Breaking Out!

Last year Elina was this shy little girl in Pre-K. She was really quiet in school. She didn't want to play with any boys except for D (since he wasn't a rough-and-tough type of boy). She never acted silly in class because she didn't want her friends to laugh at her. She kept all her silliness for the home, which was ok with us. My friend KL told me that kids wear different hats depending on where they are. Elina didn't crack a joke to her classmates until the last few weeks of school and she was so proud of herself when she told me all about it.

She was still nervous and quiet at the Kindergarten Open House a few weeks ago. And during the first 2 weeks of school I had to tell her to try to play with at least one new friend a day so she could get to know everyone. She was nervous and reluctant.

Then comes the third week of school and Elina is one of the biggest chatterboxes in the class! She mainly plays with boys in the class--AM, BL, and CG. Part of it is attributed to the fact that the class is boy-heavy (8 boys, 4 girls), so her table at school is comprised of 3 boys and her. I think the other reason she tends to play with boys more now is because she's discovered their innate silliness. She loves to be silly these days, so now she has found the perfect companions to be silly with her. They tell silly stories and talk about silly topics. It's really funny--well, to 5 year olds. She has grown especially close to AM (pictured next to Elina). They practice short, funny "skits" together and put on a show for anyone who will watch. She always tries to pick AM to be her reading partner, too. It's too cute. B says that D needs to be on the lookout! Here is a video of Elina and AM doing one of their silly things. One person sings "See saw, see saw, everybody see saw," but before the person finishes singing the song, the other person says, "Shhhhhh!" and the first person has to fall down in a silly way. I know-it totally doesn't make sense! How do they come up with this stuff? More importantly, why is it so funny?? You be the judge--




I love that Elina is finally coming out of her shell. She is such a funny, lively girl at home and it always made me kinda sad that the Pre-K teachers didn't see that side of her last year. I also love that Elina is learning to play with boys. She used to be so worried that they would be too rowdy and rambunctious for her, but now she's discovered that boys can be fun and they don't have to be rough-and-tough all the time. Even the PE teacher mentioned to Elina's Kinder teacher, Mrs. V, that she was so happy to see Elina finally having some real fun. Everyone inside and outside of school has noticed that Elina is more social and more silly. We're so happy for our little girl!!