Courtright Family: Preschool Fun and Kaitlynn Lately

It's only November and Kaitlynn is having the time of her life in her preschool class at Foundry Faith Academy! We hit the jackpot with Kaitlynn's teachers this year, Ms. Susan and Ms. Amy. Every week, Ms. Susan sends a summary email to parents describing their themes for the week, the things they are working on, and even pictures from their classroom activities. To us Moms that don't get much information from our 3-year-olds, this is such a blessing! We couldn't be happier with how the year is going for Kaitlynn.

The kids had their fall portraits taken recently. I nearly gasped when I saw Kaitlynn's photo. This just screams BIG GIRL to me!

Kaitlynn, age 3 preschool

I've mentioned before that preschool seems to really be kicking Kaitlynn's butt this year. She has almost completely given up her naps now, and it's making the rest of our lives miserable, haha! She gets so exhaused from her busy days that she tends to cry and fuss about every. tiny. thing. towards the end of the day. My neighbor recently asked me what was the matter with Kaitlynn lately because she's always crying, ha! If you tell her something she doesn't want to hear, or heaven forbid, if you look at her wrong, she will fly off the handle. Usually she has to retreat to a corner somewhere and have a moment. Jeff and I just look at each other and shrug our shoulders. Not sure if this is a girl thing or a Kaitlynn thing?? I'm sure my Mom would say it's a Kaitlynn thing because she is JUST like her mother.

Speaking of... sometimes the similarities between Kaitlynn and myself (from what I've been told) are a little scary. Scary because I'm not sure I'll be able to handle the years of drama ahead.

My mom loves to tell stories about my, um, colorful personality when I was younger. She always dreaded taking me anywhere because of my extreme impatience. Many times we'd be at a red stop light or in the drive-thru bank teller line and I would be yelling at my Mom to "Go!" She would explain that we were waiting in line or waiting on the green light, but I couldn't take it. "Hurry!" I would say, or "Mom, honk at that car! Let's go!!"

So imagine my mother's amusement when I told her last week about Kaitlynn's new thing: while waiting at the red stop light, she YELLS at me to "Go, Mom! What is taking so long?!" Lovely.

Oh, and have I mentioned that she usually calls me "Mom" now? Not sure when I stopped being a Mommy but I miss it!

Most people know that my parents' all-time favorite story to tell about me is the time they sent my siblings and me outside to rake the pine needles and pine cones from our yard in Longview. It was a big yard and a tough job, so each of us were assigned different sections of the yard to work on. When my parents came outside to check our progress, they found my 3 siblings working hard: raking, picking up cones, and bagging everything neatly. When they looked for me, they found me with a clipboard and pencil in my hands walking between each assigned section. "Lauri, what are you doing? You're supposed to be working," they said. "I AM working," I responded defiantly. "I'm the station checker." I had been checking to make sure my siblings were doing their work and documenting their progress while doing none myself. Apparently I felt that my supervision was a far more valuable and appropriate task for my station in life, ha!

Fast forward to the other day, when Kaitlynn's preschool teacher mentioned to me that they were having to work with Kaitlynn on completing her assigned tasks by herself. "What do you mean?" I asked her, confused. "Well," she replied, "she's getting all of her friends to do her work for her. She gets Anais to open her lunch, Avery to set everything on the table for her, Jenelle to clean up her mess, and another friend Allie to lay down her blanket when it's time for rest time." My jaw nearly hit the floor because that has "station checker" written all over it, LOL!!

And yes, my mother got a REAL KICK out of that story!

So back to preschool, Kaitlynn and her best friend Anais are having a ball in the same class together. They recently had their circus parade at school and their class dressed up as lions with masks and brown noses. So cute.

Kaitlynn and Anais at their Halloween day circus parade.

With all the fun that the kids are having at school, I know they're learning a lot, too. The other day I caught Kaitlynn singing the song for the months of the year. I was surprised she knew them all and asked her to sing it for me. Here's a little video of her singing the song a few times. Oh, and apparently the month April is pronounced "Acorn" -- just so you know! :-)

Finally, here are some of the awesome pictures that Kaitlynn's preschool teacher has shared from their weeks of fun at preschool so far. We are so blessed by this school and class, what fun!