If you're happy and you know it...

I am regularly surprised at just how much babies understand, remember, and communicate without speaking real words. The other day I was reading Liliana a nursery rhyme book and came to the rhyme "Hickory Dickory Dock". Liliana immediately stood up, went to her stack of books, and pulled out the Hickory Dickory Dock puppet book the Grandpa Jim bought her. A couple weeks later Liliana came to school with me and was playing quietly with another rhyme book. She brought it to me and I quietly read the "If you're happy and you know it" rhyme and pointed to the picture of hands clapping and demonstrated by silently clapping my hands. She took the book and sat on the floor and began flipping through the pages. After a couple of minutes she started to appear frustrated. She shoved the book to me and whined while she pointed at the book, clapped her hands, and then pointed at the book again. I realized that she was trying to get back to the page that had the picture of clapping hands on it, so I turned to that page and handed the book back to her. She smiled, touched the picture, and clapped her hands. I was impressed!

Today was my last day of my "lead week" for my practicum. I have two more days (Monday and Tuesday) with the kindergartners and then I have my last class of the quarter at the university. I then get two whole days off and begin my spring quarter student teaching in a fourth grade class on Monday. I miss spending all day with my baby and look forward to completing my student teaching (at the beginning of June) so I can go back to my real job as a baby entertainer! Liliana is growing and changing so fast and I worry that I'm going to miss out some days. Luckily there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I've got less than three months left of school - woohoo! David had his last class yesterday evening and now all he has to do is complete an online final and then he'll be all ready to graduate! I'm glad we're setting this example for our children - showing them that education is an important preparation for the future and a good foundation for becoming a self-sufficient person.