Saturday, November 23, 2013

Transitions and Ellie

Ellie's been a little challenging for me recently.  Being fairly sleep deprived w/ all the over night feedings, all I want to do is be mellow.  But  that is the LAST thing an active 3 year old wants.  So there have been many times when Ellie and I get into a power struggle.  I ask her to do something (ie. "Me: please put your pants on", "Her: No, chase me")  And I feel such frustration (and sadly anger sometimes) in those moments.  

This was the recent note from Ellie's teacher and an timely reminder of all the really good parts of my active, sometimes frustrating 3 year old.  It made me stop and think and realize that I need to figure out a better way of balancing the very different needs of Eva and Ellie.
Something that is very special about Ellie is how flexible she is with other children.  Even though she has been an only child (up until three weeks ago), she shows so much love, empathy, and openness towards other children.  She is always asking, "Can I play with you?" and "Do you want to play with me?"  She seems to play almost any game with almost any child.  Ellie has made some meaningful connections with the girls in our group, but she doesn't limit herself to a certain play scenario and/or children.

We are working on problem-solving in our group pretty heavily right now, which is typical of this age.  It's important to give as many choices as possible throughout the day so children can feel that they have control over themselves and their choices.  At the same time, it's important to establish boundaries/guidelines with children so they know how far they can try to "push".  :)

Ellie is always so excited to be at school and her smiling never seems to end! I love that she feels so passionate about school and wants to come even when she's having a stay-at-home day (pictures and the Friendship Feast). :) She seems very proud to be a big sister and loves to talk about Eva! 

No comments:

Post a Comment