Self Identity

When she was younger, Alice did not say her first name.  Instead, she would just give a blank look if someone asked her name.  I was so jealous of my friends whose children would point to themselves and say, "I insert child name."  It was also very anxiety producing for a first time parent.  Well, there is a reason why the phrase "Be careful what you wish for" is a truism.  God heard my prayers.  I am now blessed with a daughter who goes up and introduces herself to EVERYONE.  Thank goodness I am not a shy person.  I would probably need major doses of anti-anxiety meds to cope with having such an extroverted daughter.

It seems like Angela is following in her sister's footsteps with one major exception.  She refers to herself as "Me" or "Me too".

"What is your name?" I asked her.

"Me."

"No, honey, what do you call yourself?" I asked again.

"Me."

I thought about it and I realized I walked right into that last one.  She wins.  I give up. 

Remedial Finger Painting

On Tuesday I had "Back to School Night" for preschool.  I knew Alice was doing great with her Kindergarten enrichment program there, but I was curious to see how Angela was doing with her "work".  As I spoke with Angela's teacher, Ms. K could not say enough about Angela's great personality and her comfort with the environment.  She was very impressed with how well and how quickly she adjusted to attending school.  However, (why is there always a 'however'?), Angela would not finger paint properly.  She will not hold her finger straight out and apply the paint with the finger pad.  Instead, Angela bends her finger such that she uses her fingernail bed as her artist's brush.

I was not surprised by this.  One of Angela's chief quirks is her dislike of anything liquid based on her hands.  She will play in the sand box for hours.  She will manipulate Play Doh with no hesitation.  But, if a drop of some liquid falls on her hands, she immediately calls for me and demands that I clean her hands off.

As I stood listening to Ms. K, I was, in fact, internally marvelling at Angela's ability to reason and adapt.  She figured out a way to finger paint without getting her hands dirty.  Had this been Alice, I would probably have freaked out and tried to find some remedial finger painting class to "correct" the problem.  Such is the joy of the second child.  You realize each child has his/her quirks and they are to be embraced.  I told Ms. K not to worry and to just give the kid a brush for painting.

I hope all parent-teacher conferences go so smoothly.