HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILLIAN!!!
We had an opportunity to celebrate our last October birthday for the year. Ms. Lillian has turned four years old and she couldn't be more proud of herself! Lillian is a pretty chatty lady, so when you ask her how old she is, she's sure to start a story with how old she used to be, what kinds of things she did when she was little, her birthday party, and what she likes to do now that she is older.
Watching children celebrate their birthday is a nice reminder that at this age, kids are completely excited about who they are as a person. They want to acknowledge how wonderful they are, and all of their capabilities.
Lillian dressed up for her very special birthday by wearing a lovely dress with cool polka dots. But the star of her outfit, or as Lillian put it, the coolest thing on her body was her Moana necklace. A couple of ladies in class also have the same Moana necklace. Lillian made sure to tell everyone, and I do mean everyone, to look at her necklace and tell her if you need her to show you how to light it up.
We were expecting Lillian's mom, Ms. Emily to come in and read a book to us. In order to get our wiggles out before sitting at the rug, we decided to dance along to the song Tooty Ta. Ms. Emily walked in during our dance and jumped right in, following along the music and not holding back on any of the silliness. Lillian was on the bench showing her friends the dance moves, which helped Ms. Emily jam along with the group.
To help Lillian celebrate her birthday, Ms. Emily read us the book called Ava the Monster Slayer by Lisa Maggiore. In this book, there is a character named Ava who at first seems to be just your average cute child. That is, until the moment she realizes that her favorite stuffed animal is in the dryer. The dryer is in the basement and Ava makes plans to rescue her toy from the monsters that must be hiding in the darkness.
She prepares for her adventure by putting on a cape, sparkly crown, and pink rain boots. Then, she takes out the monsters one by one by scaring them first!
I had not read this book before but it was a really fun read. I like that the character is a girl who can be fancy and strong at the same time. I like that she is brave and determined, and also silly. Another cool thing about the book was the amount of onomatopoetic words that were used. The illustrations make the book look like a mix between a regular picture book and early graphic novel.
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Ms. Emily was able to join us for Lillian's birthday circle and we all had an opportunity to tell Lillian things about her that we really love. Friends and teachers shared that Lillian is good at playing wolves outside and she is a good mom when the kids play family.
We learned she uses kind words like "Thank You" and tells really good stories.
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When we celebrated Hudson's birthday, Lillian was absolutely in love with the silliness of the popcorn popping. She said right then and there, "When it is my birthday, I am definitely having popcorn."
When planning for her celebration, I asked her if maybe she had changed her mind and was thinking about another birthday treat. She looked me right in the eye and said, "Ms. Zairel I told you I wanted popcorn. I still want popcorn and I'm going to laugh when we are making it. And I don't need your help to make it. I will scoop it and do it all by myself. The I will eat it from my own cup."
So, she did. She made the popcorn. She laughed, and she it ate it from her own cup. Everything went just as Lilian had planned.
We still found the whole process pretty funny!
