A Christmas party!

Taylor with her face painted from her party at school.

Tuesday was a wonderful, busy day. I got to take a half day off at work and go to Taylor's Christmas party at school. It was nice to see what she does at school and be able to enjoy her and her friends. I got to help with her art project, which was a Santa hat with her name on it spelled out in glue and glitter and then we also made a paper chain, which is on our Christmas tree. I got to see how she learns and how much she has learned since starting there in September. Taylor is a very private child. When I get home from work on Tuesdays and Thursdays (her school days), I make dinner and when we sit down to eat I ask her how school was. She usually (95% of the time) answers good. Then I ask her what she did and she says nothing. I know she isn't doing nothing because she says things that I know she wouldn't normally know and sings songs I have never sang to her before, but she won't let me in her secret world of preschool. Going to her school really let me in and she was excited for me to be there.

Two of her little friends sat next to me during circle time and when it was time for her to sit down, she came over, sat on my lap and told the one little boy "She's my mom!" I thought it was too funny, but I explained to her that his mom wasn't there so he just wanted to sit next to me and she was okay with that, but she did have to sit on my lap the rest of the time. I am really impressed with how far she has come. We put Taylor in preschool because she doesn't play well with kids her own age. She plays well with younger kids and kids that are older than her, but not kids her own age. She interacts very well with the kids in her class and is very polite to them even when they are not very nice to her. Case in point, there is a child in her class that likes to push, hit and take toys off the other kids. The teacher does make the child sit in time out, but she continues to do it. This particular child pushed Taylor and the mother in me wanted to grab the girl and tell her not to touch my child again, but I didn't and Taylor just let it go. A little while later the girl pushed her again and she looked back at me like she wanted me to say something to her. I just gave Taylor a look like "you handle it."

She went over to the girl and said "Abby, you just pushed me."

Abby's response, "I know. You were in my way."

Taylor calmly told her "If you would have said excuse me, I would have moved out of your way and the next time you push me I'll have to tell the teacher because that is not how we behave."

It never happened again and I couldn't have been prouder.

After I got off work Tuesday night, the girls got their hair cut. They both got it cut much shorter than the last time, but I think they both look absolutely adorable! Taylor wanted her hair short is what she told the lady, but after last time's melt down, I wasn't so sure. When she was done, she looked in the mirror and said, "Julie did it absolutely perfect!" It was so sweet.

Last night my mom, me, my sister, CJ, Casia, Taylor, and Callee all ventured out to see the light display and Santa at Kraynak's. It was wonderful, but I left my digital camera in the car and didn't realize it until we were leaving so I have no pictures.

I am so excited for this weekend. It is going to be jam packed which I'm not looking forward to but I love seeing family and watching my kids open gifts and tell people why we have Christmas. This is the first year I am actually excited about Christmas in a long time, but it was well worth the wait. I hope everyone else has a great Christmas too. I probably won't post until Tuesday because I will be that busy tomorrow and through the weekend!