competition, school and moderation

As I am sure some of you may remember, when I was planning for E, I had lofty ideas of how I was going to raise her. Among those lofty ideas, I had planned that E would only eat organic food, would never consume anything from Micky Dee's and would attend a Montessori school. After attending a Montessori open house before E came home, I noticed that the pictures on the walls were mostly white kids and decided to find a similar school in the public system that would be more representative and diverse. Luckily, the local school board offers such teaching styles so I had picked out an alternative school for E to attend.

This was all before I met E. As I have also said before, E teaches me as much (or maybe even more) than I teach her. Right from the day we met, E has been a problem solver. When I didn't understand her word for spoon (she was 2 and said chara, instead of cuchara), she non-chalantly walked over to the drawer in the kitchen of our rented apartment and pulled out a spoon while slowly mispronouncing spoon in Spanish again. It was super cute and very effective. She is also very receptive to praise and enjoys being rewarded. As mentioned earlier in this blog, E started receiving an allowance in January and is so very pleased with herself when she gets most or all of it as it is a testament to good behaviour on her part.

Although, I had planned for her to go to an alternative school to make her learning path less structured, E embraces structure and responds incredibly well to measured accomplishments. For instance, she is determined to finish 100 books before the end of the school year. This type of goal-setting gives me such pride as I know it is this instinct that will help her succeed at anything she endeavours. I am happy that E attends an excellent public school that is popular with students and parents alike.

As for what I feed E, I am not as strict as I thought I would be. I can't be. She wouldn't be able to eat without me if I were. Early on, I exposed her to happy meals. E was severely underweight when we met, so they were almost therapeutic. ;) When she had to redo all of her vaccinations, I would take her to Micky Dees afterwards. She doesn't go there every day, or every week, but once in a while. It makes a good treat. Everything in moderation.