My Friend the Munster

Still the first day of school... I get a call at work from Mrs Ivey! Apparently Jozie has no lunch. All she has in her lunchbox is water. She didn't know if Jo had a backpack (who would expect the super shy, long haired, ribbon wearing girl to have a blue and black batman backpack). What???? I call Dan, "Did I leave Jo's lunch on the counter? Am I going crazy? Her school called and said she had no lunch". Dan says he saw me put her lunch in her bag. No lunch on the counter or in the fridge. He gets a call from Mrs. Ivey. Dan walks her through what she has and the container it was in (2 Dinosaur shaped sandwiches and a cookie in a clear container). While on the phone, Mrs Ivey ask Jozie, "What's that under your desk?". Lo and behold, her lunch container fell out of her lunch box and apparently she didn't even notice. They all thought we sent our kid to school with no food. What a great way to start the year!

Today was the first day of Pre-K! Jozie's new teacher seems very nice. She is very calm... a little odd with a room full of 4 year olds. :-) I don't think Jo was very excited to go back to school. I think she's found it quite entertaining to stay either at home or with her great grandparents all day long. She chose a batman backpack and a littlest pet shop lunchbox. Perfect mix of hardcore boy and princess girl. When I left her in the morning, she awkwardly stood in the middle of the classroom, her shoulders scrunched up around her ears and just staring at everybody else. She didn't cry, but she certainly didn't know what to do. I had to leave and let the professionals take over. She is still the weird kid.

Jozie has decided that she really likes the Unicorn costume Dan bought for her almost a year ago. She wore it 2 days in a row. She even wore it to her Grandma and Papa's house. Papa took her out to the mall in it. Awww... to be a kid again. You can see a pic of her here. For her "going back to school party" she decided to wear cat ears and had me put cat make up on her. But her can be shocked by her affinity for costuming when her dad is a robot?

Jozie loooovvveeesss Make up. She loves when I put make up on her. I typically do not put it on her as just eyeshadow and lipstick. We live in a make up fantasy world. Sometimes it's swirls on the face, sometime's it's cat whiskers. On the day this picture was taken, we just wanted to play with pretty colors.

We have a local performance artist, Brian Feldman. One of his pieces this year was called The Staring Contest. For 30 hours at the Museum of Art, Brian would sit in a chair and just stair. He had a chair across from him that you were encouraged to sit in and just sit and stare back. Dan took Jozie for a little bit to this event and here is the proof.

So throughout school Jozie brought home project after project. We decided early on that we would put all the art she brought home in her room on her walls. She was so proud of everything she brought home and we were grateful to share in her excitement. I don't think I realized just how much there would be. See for yourself.

Jo had a pretty awesome first year of school. She learned her alphabet and numbers. She learned to add and subtract. She knows all her colors and she even tries to read. She can spell her name and write out letters pretty legibly. Potty training went awesome and she goes to the bathroom like an old pro. Mrs. Viarella was great and helped Jo to really open up. Jozie realized she was addicted to the treasure box and would do whatever she could to get there.

The last day of school was Water Day. They got to wear their bathing suits and they set up kiddie pools for the kids. It was a good year.

Here is a pic of the last day of school... how my little girl has grown!

See pictures here and here.

Jozie had her school recital "Songs from the Heart". They sang songs by Mr. Richard (a local children's celebrity). It was fun! I don't think she sang much, but she didn't cry and she smiled for the camera. What more can you ask for?

You can see pictures here and here.

"Mommy you're a robot". Pushes me with a finger. "Dance Mama, I pushed your groove button".