She speaks!

I think I've mentioned once or twice that Saoirse does not speak with any regularity to people who are not named Mummy, Daddy, Taylor, Liam or Sophie. If your name is Nanny or Auntie Shelley she make speak to you after about 20 minutes of so. Or she may not. It all depends on her mood.

Playschool is a "no speak" zone. There is no singing "Here I am!" when her teacher says her name during attendance. There is no reciting grace at snack time, or singing the songs that all other kids yell out.

This is Saoirse after all. And while she doesn't stop talking at home (non stop talking during Survivor when she should be in bed!) she does not like to talk in public at all.

Because I've been going to playschool with her these last few weeks, she has had me to talk to. And I am all she talks to. She doesn't answer her teacher, she doesn't talk to the other 6 kids. It's shyness at its worst. If she were older I'd call her rude.

So yesterday we are playschool and since she only has one class left in which I am there solely for her I decide I had better remind her that soon I won't be coming to school with her and that on the days I do it is because I am the helper mom and I won't have time just to sit and play and watch her use the shark to kill the giraffe. (Can you tell this child has an older brother?) She wasn't overly happy about the fact that I wouldn't be there every day but at almost 3 they adjust pretty quickly. When she said she needed the bathroom I said she had better tell her teacher. I didn't want her thinking that she could just walk out the door. So she goes and stands by her teacher, waits until she is done talking to another child and very quietly says "Mrs. W?" I didn't hear the rest as she was really, really quiet but obviously the teacher did. And so off we went to the bathroom, with me all thrilled that my daughter willingly talked to an adult she is not related to.

And then? She spoke up during circle time! For the first time! They were doing the calendar and the teacher was saying that this was the first day of November and Saoirse said "It's my birthday in November." She was still quite soft spoken so the teacher asked what she had said and Saoirse said "I'm having an Ariel birthday." Her teacher said "Yes, it's your birthday soon and we are going to celebrate and your mom is going to bring cupcakes. Which I am. With chocolate milk, Saoirse's favourite drink.

And the Ariel party? It's not so much an Ariel party as princess decorations and an Ariel cake. Because Ariel decorations? Not so easy to find. And her birthday party? Not on her birthday. It's on the 25th, a full 2 weeks later. At the Y. Having it at my house means steam cleaning my carpets and thinking up games. No thanks.