In preparing to send Esme to kindergarten in the fall, we had to have her preschool teacher fill out a "placement evaluation form". Mrs. Miedema's evaluation of Esme's skills shows that she is doing really well - and could use some improvement on "working cooperatively". Anyway, there is certainly no doubt that Esme's verbal skills are not lacking.
Yesterday after school, while we were eating lunch, Esme told me that her teacher had read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the class that day. After lunch, she went up to her room and found her own copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. She was reading snippets of it out loud, so I sat down with her and asked her to read it to me - and to my absolute surprise, she DID. She read every single word herself, including light, night, through, around and lots of other tricky ones! Yay, Esme!
We went to see (the first period of) a Grand Rapids Griffins game this evening, during which Esme cheered loud and ate a hot dog and half a huge bucket of popcorn. As we were walking back to our car, the following conversation took place:
Esme: "I got a stomachache 'cause I ate so much, just like the Very Hungry Caterpillar!"
Daddy: "You're not going to spin a cocoon, are you?!?!"
Esme: "No!"
Daddy: "'Cause I love you as a little girl! I don't want you to be a butterfly!"
Esme: "Oh, I was just hungry like the Very Hungry Caterpillar. I don't want to be a butterfly, either. I'm not actually going to spin a cocoon - I mean chrysalis!!!!"
Okay - here's why we left after the first period. Griffins games start at 7:00 p.m., which is usually the time the kids start to get pajamas on, have their snack, brush their teeth, read a story, say their prayers and go to bed. Nevertheless, we were perfectly willing to stay for the whole game, as we plan these types of outings on weekends on purpose. Aidan definitely has his Hollopeter genes activated, though! He has a really good time for a while. but after about the first period the noise and crowd and general chaos get on his nerves and he has to get OUT. Papa understands.
Go Griffins!