieved that we are giving her a great education in a great school but with a slightly heavy heart because tomorrow she will be taking a big giant leap into being a big girl. No matter how much I try to enjoy every second of the past two years, time just keeps going by way to fast. When I think about how much I have missed it becomes almost too much to bear, so I will focus on all the I have been present for. All the moments that have been incredible. Tomorrow I will be there on the day she starts school....experiencing all of the excitement and all of her tears tomorrow and I am so relieved.

All of my thoughts and prayers are with Aida for her first day of school tomorrow.

Pictures to come tomorrow...

We love you Aida!!!

Love Mommy & Daddy

Our First Dance Class....

Last Wednesday Aida stared dance class. She was so excited, so glad to see her friend Annie and looking precious. Here are all the pictures of Aida having a great time in class for the first 20 minutes. Then she saw Mommy outside the door and started to cry. She cried for the entire rest of the class. However, when Miss Mary was passing out stickers, or fairy dust or baby dolls, Aida was totally fine and could miraculously stop crying. Even after all of that, she just could not bring herself to dance again after she was so upset. We will try again next week. I hope Aida loves dance as much as I did. I loved it, I danced every day growing up. Mom started me at 2 with Mrs. Bessinger and the rest was history until I stopped dancing in college. I still miss it to this day. Hopefully, Aida and I will have lots of fun memories together as she grows up dancing. For now we will just try to make it to our second dance class of our young little life. We will keep you posted :)Here she is walking into class. I wish you could of seen her she was so excited.

In her new ballet shoes dancing with Miss Mary. There are three little girls in the class all together.

Smiling away...

Watching her friend Annie and learning from Miss Mary.


Aida, hopefully next week will be better. For now, Mommy will just start praying that you will make it through class without crying. I know you can do it and I am very proud of you for trying.

We Love You,

Mommy and Daddy

XXOO

Family Pictures....

We're Back!!!

This summer has gone by way to fast...it is hard to believe that September is here and Labor Day is just around the corner. One of things that I wanted to do this summer was to have a family picture made. I cant plan anything too far in advance so luckily I was able to enlist the help of Laura Bartone with "lb photography" and she took these beautiful pictures of us. These photos just capture Aida and her personality so well -- from her dimples to her pink cheeks these photos are truly her.

Aida you are growing up so fast. It has been a gift to watch you grow and to experience life with you. We hope you always stay as fearless, confident, honest and beautiful inside out as you are today. We are so proud of you and love you more than anything.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

XXOO